Please Write in This Book!

There has been a discussion on the Kan-Lib-L list that fascinates me . A patron mentioned to his local librarian that he had seen at another library a piece of paper glued inside the front cover of book. It invited readers to rate the book. The patron said he liked it because it served two needs -- he found out how his peers liked the book and he could see if he had read it before. (As he got older he sometimes forgot which books he had already read.)

This sounds great. How many of you run through the reader reviews on Amazon or your online book clubs to get a feel for a book before you purchase it? Getting feedback from local readers is even better. In smaller communities you may even know the reviewer. it might prompt an informal book discussion next time you see him or her.

The reminder piece is also valuable. After my home town library automated, the large print readers took to penciling their initials and the year in the upper left corner of the back cover of books. It particularly helped my Mom because she brought home library books for both herself and Dad. She would check for his initials before choosing books for him so she didn't waste her time bringing him books he had already read.

My parents initialed their own books, too. I reread one of Mom's books this weekend. It was The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart, published in 1946. Mom bought it in 1947. I read it once when I was a teenager and picked it up for light reading Sunday. When I closed the last page, I saw Mom's initials inside the back cover and the date. It was two years before she died. Wouldn't it have been great if she had left a comment? What if there had been a sentence from 1947 when she first read it (one year before I was born.) Then another note from when my teenage self read it in the early 1960s. Finally another note from Mom in 1998 and myself again in 2008? What dialog might we have established? Would the discussion pass along to my daughter and granddaughter?

Most libraries don't want folks penciling in comments, or even initials, on the back cover. The Kan-Lib-L discussion knocked around techniques for promoting the discussion. The consensus was a 3x5 slip of paper, perhaps computer generated, that invited comments and provided lines for writing would be the best method. The slips could be rubber cemented into to book much as date due slips were done in pre-automation days. If the idea takes off, some library supply house might even preprint them for us!