A second glance is all that's needed for a book re-view.

Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular (especially in the romance genre) see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author, and then still it's usually only RT Reviews (formally Romantic Times) or other genre heavy publications. How does this affect collection development?

I think it makes it more difficult. When doing collection development, people tend to look at eBooks as a whole category, therefore, eBook only books kind of get lumped into that group. How do you justify purchasing an eBook patrons might not use because they either don’t have the platform to read it on, or people don’t know about it?  You can’t, and the lack of reviews is not helping the case, because if you don’t have time to read the book, you rely on reviews. If there are no reviews, how do you know people are reading it or its worth adding to the collection? You don’t. The goal of collection development is to acquire materials that patrons will use. Since you don’t know for certain that the eBook only books will be used, you might as well pick something that will be worth the investment.

I have posted two more documents in the week five files. One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?

Reliable in the sense that they are trustworthy, sure, but reliable in the sense that they are dependable, no. I would never deny that someone read a book unless I read it myself. Therefore, I would default as the review being trustworthy because I wouldn’t know the difference if it wasn’t. Now, are the reviews dependable? From a library standpoint, I would say no simply because it is not professionally done. Most people, including myself, tend to attach their personal feelings to the review, rather than from an objective standpoint, because that is how we relate to books as readers. Are our feelings on the book going to sway a complete stranger to read the book just because we loved it? Maybe, but more than likely not.  Professional reviewers, like librarians, tend to focus more on the book itself and how it fits into its genre from an objective point of view, rather than their feelings about it. Hence why there are Kirkus style reviews and others. With that being said, I personally wouldn’t buy this book strictly because it’s a cheesy romance book, regardless of what the reviews say, but that’s just me. On the other hand, if I were purchasing this book for a library based on these reviews, I would still say unlikely for the reasons stated above.  

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir. These reviews are all from professional publications, feel free to find more on your own I just nabbed a few from the Book Review Digest database for you. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

Based on these reviews, I would add it. It seems that, based on these reviews, the book has a little to offer to everyone. The more people the book is likely to cater to increases the chances of it being used and read. For example, piggybacking off a previous question, eBook only books have a very limited audience, i.e. those whom have access to that type of book. However, if a book had a paperback, ebook, and audiobook version, it reaches a wider variety of people, increasing its chances of being used and reviewed. The more people likely to read or use the material, the more likely it will be added to the collection. It’s parallel.

Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage?

Fair to who? Fair to the book? Not necessarily, but books don’t have feelings. Fair to the people? Sure. Not everyone reads the same type of book, but there are groups of people that do, hence why we have genres. Books that are heavily reviewed tend to get a strong reaction out of people, good or bad. Therefore, the bigger the reaction, the more people are likely to review it. The more reviews there are, the more opinions there are about the book which can help other people decide if it is worth their time. It’s a popularity contest. Are popularity contests fair? Depends on who you ask.

How does this affect a library's collection? 

What books to libraries tend to have? Books that are popular. Popular does not always mean “good”, but that’s kind of how the system works. If a library is going to be successful, it needs to cater to its patrons wants and needs. If you have several people asking for a book that you don’t have, how likely are those people going to come back? Can you have a library that doesn’t have patrons? You can, but what purpose does it serve? The collection needs to fit the people, therefore, what is popular typically drives part of a libraries collection. For example, do you think that libraries had long hold times on the Bird Box book before the movie came out on Netflix? Probably not because not everyone knew about it. Do you think they have long hold times now? I can almost guarantee it.  

And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate?

I’m not sure if “appropriate” is the right word, but no, I find it illogical that some review sources don’t print negative content. As a reader, I think it’s silly that some review sources don’t print negative content because what is a review if it is not someone’s opinion? Not everyone is going to like the same book. It’s just not going to happen, it’s not the world that we live in. Some may like it more than others, but to completely ignore, or negate, negative reviews doesn’t help anyone. Now, there will be some people that bash the book for whatever reason, but all reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, good or bad. Also, you don’t HAVE to read the negative reviews if you don’t want to. It’s your choice, but to completely take them out, revokes that choice.  Negative reviews can do a few positive things. One, it gives the author opportunity to grow. If an author reads negative reviews, it can provide criticism, within reason, on how they could do better. Yes, there will be people out there that bash the book simply because they can, but it also can give authors, and readers, incite to the book’s shortcomings. This could save people from reading a book they may not enjoy, and that’s not a bad thing. With as many books as there are in the world, no one has time to read them all. Might as well read the things that you are going to like, rather than wasting your time. Now if I were a publisher, I can see why they wouldn’t allow that kind of content, because it could affect book sales. Can’t make money if the book doesn’t sell. Also, negative reviews could deter people from reading the book in the first place, even though I just stated it as a positive a few sentences ago. It could really go either way. I can see why authors wouldn’t want negative reviews, because some of them might not be able to handle the criticism. However, going back to the reader’s perspective, would you be more likely to read a book with negative reviews or a book with only few reviews? Personally, I would choose the former because that means more people reviewed it and gave their honest opinion about it, to an extent. It’s not so different than pulling food recipes off the internet. Are you going to choose the recipe with 5,000+ reviews although some of them are negative, or are you going to choose the recipe with 100 reviews that are all positive? Which one is more heavily weighted? The more reviews, the more reliable the overall review is. There is only one verdict when it comes to reviewing anything, majority rules, even if you don’t agree with the majority.

If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions? If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading, and what are some of your favorite review sources?

I don’t purchase for a library so I will answer the second question. For personal reading, I tend to read reviews after I have read the book, unless it is a verbal review from someone. If I look at a review prior to reading the book, I tend to just glance at the star rating, from amazon, goodreads, or wherever multiple people can cast their rating. That will give me an idea of how good the book really is, or at least what the general opinion is about the book. Do I listen to these ratings and does it affect my choices? Typically, not. If anything, I’m curious to see if I have the same opinion as others.