Do Book Ratings Belong in Library Catalogs?

Do Book Ratings Belong in Library Catalogs?
“To me it feels like a violation of public library philosophy. I have less of a problem when the rating is average or high because I assume it encourages patrons to check out a book they are already considering. But when patrons see a low rating on a book in our catalog, especially a rating not attributed to an individual patron, it appears that our library is bad-mouthing the book…and that discourages, rather than promotes, literacy.”

September 19, 2011 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    September 19, 2011 at 11:44 am

    Book Ratings
    I can understand the concern but I admit I’d like to see the ratings.
    Positive ones would probably influence some to select titles/authors hitherto unknown to them. Negative ones, well I’m contrary minded enough that I might sign the thing out to see for myself, OR I’d explore why it was given a negative rating. ie. mismatch for audience? content v style? etc. It could certainly inform collection development.

    Of course I would prefer all ratings to be attributable. Real name or nom de plume wouldn’t matter as long as there were a means to connect. If we wish to comment then we should stand behind what we say & allow others to engage us too.

    Reply
    • Jessmage says:
      September 19, 2011 at 6:49 pm

      Oh really?
      “If we wish to comment then we should stand behind what we say & allow others to engage us too.” – Anonymous

      So this sentiment doesn’t extend to LISNews? I actually agree with everything you said in your comment, but I couldn’t resist picking on you a little bit over this.;)

      Reply

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