Book Review: Reading Novels During the Covid 19 Pandemic

(Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian.)

Ben Davies, Christina Lupton, and Johanne Gormsen Schmidt, Reading Novels During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022. ISBN: 9780192857682.

Genre: literary studies, literacy, academic treatise, reading

Subgenre: COVID-19, pandemics 

Format: hardcover

Source: Interlibrary Loan (ILL) via Hutchins Library. It came from Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, Texas.

 

Now that most people think the COVID-19 pandemic is over we're seeing all sorts of books and retrospectives of the pandemic time. This book would fall in that category, though the study it discusses was done during the pandemic. The book aims to provide a look at reading habits of folks during the pandemic, specifically reading fiction. Bottom line, for me at least, is this is a book by academics written for other academics. This is not exactly a book for light or pleasure reading. I picked it up to see what insights it might have offered to librarians and to see another side of the pandemic. 

The book is arranged into an introduction and nine chapters. The introduction describes the parameters of the study. The chapters look at different types of books people chose to read and reasons to do so. Among the selections were books about plagues, old books, and romances. The book includes a bibliography, which is extensive but it also features a lot of popular magazine articles. The book also features an appendix with the survey instrument. 

Note that the study sample readers in two countries: Denmark and the United States. Once we get past the introduction, the chapters look at different kinds of reading. Bring a typical academic book, the authors fill a lot of pages with literary and critical theory to support their findings. Between all the theory  you get selected quotes from the readers they interviewed. The reader quotes may be the most interesting part, but they get drowned by all the theory.

To be honest, if you strip out a lot of the theory, you end with what feels like material for popular magazine articles. The book's findings often read like headlines for a popular magazine article. Some examples of findings: 

• How people perceived time/made time to read during lockdown.
• Why Camus's book The Plague makes for popular pandemic reading.
• Unable to buy books, more people read what is already on their shelves. 
• You said you'd read that big, long, thick book some day. Well, the day is here, so start reading War and Peace. 

That is pretty much what the authors' research confirms, things that we sort of knew. I am sure plenty of librarians observed some of the reading patterns presented in the book. I will also notes the book looks at people who were mostly locked down at home and stuck there. I was deemed essential, so I worked at the library, albeit virtually with my office door closed. So my lockdown experience was very different. 

Overall, this is a dense academic book looking at a limited sample of readers. The themes do not seem to be particularly breaking news, and much of it seems like material for articles rather than a cohesive book. Research libraries interested in literacy and literary studies may want to acquire it. It may also be of interest to large LIS program libraries. I would consider it highly optional, and I would not acquire it for our library. 

1 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: Temples of Books

 (Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian.)

Marianne Julia Strauss, et.al., Temples of Books: Magnificent Libraries Around the World. Berlin, Germany: Gestalten Verlag, 2022.  ISBN: 9783967040241.

Genre: libraries

Subgenre: photography, travel

Format: oversize, coffee table book

Source: Interlibrary Loan (ILL) at Hutchins Library. The book came from Lutnick Library, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania.

 

This is an oversize book highlighting libraries from around the world. It includes 54 libraries, large and small, and it includes at least one virtual library. On reading it, I felt the book was very Western and Eurocentric, so I went back and did the locations breakdown: 

• United States: 10.
• Europe: 25.
• Asia: 6.
• Africa: 6.
• Latin America: 3.
• Australia: 1.
• Canada: 1.
• Oceania: 1.
• Online: 1.

I think the numbers speak for themselves. I honestly wonder if the editors really could not find more great libraries outside of Europe and the United States.  For example, I am sure Latin America has more than three libraries that could qualify as a "magnificent library." 

In addition to the library entries, the book includes an introduction by author and volume co-editor Marianne Julia Strauss. She opens the introduction and book referring back to the ever popular Borges quote about imagining paradise as a library. She describes then what the book covers, such as: 

"Temples of Books explores the history, mission, architecture, and changing role of selected libraries around the world. The following pages reveal extraordinary public and private collections, national and monastery libraries, repurposed engine sheds, and UNESCO-protected mud buildings from Mexico to Vietnam to Mauritania" (4).

So while there is not much geographic diversity, the editors do provide a good sampling of different types of libraries. Each library entry includes: 

• Library name.
• Design/designer name/style.
• When/date built.
• Location.
• Descriptive text and narrative about the library.
• A selection of photos of the library.

The entries vary in length from a couple of pages to five pages give or take. The text is interesting and informative, though some of the short entries do seem short leaving the reader to ask if there was not more that could be written. Text can include a history of the library, who it serves, and other highlights. 

The strength of the book is in the photography. The photos vary in size, but they are beautiful, and it is a pleasure to view them. The photos are in full color. Do note more prominent libraries get more photos. 

This is a great book to casually browse. You can read it cover to cover, or you can just browse for what catches your eye. 

I recommend the book for armchair travelers who enjoy large travel photography books. Fans of libraries will likely enjoy it as well. I'd also recommend it for public and academic libraries. Libraries with LIS programs will want to add this one. Overall, despite some issues, I really liked it. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Additional reading notes: 

Jay Walker's advice on creating your own private library: 

"Collect to learn! Books that can teach you what you never thought you were interested in or can inspire you in ways that stretch your imagination-- no matter the resale value-- are worth their weight in gold" (113). 

Malala Yousafzai's quote on the power of books: 

"Let us not forget that even one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world" (qtd. in 297). 

Reading the highlights of the ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey for 2021

Took a look at this article out of College and Research Libraries (CR&L) on the 2021 ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey. I can only look at the highlights because you need to be subscriber to see more, which I am not. The article has a enough to get a basic picture of what is going on. 

This is a survey designed to help show how libraries have academic libraries have an impact in their institutions and show value to their users and stakeholders. Notice that this survey would cover part of the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey has a standard set of questions, but this edition also featured a set of additional questions specific to topics in library instruction and presentations to groups.

Some details with a bit of comment from me: 

• Data was collected from 1,533 libraries. The response rate was close to 42%. 
• The number of FTE (full time equivalent) librarians stayed stable over the past three annual surveys. However the number of FTE student workers went down by 40%. 
• In person reference transactions and library instruction declined. This is less surprising given the Hard Times and the pandemic. Like other campuses, we did have a period of campus closing down where we went fully virtual. It is 2023, and we are still not quite recuperating in terms of getting classes to come back into the library for instruction nor in terms of traffic in the building. 
• Virtual transactions and consultations went up. Also the survey found more libraries delivered services online. Given the Hard Times, that is not surprising either. We did our part to deliver more services online. 

To be honest, kind of nice to see some numbers, but there is nothing that is earth shattering so to speak. 

 

 

Reading ALA's "State of America's Libraries" 2023

I do not always read this report (link to ALA page, where you can get a summary and download the full PDF report, which I did save and read), but given the situation in the last few years, I took a look. After reading it, I see a lot of the usual feel good rhetoric about the nobility of our libraries, about their bravery in these Hard Times, and how they do more with less. Those are not necessarily new things, but they have been aggravated by current threats to our collections as well as to librarians. 

I am just going to quickly note a couple of things that caught my eye or made me react. You can click on the link above and read the full report or as much of it as you wish. The most useful part of the report are probably the various infographics and charts with information on book challenges, lists, and other issues. You can use some of those graphics to help promote the report as well as raising awareness overall. 

Some highlights then with a comment or two from me: 

From the executive director message: 

Librarians "found themselves contending with reduced funding and staffing, threats to personal safety in the form of bomb scares and to professional livelihoods from firings and job losses, and bills threatening to criminally charge librarians or defund libraries altogether for making certain materials available on their shelves or findable through reference services" (2). 

What often is happening is that some angry "Karen" from some terrorist astroturf group like "Moms for Liberty" throws a hissy fit, and then the administrators to keep the peace just fold. As P.Z. Myers writes, "That’s all it takes, one prude from the fascist group “Moms for Liberty” complains, and administrators instantly surrender." Not exactly the bravest of actions. The result is that these well organized Party of Stupid conservative Christofascists get emboldened when they see they can get away with some small challenge, try for a bigger one, and before you know it they get legislators to defund libraries. They were not challenged back early when they were small, and thus a lot of the mess we have now. 

From the 2022-2023 ALA President: 

"As trusted institutions, libraries are the last bastion of democracy that is truly inclusive and free" (3). 

Unless you happen to be in one of those communities who are happy to let their elected officials defund their libraries and threaten the safety of their librarians. But other than that, sure. Heck, even here in Kentucky the book challenges are on the rise. 

From the director of ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom: 

The rising numbers of challenges and book bans "are evidence of a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement whose goals include removing books addressing race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America's public libraries and school libraries that do not meet their approval" (4). 

That is a polite way of saying a well-organized right wing Part of Stupid Christofascist bunch of bigots who more often than not have not even read the books they are challenging. Also ignores the fact that in many libraries the administrators flat out ignore their own book challenge procedures to appease them. So allowing them to escalate has led to the following: 

"Both school and public librarians are increasingly in the crosshairs of conservative groups during book challenges and subject to defamatory name calling, online harassment, social media attacks, and doxxing, as well as direct threats to their safety, their employment, and their very liberty" (4). 

This is the America we live in now. These are Hard Times to be a librarian and/or an educator for that matter.  

To be honest, the best part of the report that is really worth reading is the "Forward Momentum" article edited by Phil Morehart. It highlights some interesting and innovative things that some libraries are doing including a cellphone lending program, enhanced library cards for ID use, and lending utility wagons. 

The report is 18 pages long in PDF form. It is an ALA report, which means it focuses mainly on public libraries. For academic libraries, there is the ACRL Library Trends and Statistics Survey (latest out now is the 2021 edition, which I will look at later).

Short book review: A Library Miscellany

Claire Cock-Starkey, A Library Miscellany. Oxford, UK: Bodleian Library, 2018. ISBN: 9781851244720.

Genre: nonfiction

Subgenre: trivia, libraries

Format: small hardcover

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

 

This is a small book of library histories, lists, and trivia. The book also looks at library collections, individuals, and facts. Many of the lists and material has an anglophile focus; the book is published by the Bodleian library. 

Some of the topics included in the book are: 

• The ten largest libraries in the world. 
• Some fictional libraries of note. 
• Charles Darwin's library aboard the Beagle. 
• Some famous librarians of note.
• Library treasures: the Gough Map.

Overall, this is a nice small interesting book. Librarians and library fans will likely appreciate it. Readers who enjoy trivia books will probably enjoy this one. The book is nothing spectacular, but it is an easy and quick read where you learn a few things about libraries. I liked it, and I would suggest it for trivia readers and library fans. 

3 out of 5 stars.