Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory

Citation

Osorio, M.A. (2010), "Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory", Collection Building, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 162-163. https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951011088916

Brad Hooper is the Adult Books Editor of Booklist, the review journal published for school and public librarians in the USA by the American Library Association; he has a Master's degree in library science and a Bachelor's degree in European history. Among his many activities, he speaks about book reviewing to numerous librarian and publishing groups throughout the USA while also finding the time to conduct review‐writing workshops for public librarians. As a writer of note, he has published book reviews, short stories, essays and books.

The rate of publishing today moves at a fast pace; there is a book for every taste, need or topic imaginable; and in order for a librarian to build the best possible collection for his or her community, and in order to meet the needs of numerous library clients, the professional librarian must select astutely from a prodigious array of titles. With the help of a myriad of reviewers, these tasks become less daunting. For those with a bent for writing and a desire to help all concerned – librarians, teachers, scholars, newspaper writers and all venues of the publishing community – this work has value.

The motivating factor for the writing of this book and for the teaching of librarians on how to write book reviews was that it would help them market their libraries and actually get people onto the physical premises of their respective library buildings. Once there, people could see for themselves the many resources available to them. Hooper, through this work, describes how to go about marketing the library through the use of book reviews.

Not overly lengthy, this work presents in a concise format the knowledge required for publishing a book review. The author first defines what a book review is before he proceeds to explain what makes a good review and a good reviewer; he also clarifies the difference between reviews versus criticism by providing literary examples of many of the points made; further, he puts into plain words the difference between a review and an annotation. There is a chapter on how to present review writing workshops for staff members or as a programme for the public. A chapter on how to write an audio book review written by Joyce Saricks (the author of Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library) has been added to enhance the reader's understanding of this type of review writing. There are two appendices, one on writing annotations and one on favourite reviewers; a bibliography plus an index are included.

This work is recommended for public, academic and special libraries and those interested in writing book reviews.