Posts filed under 'General'
Well, I’m not 100% sure about that, but I can tell you which books at the Madison Public Library have been checked out the most times over the last 15 years. Our library automation department can run these really cool reports that tell us which books might need to be replaced or removed depending on how many times they have been checked out over the years and I thought y’all might be interested to know which books have circulated the most here in Madison. You might think that the lists include big books like The Kite Runner or Water for Elephants, but you would be wrong.
See for yourself what people are finding at the library:
Fiction
- 1st to Die: A Novel by James Patterson.
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
- The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.
- A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks.
- Keeping Faith: A Novel by Jodi Picoult.
- The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy.
- Paper Money by Ken Follett.
- Her Father’s Daughter by William Coughlin.
- Desire and Duty: A Sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Ted and Marilyn Bader.
- Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg.
Nonfiction
- The Pokemon Trainer’s Guide.
- The Snoopy Festival by Charles M. Schulz.
- Japanese Style by Susan Slesin.
- The World of LEGO Toys by Harry Wiencek.
- Batman, from the 30s to the 70s by E. Nelson Bridwell.
- Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee.
- Son of Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee.
- Color Style: How to Identify the Colors that are Right for Your Home by Carolyn Warrender.
- The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live by Sarah Susanka.
- A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker.
The books in the top ten spots in the fiction category have gone out an average of 14.5 times per year, and the books in the top ten nonfiction category have gone out an average of 13.64 times per year, which is more than once a month! This is fantastic considering that the loan period is 28 days. 1st to Die gets checked out an average of 17.69 times a year!
I consider myself to be a “big reader” but I’ve only read one book from each list: The Handmaid’s Tale, which was assigned reading for a Women’s Studies class at the UW nearly twenty years ago, and The Snoopy Festival (I love Joe Cool!). Something that I found very interesting about the nonfiction list is that once you get into the top 50, there are a ton of cookbooks. They just never go out of style. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird do show up in the top 100 fiction titles, but so does Forever by Judy Blume, Bridget Jones Diary and almost everything by John Grisham.
Looking at the number of times these books get checked out, we know one thing: Madison likes to read!
October 30th, 2009
Molly - Central
Hey, anybody remember Sex, by Madonna? It came out, er, rather, was published in 1992. Madonna was pretty popular then– lots of music videos on MTV, lots of interest in the press because she was “dating” so many celebrities and professional athletes at the time. And so it’s really no surprise that her book became a New York Times bestseller. Not that the subject matter didn’t help. Which was a bit of a problem for the library, since the book consisted mostly of pictures of Madonna in various stages of dress (mostly undress) and offering her thoughts and opinions on all matters sexual.
Which caused problems for us. We can’t be seen as buying “pornography” because there are quite a few members of our community who would be quite upset about their tax dollars being spent on “fill in the blank, bad for you books”. At the same time, lots of other people from all over our service area, were requesting the book. What to do? Well, the people who were requesting it were “saved” when the South Central Library System, of which we’re a member, funded the purchases, which would be used throughout our service area, rather than taking the money from the Madison library budget. We purchased several (three?) copies, had them rebound (they were originally “bound” in a pretty heavy aluminum cover, with pretty sharp edges, as I recall), and sent them out to start filling holds.
At one time, I believe there were upwards of two hundred people waiting to read a copy of the book. The books spent years in circulation without ever actually having landed on the shelves where people could innocently stumble across it. Not that they could do that now. We made a decision at the time we acquired the books, that they would be permanently shelved in our “storage area.” You can still read it, of course. You just have to work a little harder to get at it.
I confess, I may be misremembering some of the details. It all happened a long time ago. I recall glancing at a few pages of the book when it first arrived but being, frankly, a little embarrassed to be looking at it. A Catholic upbringing will do that to you. And the book didn’t look to be particularly well done–grainy black-and-white pictures, hand-written text, “artistic” layout. We still have it in our system, it’s just not worth the effort to me anymore. But, again, that could be part of that Catholic upbringing.
By the way, if the thought of that Madonna book, or any other books or sound recordings or videos, sitting on the library shelves bothers you, take some comfort from the fact that none of the materials we buy are required reading, or listening, or viewing. Some people were outraged by the very thought of that Madonna book, yet hundreds more wanted to read it. That’s part of what is so great about the library. We give you choices. We use public dollars to buy materials (less expensively than you usually can) and let you borrow them. And we try to choose materials that will “inform, inspire, enrich, and entertain” — though most of our materials probably won’t do all those things at once.
And they won’t always have that effect on every user. Your mileage will vary. But you’ll probably spend most of your time on those materials that will entertain you, or inspire you, or teach you, or challenge you, or help you do that for your children. And when you’re done with those items, you can bring them back to us, so we can store them until someone else wants to use them. Which is another thing we’re good at. We’ll store your books for you and save you money in the process. Money that you can save or spend locally instead of sending a big chunk of it to a distant publisher or distributor.
Talk about win-win.
And we thank you for your patronage.
October 14th, 2009
Dennis - Central
This year’s Wisconsin Book Festival begins tomorrow, October 7, and Madison book lovers should not miss this event. The theme this year is “Courage” and many Wisconsin authors are featured. The list includes Michael Perry, Lorrie Moore, Terese Allen, Linda Barry, Jane Hamilton and David Rhodes.
The Festival highlight will be the keynote from Wendell Berry, the famous essayist, poet and novelist. Unfortunately the tickets for that event are already distributed. However, there are many other great programs to look forward to including programs with: Gregory Maguire, Novella Carpenter and Michelle Wildgen, Lorrie Moore and Michael Perry at the Orpheum and Jonah Lehrer, Jane Hamilton and David Rhodes at Overture. For more tips on where, when and what, check out the Daily Page.
In addition to all the other book festival fun, there are also a few more opportunities to discuss and debate the UW’s Big Read choice - Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food - including one at the Central Library on October 11 at 2 p.m.
October 6th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Thanks to a generous grant from the Madison Community Foundation, the Meadowridge Branch recently acquired a Strong Families collection designed to support family literacy and successful parenting. The collection contains print titles, audio books, and DVDs and covers topics such as nutrition, fitness, behavior, and life skills for children and parents.
The popular Love and Logic series is represented in multiple formats within the collection. The audio book Developing Character in Teens features an engaging live presentation by author and speaker Jim Fay on how parents can help their teens make positive choices and prepare for adulthood.
“It takes a village to raise a child” is the message of All Kids Are Our Kids: What Communities Must Do to Raise Caring and Responsible Children and Adolescents by Peter Benson, president of the Search Institute. Benson explores ways that committed people and organizations (such as the local library) are working towards significant and lasting change to better the community.
And though you may have that village, hazards can still be everywhere. To help with that fact, Lawrence Shapiro guides parents in dealing with common troubles (insect bites and splinters) to more serious scenarios (severe burns and broken bones) in The Baby Emergency Handbook: Lifesaving Information Every Parent Needs to Know. Tips for avoiding the problems are offered at the beginning of each section. The inclusion of CPR supplements for infants and children over one makes this title a valuable resource for parents.
These are just a few of the titles included. Please visit Meadowridge and see more of our new Strong Families Collection!
September 30th, 2009
Ryan - Meadowridge
There was a post on a librarian’s blog about a recent New York Times article dealing with the Brooklyn Public Library’s decision to remove a Tintin book from open shelves because it was racially offensive. The librarian blogger was equally concerned about an online companion piece in the Times that showed ten different challenges to books over the years that had gotten published online with the names of those who had challenged the books clearly presented, although their addresses were redacted (blacked out) from the online posting. The public library is supposed to protect patron confidentiality so that last bit does tend to make one uneasy.
Anyway, the article does list ten different items that were challenged over the years, and the library’s response to the challenges. Call me curious, but I wondered how many of those books were held by us or one of the other libraries in our system. Lo and behold, we are eight for ten! Here’s a list of the ten Brooklyn Public Library challenges, and the (condensed) reason they were challenged.
I’d like to say that none of this is intended to make light of people’s concerns about the appropriateness of library materials. We’re a public institution funded primarily by local tax dollars, and we’re always dealing with a too-small budget. That doesn’t leave us a lot of room for making choices that are so far out of the mainstream that they won’t find an audience. However, we do have a fairly diverse audience. I’m not one of the people who selects books, so I really don’t have any insights into the selector’s thinking processes. I’d like to think that I wouldn’t reject a good book just because I was afraid someone might complain that it was inappropriate but I just don’t know for sure.
And if you read any of the challenges filed with the Brooklyn Public Library, you’ll see that people often challenge materials because they don’t want [their] children exposed to it. Not being a parent myself, I can still imagine why someone would have a hard time trying to explain sex, let alone incest and child abuse, to a young reader who inadvertently picked up a copy of Daddy’s Girl. (FYI, I’ve read the book Daddy’s Girl and parts of it were very upsetting). And if any of you parents have insights on how to answer those tough questions young children can pose, feel free to share in the comments section.
September 28th, 2009
Dennis - Central
South Madison’s book discussion group for Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food had a small attendance on Saturday, but the discussion covered a variety of topics: from the economics of modern day farming to how our own parents and grandparents cooked, preserved and gardened, compared to how we do now. An interesting observation from a younger member of the group was how her friends who are going back to farms and farming today see it more as a radical political statement vs. just a lifestyle/livelihood choice.
Visit the Go Big Read program site for a complete listing of upcoming book groups and events.
September 24th, 2009
Lori - South Madison
Guided by Susan Lampert Smith and her husband Matt who brought delicious food from their farm “Blue Valley Gardens”, the Go Big Read book discussion Thursday night at Sequoya of Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food was a lively foray into corporate versus small farms, school lunch programs, what we ate when growing up, how we eat now and what we can do to somehow meet Pollan’s proposal to “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”.
Visit the Go Big Read program site for a complete listing of upcoming book groups and events.
September 18th, 2009
Tracy - Sequoya
A while ago Jane posted news about some hot titles coming out in the near future, which got me thinking. I find that as the summer season winds down in Madison, not only do I look forward to the many activities of a university town but also to the rush of books that come out in the fall by some of my favorites.
I’m looking forward to reading these new titles this fall and winter:
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow
Ford County: Stories by John Grisham
No Time to Wave Goodbye by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Hardball by Sara Paretsky
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
Encore Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Noah’s Compass by Anne Tyler
Are there authors you follow from book to book no matter what? Any authors you’ve given up on?
September 18th, 2009
Lesley - Central
Mary’s comment on a different thread prompted me to look into Reading-list-gate– it’s the first I’d heard of it. Five books must mean it’s a pretty short vacation. Or he’s assuming other things will come along to suck up some of his reading time.
Here’s the (short) list:
The Way Home by George P. Pelecanos.
Lush Life by Richard Price.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf.
Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman.
John Adams by David G. McCullough.
What, no Ann Coulter?
I have a feeling he may not be able to get all this reading done without a little help. So I’m asking all of my fellow Americans to read at least one of these books (maybe not the Ann Coulter stuff), just in case he drops by the neighborhood potluck and you’re grasping for a conversational gambit that won’t result in Secret Service agents wrestling you to the ground while the President is rushed from the room and your hosts burst into tears.
Together, we can make America great again, or at least better read.
Yes we can!
September 12th, 2009
Dennis - Central
September is Library Card Sign-Up Month, and Madison Public Library wants to make sure that Madisonians have the smartest card of all - a free library card. A library card gives you access to the library’s many materials and resources, including computer access, research databases, job and business resources, free movies and music, and much more. During the month of September, Madison Public Library will be giving a small gift to everyone who signs up for a new library card, adults and children alike. Madisonians are encouraged to take advantage of the many free resources offered at their public library, and will receive a fun reminder thanking them for using the smartest card around. For more information on signing up for a library card, visit one of Madison’s nine public libraries or visit us online. Read more.
September 2nd, 2009
Tana
Word on the literary street is that Oprah will be announcing her next Book Club pick on September 18th. Though I’ve not always been a fan of her choices, I am always curious as to which way she will jump when she makes a new one. To make it even more interesting this time around, I’m proposing a guessing game. Guess the book title and author and win a library book bag filled with goodies.
The rules:
- Make your guess by commenting on this post and be sure to include an email address so that we can contact the winner
- If there is more then one person with the correct answer a random drawing will determine the winner
- Library staff can guess, but only for the glory of being right (no prize)
If you need some hints, take a look here and here. And if no one gets it right, we’ll pick a winner randomly from all entries (excluding staff).
August 26th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
The big news this morning is that Elizabeth Gilbert’s sequel to Eat, Pray, Love has been given a title and a publication date. According to the New York Times Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage is due to be released in January of 2010. As she explains in that article: “It is and isn’t a sequel,” Ms. Gilbert said in a telephone interview from near their home in Frenchtown, N.J. “It’s the same two characters, but it’s a very different setting and emotional backdrop. The second book has more of an academic contemplation and more of my family in it.” Though this title hasn’t been added to LINKcat yet, you might check out the author’s earlier works, Pilgrims and Stern Men.
Other big forthcoming titles you can place holds on now:
The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
9 Dragons by Michael Connelly
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
A Separate Country by Robert Hicks
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Angel Time by Anne Rice
Rough Country by John Sandford
Anything you’re looking forward to for the fall?
August 20th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
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