Over on my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service page I list the 5 resources I suggest everyone start with. One is Book Riot. I get a lot of pushback for recommending such a "commercial" site, but that is exactly why I love it. I even write about it in my new book. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 15:
[Neither professional nor reader focused] Book Riot offers a third way, a for-profit site that is actively seeking clicks from book lovers. They write content that is meant to attract attention from the headline; as a result, they have the most timely lists based on whatever is happening in the news or the top microtrends. Everything is written in a conversation style, as if they are speaking directly to their audience, meaning you can easily use their annotations to share books with patrons [with proper attribution of course]. Their paid writers and editors count a fair number of library workers among their ranks too. And because their writers get more money as their clicks go up, they not only cover a wide range of genres, formats, and all age ranges of readers, but they are also extremely responsive to the fickle whims of pop culture and reader preferences. ...Finally, Book Riot has an editorial commitment to representing “diverse” voices and will not put out a list that is only composed of white, male authors, making this the perfect resource when you are having trouble diversifying your own lists of... offerings.
There are articles and lists I would never have access to without Book Riot. I learn something every time I visit the site, but I especially enjoy having the "Check Your Shelf" newsletter for library workers sent to my email in box 2x a week.
Here are two interesting articles I got in yesterday's newsletter:
No comments:
Post a Comment