Week Six Prompt

Two things struck me as I read Julia Quinn’s Because of Miss Bridgerton.  One was that though I can find myself quite disliking “romance novels” I often quite enjoy rom-com movies.  Two was that Quinn’s novel really was more like a rom-com movie than anything else.  I think some of my dislike for romance novels is because of the “racy” reputation many of them have (fairly or unfairly) and many of them exploit (we have to regularly be careful about which volumes go on the endcap of the paperback shelves that face the children’s section in our library).

I also think the seeming contradiction in my likes/dislikes has to do with the time commitment.  I can watch a rom-com in 90 minutes.  Reading the nearly 400 page Quinn novel would likely take me at least 6 hours.  That much devotion to one entertainment in one go is something I struggle giving in to.  That said, thinking about integrated advisory I think it could work really well with romance novels in this case.  For my proposal I combined ideas from integrated advisory with elements of booktalking through technology.

“For many readers Romance novels carry a stigma they are uncomfortable with, despite the fact that in 2007 these novels made up 35% of fiction sales (Donohue as cited by Dunneback & Towner, 2010).  These same readers are often quite okay with, even enthusiastic about, rom-com movies.  I think many of us are missing the fact that these two formats carry much of the same content and conventions.  I think that by prominently displaying “pairings” of romance novels and romantic comedy films as complementary experiences we could reduce the stigma of romance novels as a genre and by incorporating an element of “booktalking” in the display we could increase our circulation of all items involved (Youth Services Librarianship, n.d.).  The book talk element of the display would be composed of a simply staged and previously recorded video “conversation” between two staff members for display on our branch library’s tablet secured to the display.  The presentation could be looped to run with subtitles in order to prevent it from disturbing the quiet nature of our library.

An example might include:

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Staff Member 1: The cutting banter between characters is hilarious!
Staff Member 1: I knew things were certainly going to work out between the hero and heroine but it’s all about the journey!
Staff Member 1: Billie’s spirited character is refreshing and kind of inspiring as we see her overcome all challenges!

The Importance of Being Earnest starring Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon
Staff Member 2: This comedy of errors and the constant play on words is hilarious!

Staff Member 2: Clearly as a comedy nothing too unfortunate can happen, but the jokes take you on such a fun journey!
Staff Member 2: The actors are so charming in their portrayal and circumvention of their oftentimes self-inflicted challenges!

Each staff member could be filmed pronouncing their individual line with a side by side pronunciation of the bolded word.  A surprised look could then pass between the two and after the third correlation they’ve inadvertently discovered between the two different items they are each promoting they could silently exchange items with each other.  Credits would then roll with library information.

The filming could be done with our library’s laptop computer and web cam.  The footage could be edited together with the program Windows Movie Maker."

Works Cited:

Dunneback, K. & Towner, M. W. (2010). Introduction: Integrated Advisory. In Integrated Advisory Service. Denver: Libraries Unlimited, pp. xi-xvi.

Youth Services Librarianship. (n.d.) Book Talk. Retrieved from https://youthserviceslibrarianship.wikispaces.com/Booktalking