Week Five Prompt

Reviews and Collection Development:

Since many libraries do seem to focus on how a book is reviewed to help determine whether or not an item will be added to the collection, I do feel like it can hurt that some review sites focus only on books that are both ebook and print and not on ones that might only be ebook. Many great self published books are also left out of consideration because of this as well. I think that while reviews can be very helpful, it also helps to remember that just because someone loved or hated a book that does not mean that others will as well. It would seem that if the publications are focusing more on big name authors or only books that are also print then they are missing out on a lot of great reads and since they are not reviewing those books, then librarians could be missing adding them to their collection.

The Billionaire's First Christmas Reviews:

While I think that both of the reviews do give some good information about the plot, I do not think that they are reliable. They seemed too focused on the fact that the hero didn't like Christmas. Also, this is a romantic suspense book and yet neither review goes into that aspect of the plot. While the blurb caught my eye, I do not believe that I would purchase this book for a library collection, especially not given the reviews.

Angela's Ashes Reviews:

I feel like the reviews do a nice job of giving us a summary not only of the plot but the feel of the book as well. They give enough information to draw in interest but without telling everything. Based on these reviews I do think that I would consider adding this to a collection if I thought it would fit with what was already there and that it would be received well.

Fairness of reviews:

While I do not think it is fair that big name author's books get reviewed by practically everyone and yet other amazing works of lesser known authors don't get any recognition, it is what it is. Not all but many big name authors didn't start out that way, their popularity grew over time. At least with those lesser known authors or self published authors, there are other review sites where they could possibly get some reviews to get noticed but it will be harder to get them into a library's collection unless the librarians start looking other than those review publications or the publications start widening the net with who and what they will review.

While I don't think it is necessary for a reviewer to get personal or extremely rude or nasty, negative reviews are not something that I think need to be banned. Not everyone is going to love every thing that someone writes or publishes. Interestingly enough, I have had authors tell me that it was the few one star reviews they received that have some times gotten people to read their books when they wouldn't otherwise instead of all the five star ones. So while I don't think that anyone wants to see a negative review, people have a right to their opinion and as long as the negative reviews are not cruel or personal toward the author then I do not think that they should not be printed.

Personally, if I am going to use reviews to find a book to read I always use Aestas Book Blog, which focuses mainly on romance books. Sometimes I will skim the reviews on Amazon or Goodreads but I always keep in mind that they are someone's personal opinions and that mine may agree or differ with them. Mainly I use Aestas Book Blog for recommendations and finding my next new book.