When I worked as a page I had a couple of patrons (they
were in their mid-twenties, African American, female) ask for books with dark
and gritty settings that they couldn’t find on the library catalog. I wish I
knew then about the Street Lit genre to mention several titles or authors as an
option. I never put any books from this genre away so they must have been
highly circulated or checked out on Overdrive. At my library it’s located under
the subject headings “urban fiction” or “street life” and many titles are in
e-book format. These books are located in the Adult Fiction section only.
The Young Adult fiction section of my local library
is popular; the trend is books made into current TV and movies (i.e., Hunger Games and Divergent series, Vampire
Diaries, Gossip Girl). They are
also fans of the Eoin Colfer’s Artemis
Fowl series, Lynne Ewing’s Daughter’s
of the Moon series, Alyson Noel’s Soul
Seeker series, and authors James Patterson, Carol Lynch Williams, and
Maggie Stiefvater. Fantasy and the paranormal are dominant subcategories in
this genre. Patrons are also checking out CDs with songs of the music playlist
that inspired the book(s) which is listed within the book or on the author’s
website. Adults may be interested in these books because it is still a new
genre, meets their reading level, and is a reflection of their adolescence
years. I think what most appeals to patrons about these books is that they are
highly accessible and available in audiobook, e-book, book club to go kit, and
large print formats.
Recently we had a graphic novels display at my
library and I was surprised how many were checked out. Superman, Spiderman, X-Men, Peanuts, and the Watchmen series were the top items.
Manga is more popular with teens, they like that these books read right to left and from back to front.
Graphic novels are a quick read, visually appealing, have a good versus evil
theme with heroes and villains, diverse characters, moving storyline, and allow
readers a place to escape. The appeal factors from the readings show that the
subject matter is important (including informational topics such as cancer, bullying,
autism, Alzheimer’s disease). Older patrons continue to check out graphic
novels at my branch for recreational reading; they have historical value and
are part of pop culture. In my library they are placed in a separate section
away from the stacks because of their size and being in paperback this affects
their durability. I wonder if in the future more will be available in e-book
format.
Since there is an audience for each of these genres
they should be included and marketed for adults at the public library. The
library is providing a service of having these items being accessible and
available in different formats. I realize that the independent publishers of
these authors create challenges regarding budget and collection development
selections. If the patrons cannot find the book then they will go
somewhere else; genres need to be more defined in the stacks.
I wonder if many of the Street Lit titles are eBooks because of having a hard time finding a traditional publisher if they are considered a niche market? That's how Erotica started, eBooks only, and now it's more mainstream although there are many more downloadable titles than there are paper. That's certainly a sub-genre that many people sneer at or can be controversial.
ReplyDeleteOne of the pages at my branch reads manga and watches anime. She mentioned that she was going to read a fantasy book from the SF shelf, and she felt this was a bit of a stretch. Now, the interesting thing is that has read several manga series. When I asked, she had read all of the Ranma 1/2 manga (Japanese graphic novels), and she had watched all the Ranma 1/2 anime (Japanese cartoons). While this is a story about shape changing creatures: a man who becomes a panda, a boy who becomes a girl, and someone who becomes a pig. And, there were lots of other shape changers.(My understanding is that it is largely comedic with the shape changing as a standard gag -- sort of "oops, I became a panda.") She didn't associate this with fantasy. This was manga and anime but not fantasy. It was an enlightening conversation.
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