This picture represents what I enjoy the most about the prospect of selecting children's books for a library. I have a couple of these boxes in my cubicle at work. I can't get rid of them.
The Harry Potter phenomenon was interesting to watch from the Acquisitions standpoint as well as the devoted fan aspect. When the 6th book came out we pre-ordered about 200 copies for the system, we usually only order about 80 copies for the most popular bestsellers. A week before the release date there were nearly 400 requests. So administration decided to order an additional 400 unprocessed copies. The entire Technical Services department had to process them on the Friday before the release. As a fan I was over the moon to have the chance to touch the book ahead of time... I even read a sentence or two! When the 7th book came out, Acquisitions pre-ordered about 600 copies. We didn't have to process those, but I still had an opportunity to take a peek when they were being boxed up for distribution to the branch libraries.
I truly hope that there is another book like Harry Potter. A book that excites millions of children to read and captivates the attention of all ages. I started reading the books after my mom asked me to get them for my dyslexic little sister. My mom had heard that kids who never read books were reading Harry Potter. It worked, she read them all and even went on to read other books for fun. I want to be a part of a child's discovery of a book.
I love it! I was working at the Johnson County Public Library, KS when Harry Potter started to be really big, and it was amazing and wonderful to see kids and their grandparents BOTH on the long waiting lists! Oprah's picks had a very similar effect when I was at the Kansas City, KS Public Library - but even better, in that it really encouraged people in a community to talk to one another (and it highlighted excellent books, often written by minority authors like Maxine Claire).
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