Netters:
I am puzzled and perplexed by (school) library book publishers. I don't
understand WHY they DON'T LEARN from reviewers' comments. I guess there
must be many in the library (or administrative positions?) that just don't
pay attention to reviews and buy books based solely on catalog descriptions
and pictures. I am not one of them!
Frankly, I'm appalled that some books from well-known publishers are so
poorly prepared for publication that even the basics are sometimes absent.
Yesterday I read a review on a set of intermediate level nonfiction books
which are most certainly topics that will be selected primarily for
research, secondarily for interest. The reviewer pointed out that there was
NO TABLE OF CONTENT in the books and the Index was severely deficient. If a
publisher of nonfiction books (I'm not including the K - 2 primary
nonfiction in this category)doesn't comprehend the importance of the Table
of Content or what a GOOD index is, then they don't understand the concept
of research. A librarian at a college told me, "If it doesn't have an
index, a thorough index, I don't buy it. It's worthless."
Other reviews point out layouts that are far "too busy," photographs that
are too small and/or too dark, or don't complement the text. One series had
a small comic character whom the author apparently thought was funny but
the humorous comments weren't ones that a young student would understand,
although an adult who had studied the topic might. Another had apparent
conflicts in the text. Other reviewers commented on the general lack of
information, important facts being left out, or the explanations that would
make them comprehendible, in a biography book. I've often seen comments
that the writing was disjointed or awkward, and even that the illustrations
were "amateurish."
My personal beef is an otherwise excellent series of books with a very
stylized font - in particular one so tall and narrow it looks like
miniature toothpicks lined up. Don't publishers know that we have a lot of
kids with reading disabilities, not to mention vision problems? (May I add,
librarians with tired eyes?!) And many of us have students whose original
reading language used a completely different form of writing. They don't
need the extra challenge of identifying severely stylized font. If it's a
chapter title or a fancy letter beginning the paragraph (is there a term
for that letter?) or part of an illustration, fine - use fancy lettering -
but to print the entire book in an odd print is hard on the eyes and
discourages reading. So does print that is too faint or tone-on-tone, a
trend that I'm seeing more frequently in journals.
I realize that not everyone views things like crowded layouts, unappealing
color combinations, or maps with locations incorrectly placed as critical,
and perhaps they're not at the intermediate level. Inaccurate, bland or
awkward writing is much worse. Surprisingly though, it's not unusual to
compare reviews from two different sources and find two completely
different views - one negative and the other enthusiastic. It does make you
wonder, though.
And what I wonder about MOST is why publishers don't CHANGE or CORRECT
these problems before they go to print - after all the reviewers receive
copies in advance and I assume (perhaps wrongly) that they (publishers) are
interested in what the reviewers have to say. There are, after all, many of
us WHO DO make purchasing decisions based on reviews, not just a catalog or
sale's rep's words.
Sure, there are other factors such as printing deadlines, expense, a lack
of authors with both knowledge and interest in the narrow range of a
certain topic, and editors who don't have the expertise to catch the
errors. Even so, just read several negative reviews and you'll see most of
the problem areas could have been avoided or corrected before the book ever
went to print.
Okay, I'm throwing this out there - what do other Netters think about this?
You'll notice that I wrote without mentioning specific publishers and I
wouldn't advise anyone to name publishers, but rather the specific areas of
dissatisfaction with the book format and content (not bindings, that's
another issue we've discussed before).
Joanne Ladewig, Library Media Technician (A.K.A. "Library Lady")
Lawrence Elementary, GGUSD Garden Grove, California
shatz1@earthlink.net
" You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world
to one person."
- - - comments are my own and may not reflect those of my employer- - -
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