The Art of the Annotation

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The Art of the Annotation
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The Art of the Annotation

• Why write annotations?
• What is a good annotation?
• How does one go about writing annotations?

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Why write annotations?
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Why write annotations?

• To market your collection
• Booklists significantly increase circulation
• (Source Parrish, Nancy B. The Effect of a
  Booklist on the Circulation of Fiction Books
  Which Have Not Been Borrowed from a Public
  Library in Four Years or Longer, UNC-Greensboro
  Masters Project, 1986.)
• Circulation of titles featured in NextReads
  increases 90 and reservations increase 122
  within a week of a newsletters arrival
• (Source Lexington Public Library Survey)

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Why write annotations?

• To represent books to their particular audience
• Theyre easy to repurpose!
• As a shelf-talker
• In an e-newsletter
• On the library's website
• In the library's catalog
• In print publications

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What IS a good annotation?
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Library Annotations Have a Unique Purpose

• S. R. Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science
• Books are for use.
• Every reader his (or her) book.
• Every book its reader.
• Save the time of the User.
• The library is a growing organism.

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What Good Annotations are NOT

• Annotations are not reviews
• Annotations are not publisher blurbs

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What Good Annotations ARE

• Written for the general reader
• More about appeal than plot
• Enticing! Attention-grabbing! And BRIEF!

"sometimes I think of the annotations as
truffleswe make them as rich as possible while
keeping them yummy, easily digestible chunks."
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Examples of Good Annotations
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Examples of Good Annotations
Subgenre Identified
Media Connection Similar Author Mentions
Series Information
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Examples of Good Annotations
Audience ID
Appeal Factors
Similar Author Mention
Casual, Engaging Tone
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Examples of Good Annotations
Media Connection
Appeal Factors
Author Tidbits
Details of Importance to Audience
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Examples of Good Annotations
Genre ID
Setting Detail
Hook
Variety of Appeal Factors
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HOW to Write Annotations
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HOW to Write Annotations

• Read OR research the book to determine
• Genre or subgenre
• Specific appeals
• Plot
• Author information and media connections or
  tie-ins

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HOW to Write Annotations

• Think about the book's audience
• What age group are you addressing?
• What sort of tone will appeal to readers of this
  book?
• Is there special vocabulary you should use or
  avoid?
• What features of this book will its target
  audience care about?

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HOW to Write Annotations

• Start with a narrative hook
• Interesting quotation from the book
• A fascinating detail about the book or its author
  
• A relation of the book to current events or a
  currently popular topic
• What features of this book will its target
  audience care about?

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Examples of Narrative Hooks
From Popular Culture March 2009 Street Gang by
Michael Davis We can thank a dinner party
conversation about television's potential to
educate children for the longest-running
children's show on TV, Sesame Street.
From Mystery March 2009 Spade Archer - by Joe
Gores Have you been hankering for a prequel to
Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon lo these
many years? Do you wish you knew more about
tough-guy detective Sam Spade?
From Romance April 2009 First Comes Marriage - by
Mary Balogh Vanessa Dew knows what it's like to
find love--and to lose it.
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Examples of Narrative Hooks
From Tween Reads April 2009 Mr. Lincoln's
High-Tech War - by Thomas B. Allen Roger
MacBride Allen Your parents didn't have iPods or
cell phones as kids, and they couldn't IM or send
text messages (4RL!). These days, technology
changes quickly, but when Abraham Lincoln was a
young man, people used pretty much the same kinds
of tools and technology that their
great-great-great-great-grandparents did.
Nature and Science April 2009 A Fly for the
Prosecution - by M. Lee Goff You've heard of
forensic anthropology, but what about forensic
entomology? The idea that flies or worms might
help solve crimes is relatively new but
increasingly important in criminal investigations.
From Fantasy Feb 2009 Mystic Warrior - by Tracy
Laura Hickman While many fantasy series boast one
fully-realized alternate world, this series has
three one in which Faeries wage war against
magical creatures, one in which goblins live in
the ruins of a mechanized Titan civilization, and
one in which humans are ruled by dragons.
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HOW to Write Annotations

• Include a brief plot summary
• Entice, but dont ruin the plot
• Focus on one plot line in a complex book (and
  note the books complexity)

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HOW to Write Annotations

• Include the books strongest appeal factors
• For fiction
• Pacing (fast-paced, leisurely, etc.)
• Type of language used (evocative,
  straightforward, flowery, slang, etc.)
• Characters (how well they are developed, what
  they are likerealistic? Quirky? Irascible?)
• Setting (either location or time period, or both)
• Mood/tone/voice (atmospheric, humorous, earnest,
  etc.)
• Plot (Simple or complex? Action-oriented or
  character-centered?, etc.)
• Type of relationships (mother/daughter, best
  friends, etc.)

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HOW to Write Annotations

• Include the strongest appeal factors
• For nonfiction, including those mentioned before
  and
• Evidence of the authors credentials
• Connections to current events
• Context and relevance
• Background

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HOW to Write Annotations

• If a book is part of a series, mention its order
  within the series.

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HOW to Write Annotations
If there are such and space allows, include any
media connections that place the book into
context.
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HOW to Write Annotations

• Include readers/viewers/listeners advisory
• Movie or TV comparisons
• Similar titles or authors
• Sometimes it is a good idea to explicitly state
  an audience for a book

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Conclusion
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Remember

• Annotations
• Market your collection
• Represent books to their particular audience
• Are easy to repurpose!
• A good annotation is
• Written for the general reader
• More about appeal than plot
• Enticing! Attention-grabbing! And BRIEF!
• NOT a review or publisher blurb
• To write good annotations
• Read OR research the book
• Think about the books audience
• Start with a narrative hook
• Include a brief plot summary
• Include the strongest appeal factors
• If part of a series, mention the order within the
  series
• Include any media connections
• Include any readers/viewers/listeners advisory
  information you can

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Recommended Reading

• Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library
  by Joyce Saricks, 2nd edition, pp. 87-93 (ALA,
  1997)
• The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts The
  Library and the Young Adult by Margaret Edwards
  (ALA 2002)
• Read Any Good Books Lately? by Mary K. Chelton
  (Library Journal 5/1/1993, Vol. 118, Issue 8, p.
  33)
• Booklists What We Know, What We Need to Know.
  by Sharon L. Baker (Reference User Services
  Quarterly, Winter 1993, Vol. 33, Issue 2, p. 177)
  
• The Readers' Advisory Guide to Nonfiction by Neal
  Wyatt (ALA, 2007)

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Thank you!