New Issue of The Corner Shelf is Now Live

In case you missed it, there is a brand new issue of Booklist's Newsletter The Corner Shelf, edited by Susan Maguire.

Click here to read the entire issue, but below I have reposted Susan's Editor's Note and the linked table of contents. But if you want to see the adorable picture of her dog dressed as a lobster for Halloween, you have to click here. [It's worth it].

Cute pet pics aside, this is THE ONLY newsletter out there which examines the very important space where RA Service and Collection Development overlap. Yes, they don't overlap everywhere, but in some very important places, they do. I learn things every time this newsletter comes out. And that is saying a lot because Susan is my editor and this month features one of my friends and colleagues Heather Booth.

You can read the issue here or use the links below, or click here to subscribe and have it delivered to your inbox:

EDITOR'S NOTE

By the time you read this, the world may feel like less of a dumpster fire. In the likely event this is not true, here's a quick reminder: our work matters.

It's easy to dismiss pleasure reading as something unnecessary in the face of all the necessary things that need to get done. By extension, it's easy to dismiss the work of readers'-advisory and collection-development librarians as frivolous, simply facilitating an escape from those aforementioned necessary things. 

Listen. No. In her introduction to The Best American Short Stories, 2018, editor Roxane Gay shares this jewel:

"I am not avoiding reality when I read fiction; I am strengthening my ability to cope with reality." 

Does this ring true for you? Do you think it rings true for your patrons? I'm willing to bet lots of money (OK, $5) that it does. So when the tension of the world seems to be simultaneously too big to ignore and too much to deal with, remember that books are our friends, and we, as librarians, are facilitators of our patrons' ability to cope. 

And now, here is a picture of my dog in her Halloween costume, which is a lobster: CLICK HERE TO SEE [Becky added this link]

—Susan Maguire 

Senior Editor, Collection Development and Library Outreach, Booklist 

smaguire@ala.org 

@Booklist_Susan

October 2018 
• At the Corner of Baker & Taylor: Future-Proofing Libraries with Data 
• Notes from the Field: Welcome to Booklist, Heather Booth 
• From The Booklist Reader: Carnegie Longlist 
• RA Showcase: It's a Cookbook 
• Top 10: Horror 
• Baker & Taylor Best-Sellers