Prompt Responses for Week 5

 1. )  "Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular (especially in the romance genre) see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author. How does this affect collection development?

Unfortunately, the lack of professional reviews of  e-books make it extremely difficult for a staff member to adequately manage the collection development.  Staff members cannot be expected to know the existence of an item when there is no publicity for that material. There are short cuts around this, such as Libby, but that is barely a starting point. 

2.) One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?

Both reviews of The Billionaire's First Christmas do seem authentic and reliable. However, based on the reviews, I don't think I'd purchase this for our library. The Amazon review by Deborah implies that there is either a cliffhanger or an inadequate ending that leaves the reader unfulfilled. Without seeing a review of the sequel, I would not take the chance. The blogger first posted a summary of the book, which was extremely helpful but the review itself was sort of wishy-washy. They like it/they don't like it..... they did like the characters, but didn't like the plot....  Overall, the blogger review lacked a stable stance of the book. 

3.) The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir... How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

All four of these reviews tug on the reader's heart strings. I would definitely add it to my collection. Not only are memoirs very popular, but also, everyone likes a story of hope. Obviously, the back story is one of great hardship, however, the bottom line is that the author overcame the obstacles of life.

4.) Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage? How does this affect a library's collection?  And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate? If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions?

A library's collection will definitely be slanted based on which reviews the purchaser has been able to access. It's not fair that some book types are reviewed more, but being aware of that flaw, the purchasers can intentionally be on the look out for book reviews of a certain type. I think negative reviews should be allowed, on the condition that the criticism is on the work itself, not on the author. Readers need to be able to see both good and bad reviews in order to make a well-informed decision. If all they see are positive reviews, their expectations of the book may be raised, only to be disappointed if it's not quite what they were led to believe. I do order non-fiction for our public library, and most times I use the Library Journal  and Kirkus Review as a starting points. I also check out the new book lists on Amazon.