Kevin Burton Smith wrote:
> But how many of you do take out books from the
library? I find
> there's very little in the way of hard-boiled at my
local library,
> though sometimes there's a surprise or two. And
they're usually quite
> good at taking suggestions on what to
order.
It bears repeating: if we (public libraries) don't have what
you want, tell us what to get. Generally speaking we get very
little input from the public, so what we have to go on is
circulation statistics, reviews in professional journals, and
our own judgment, as professional librarians, about what to
get.
So if someone pulls me aside and says, "Have you heard of
this guy called Newton Thornburg?" I will attempt to find out
who he is and what he's written. (Nice intro, btw, Mr.
Pelecanos) And if someone *writes a letter*...well, that's
the sort of effort that makes librarians hop to and go out of
our way to please the letter writer. When what we hear is
mostly silence, even the smallest voice gets our attention.
Plus, a lot of Selection Committees (the people who in a lot
of libraries approve or disapprove of which books are
actually purchased) are filled with librarians who have their
own peculiar literary biases. But no librarian, however
biased against a genre, will ignore a letter. It would be bad
public service--and that's our role, after all.
jess
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