Okay, so part 2 is all about the Branch. (Check out Part 1) This is my middle class, heavy reader community and I think the stats easily show that. Before I say anything more I want to give full disclosure, my list only includes books that are currently in the Teen Area at the Branch. I  have included copies that have recently gone into missing, lost, or withdrawn because most had circulated in the past 8 months (we switched systems end of June) and I wanted their numbers to still count.

The following titles are located in JUV, meaning they were not added into my list. I may reevaluate some of these titles and move them to teen, but for now they are not part of my data.

Skellig by David Almond
Kit’s Wildnerness by David Almond
Many Stones by Carolyn Coman
Heart to Heart by Jan Greenberg
Hole in my Life by Jacke Gantos
John Lennon: All I want is the Truth by Elizabeth Patridge
A Wreath for Emmit Till by Marilyn Nelson
Charles and Emma by Debra Heiligman

There were also a couple of titles that should be in teen, but are not owned by the Branch (although they are by our Main Library)

Dreamquake : book two of the Dreamhunter duet by Elizabeth Knox
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster boy by Gary D. Schmidt
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
The Returning by Christine Hinwood

 I also only have Code Name Verity and Dodger already ordered from this year’s list.

Okay, so what I learned. Where most books at the Main Library where sitting at an average of 3 circs, my Branch is at 5 circs or more. In fact, while the Main Library has 27 titles with 2 or less average circulations the Branch only has 7! That’s a huge difference. Again, Why We Broke Up is in first place. I don’t think I expected that one to be in top, but it makes sense since it’s one of the newer books and had a lot of buzz. It’s also interesting to see that Stolen, The Book Thief, Scorpio Races, and Looking for Alaska were in the top 10 at both locations. I think that says something with 5 books stand out as leaders at two different locations. And while Code Name Verity isn’t in the top 10 at the Branch, it’s not that far behind. I’ll be interested to see if it jumps ranks this coming year.

There are still 11 titles that haven’t circ’d in the last 8 months. A little better than the Main Library, but it still makes me sad. Interestingly enough, the only overlap in titles between the two locations are Black Juice, My Heartbeat, White Darkness, and The Ropemaker. I am surprised at how well Octavian Nothing is doing. I feel like that one is always on the shelf, but seeing that it had 5 check-outs in the past 8 months proves otherwise. However, I am curious why they’re not continuing on to the sequel as that has one had 1 check-out recently and has half the circulation that book one does. I may not be too far off on thinking this one doesn’t have high appeal with my teens, but at least they’re trying it out.

Again, there is no surprise in which titles have staying power and which do not. Those titles are almost exactly the same at both locations. However, being a John Green fan girl, I am pleased to see both Abundance of Katherines and Looking for Alaska are doing well. I don’t do storage at the Branch, but I really don’t see any titles that will be withdrawn in the coming months. There are a couple I need to get back into the spotlight, but besides the few that have already been pulled the rest are doing well enough. As with the Main Library there are a couple of titles I need to order replacements for and maybe even additional copies. All in all, I’m very pleased to see the Printz Award titles doing so well at the Branch. The numbers at both locations really have given me a new perspective on the award and appeal, especially since I booktalk about very few of these titles. This is something I do plan to change in the future; I’m going to encourage my co-workers to read some of the titles on the list and creating a display around the winner/honors.

Below is all the data I collected. The tables are sortable if you wish to look at them in different orders. If you have any question/think I might have left something out just leave a comment. I realize this may really only be fascinating to me, but I would still love to hear other’s thoughts/have a discussion. I also plan on doing the same thing for the Morris Award, which should be posted next week.

One of my (many) goals this year is do massive weeding at both of my locations. This means I physically take each book off the shelf and evaluate it. Condition is one factor that comes into play, but mainly I’m looking to see how often it has circulated and when the last time it was checked out. I’ve done non-circ lists in the past, but have noticed many books are missed. Sometimes this is due to improper cataloging or occasionally the book has been marked missing/lost. While this is highly time consuming, so far it has been worth it. Not only for the space it has restored (seriously, I wish I had taken before and after pictures), but also because it has allowed me to discover books that have gone missing completely.

I will admit that some books have gone down into our storage areas, but they are mainly classics, multiple copies, or books myself or my boss think should stay in the collection. The ratio, on average, has been 2:1 in the delete vs. storage. All in all, not too bad.

Of course, the downside of touching every book, is I come across ones that may deserve to be saved. Sometimes there are books that just slip through the cracks. Books that are amazing, but no one really discovers them. I decided that books I questioned, I should take home to evaluate. The only problem? A few books quickly turned into 60! While not all of them are in my house, I have created a list of books I need to look over. I’ve been sidetracked a little more than I wanted these past few months, but I’m finally back into a place where I can start tackling the pile.

As I’ve started to read and evaluate the books I thought my process would make a great series of posts; a way to share my insights if books have future shelf life or not. Of course, it will also offer insight to things that librarians have to think about when looking at books. And who knows, maybe someone will discover a great book along the way. So, without further ado, here are my first set of books.

The Girlfriend Project  by Robin Friedman
Published: March 2007
Pages: 180

Summary: Reed has gone from super geek to major hotty. Girls who wouldn’t have given him the time of day are now throwing themselves at him. Of course, just because his looks have changed doesn’t mean his personality has. He is still his super geeky self that has no clue how to talk to girls. But with a little help from his friends and a website, he may just get everything he has wished for.

Why it made the evaluate list: There are plenty of stories of girls struggling with love, but I feel like the boy-love ones fall off the radar. I was hoping this would be a good read-a-like for Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto.

Verdict: WEED. While it was a fast read the story was only so-so. The message of “don’t judge a book by its cover” has been replayed over and over again. While it was nice to see it from a male’s perspective it ultimately fell flat. The “romances” weren’t handled very well through the book and for most of it I was kind of bored. A couple of years ago, I may have felt different, but there are other books that do it much better.

Nothing Pink by Mark Hardy
Published: November 2008
Pages: 109

Summary: Vincent has been praying for years that the Lord will perform a miracle and cure his gayness. As a son a Baptist pastor in the 70’s being a “sissy” boy is not an option. However, no matter what he does he can’t change whom he likes. When a relationship starts to form with Robert, a boy from his new church, Vincent is forced to come to term with his religion and sexuality.

Why it made the evaluate list: I’m always, always, always looking for LGBTQ fiction. Books that I can highlight for those teens that may be struggling with who they are and who they love. I had never heard of this book and hoped it would be a new one to add to my lists.  

Verdict: WEED. I had to think long and hard about this one. I even discussed it out with a fellow Teen Services Librarian to get her thoughts about it. Ultimately, it’s downfall is the length of the book. Not much can really be done in barely over a 100 pages. I never felt like the depth was really there and it definitely had a few major flaws. Again, this is one of those that would have been groundbreaking in 2008, but in 2012 others have done it better.

I promise not all of the books will be weed. Or rather I hope not. Be sure to watch out for future posts as I continue to unbury myself from theses books.

[This is part of an on-going series about teen non-fiction and updating that collection. Previous posts can be found here, here, and here.]

One thing is abundantly clear when you’re weeding non-fiction — if it’s wrong, it doesn’t belong. Let me just say that this was literally an “OH MY, WHY IS THIS HERE?” moment:

Title: Earth At Risk: Global Warming
Author: Burkhard Bilger
Publication Date: 1992
Series Includes: Acid Rain, Alternative Sources of Energy, Animal Welfare, The Automobile and the Environment, Clean Air, Clean Water, Degradation of the Land, Economics and the Environment, Endangered Species, The Environment and the Law, Environmental Action Groups, Environmental Disasters, Extinction, Floods, The Fragile Earth, Global Warming, The Living Ocean, Nuclear Energy/Nuclear Waste, Overpopulation, The Ozone Layer, The Rainforest, Recycling, Solar Energy, Toxic Materials, What You Can Do For the Environment, Wilderness Preservation

This must have been a fine resource back in the day; Chelsea House Publishing puts out a lot of quality non-fiction for teens and I know that their books are to be trusted. But, on a topic like global warming…we’ve certainly come a long way since 1992.

Nineteen libraries in my system still have this on their shelves though (and that’s only this volume)! Allow me to suggest some alternatives:

These books range from the academic, personal, and even crafts.

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (9780670062713), 2007.

Generation Green by Linda Sivertsen (9781416961222), 2008.

Girls Gone Green by Lynn Hirshfield (9781448720095), 2010.

Global Warming : Opposing Viewpoints by Cynthia A. Bily (073772935X), 2006.

The Green Teen by Jenn Savedge (9780865716490), 2009.

Recyclo-Gami : 40 crafts to make your friends green with envy! by Laurie Goldrich Wolf (9780762440528), 2010.

Have you found some excellent current resources about going green, global warming, and other “Earth at Risk” topics? Lemme know in the comments!