Both of our readings this week talk about the culture of reading and the
future of the book. So I have two questions for you as readers, pulling
on your own experiences and all of the readings we have done over the
semester: First, how have reading and books changed since you were a
child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in
the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now.
Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive?
What will happen to traditional publishing?
I grew up in a "reading" family, surrounding by books, magazines, and newspapers. My parents read to us when we were young and encouraged us to read when we were older, and my parents continue to be voracious readers - my mom reads novels and my dad reads magazines, newspapers, blogs, and the occasional books (mostly nonfiction). Those experiences shaped my reading habits and, to this day, I read a lot. One of the biggest changes since I was a child has been the explosion of books for teens. I work often in our Teen Library and I have to confess that I am a little jealous of the teens that come in - I went pretty much straight from children's chapter books to novels for adults. Honestly, though, I'm so happy that there are so many books in so many different styles and genres written specifically for teens. Provided that teens are given the freedom to explore on their own and read what they want to read, I think this will help build a strong generation of readers - stronger than my generation, that mostly went from children's chapter books to adult books. I just wish John Green, or someone like him, had been writing books for teens when I was a teen - I would have eaten it up!
I also see more and more subgenres and crossover genres, and I really enjoy exploring them. A lot of this is driven by e-books (where you can read romances about gay werewolves in the Army to your heart's content if you want), but these subgenres are creeping into print too. It makes it more difficult for libraries, I think, but as a reader, I love being able to dip my toe into a new type of book.
I think that fracturing is where the future lies, and we need to embrace it (even though it's tougher for the library profession). I'm not super concerned about the future of books, reading, or publishing. As Ursula K. LeGuin pointed out in, "Staying Awake," there's never been a time that everybody has read, and reading has continued. I'd take it a step further and say that storytelling has been around since we had enough language to tell stories, and so, regardless of format, storytelling will continue. If you look at it that way, storytelling has never been more robust. Traditional books may not have quite the market share, but they are still thriving, both in print and in e-books. There are also graphic novels, audiobooks, podcasts (some of which tell stories, like the popular "Welcome to Night Vale" - it's basically a serialized radio drama), magazines, blogs, newspapers, and news sites, not to mention movies, TV shows, and documentary films. Publishing firms are already embracing this, and they will continue to embrace it as they see money in it.
The biggest thing that we, as librarians and as book advocates, need to do is to accept the varied ways that people read and support that. That means different things to different libraries, but the biggest thing is give people the opportunity to find what they like to read, without judgment. That may mean making sure to purchase things in a variety of genres and subgenres, or creating displays and book lists, or boosting your magazine subscriptions or audiobook collection, or getting more e-books, or something else. Whether they're checking out "Great Expectations" or "50 Shades of Grey," it doesn't really matter - the more we accept this, the better off reading will be.
I complete agree with you when you say, "... need to do is to accept the varied ways that people read and support that." I am a huge fan of crossgenres and subgenres and that is one of the ways that the reading world is changing. We as librarians need to be flexible and accept that different people like different things. We also have to accept that our world is ever changing and try to keep up on that change. I think you say that well here.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's one of the things I try to keep to the forefront of my mind as I do my job. I took over selecting for the romance collection fairly recently and I've been trying a lot of subgenres that haven't been purchased before. Some of them are things that I have little interest in reading, but I'm so glad when patrons check them out!!!
DeleteIt didn't occur to me when responding to my own prompt but you are right about the increase in cross-genres and sub genres. I think as time goes by the amount of genres will triple.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't occur to me when responding to my own prompt but you are right about the increase in cross-genres and sub genres. I think as time goes by the amount of genres will triple.
ReplyDelete"The biggest thing that we, as librarians and as book advocates, need to do is to accept the varied ways that people read and support that"
ReplyDeleteI copied this line to come make a comment about how great it is and see that someone else thought so to!! I agree with this statement and over the last several weeks I have thought more and more about this concept. While I do think its wonderful that some libraries separate and label and shelve books according to what "genre" they feel it belongs in. I think its more about the readers and what they will relate to. I wish that I could take every book I have and wrap it in brown paper with only the description showing and make patrons select books by only that to go on. Labeling something almost causing people to not read it based on their likes, while in actuality they may actually love what they read if they had only giving it a chance.
I clicked in to comment on the line, "The biggest thing that we, as librarians and as book advocated, need to do is to accept the varied ways that people read and support that", only to see others have love it, too. Very well said!
ReplyDeleteJenny this is an excellent post! I couldn't agree with you more about the explosion of teen content. Our teen collection is arguably one of the largest in the library and I love that. It appeals to tweens, teens and adults, including me. I have just recently started dipping my toes into the many options available through YA and I am amazed at the variety. Truly, I would have NEVER slept in middle school and high school had these many options been around then.
ReplyDeleteAs for the future of libraries, I think that you hit the nail right on the head talking about fracturing and embracing that. The more sub-genres that splinter off, the more potential readers who are drawn in by a storyline that finally appeals to them. I know that this can be difficult and diluted, and is certainly a nightmare for shelving, but really, the most important thing is that people find a book when they come in looking for one, and sub-genres make that even more likely.
As a reader, I have sought out New Adult titles. I have run into the problem of them being offered only as an E-book, and my library doesn't carry them. This is the main obstacle that I foresee libraries running into--being able to provide the titles that readers want. I think you stated it perfectly that reading isn't going anywhere, but as librarians, we do need to figure out how to work with the formats that readers want.
ReplyDelete