Professional Journal Entry 8 - Booklist

Booklist Interview with John Green

(found on The Booklist Reader page under Some of Our Favorite Vids)

 

1.       RESOURCE  Booklist Online www.booklistonline.com and The Booklist Reader www.thebooklistreader.com

2.       SUMMARY   Booklist Online contains a myriad of information about books for the average book reader, book club member, book club leader, parent and more. I started on the home page and began to click on articles that interested me.  I read the glowing “Review of the Day” about Richard Ford’s Let Me Be Frank with you.  I hopped over to WEB exclusives and “Celebrate Banned Books Week with Graphic Novels”.  This article provided librarians information for approaching banned books via graphic novels and including all readers in the program, from parents to children, teachers to librarians.  Finally, I clicked on The Booklist Reader advertised as “Your new favorite bookmark.”  This had a great deal of information broken up clearly into different categories and also had a comprehensive list of tags for linking to additional information such as “book group tips” or “Gr. 2 – 4”, 

3.       RESPONSE TO RESOURCE  Honestly, I was overwhelmed when I first when to Booklist Online.  I was worried that I would not be able to access most of the information because I was not a subscriber.  Fortunately, after clicking around, I did find that I could access a great deal of the information. I did not like the front page.  It was overflowing with information and unclear categorizing/organization, the text was tight and though some subheadings were bolded, the font was small and sometimes difficult to read (i.e., small, bold, white text articles under “Web Exclusives”.  I did like when I clicked on The Booklist Reader.  Ahh. . . .it made sense, it was easy to see the organization and navigate.  The category Book Group Buzz even prompted me to sign into Good Reads, which I haven’t done in eons, and add a book to my “to read” shelf.  I was relieved to see the tags where I could finally see how I could search books by grade level. I definitely see myself using The Booklist Reader again in the future.  It may one day become a regular visit, but for now I see visiting it on occasion when I am looking for recommended book club pics or student pics. 

4.       RESPONSE TO CONTENT From this source, I learned that there is a lot of information out there about books, book pics, book recs and more.  As a librarian, I might use this information to build my library collection or as a source for creating lessons or projects such as the banned books program explained above.  I have many questions about Book List and Book List Reader, but it is really a matter of understanding what more it has to offer and how I can best use its tools and resources.  That will come with more time and more research. Therefore, I do plan to come back to it and explore it more.