Corey Deogracias Reader Blog

 I think that some of the best resources that a library has to advertise its fiction collection are the librarians themselves that work with the collection. Many fiction collections are already high quality, with vast and varied collections that service all kinds of different reader needs. So, what is the best way to get patrons to come and interact with that collection? How do libraries reach members of the community that haven't been to the library before? Some may think that patrons prefer to use Internet resources or social media for their recommendations, or using the digital library services on offer. This is a perfectly fine way for them to interact with the collection, but there are opportunities that librarians can become a guide, or even a quasi-salesperson, for those patrons by offering conversation. The public library is not a business, so to blanket apply business practices would be a mislead gesture, but there are elements of customer service and salespersonship that

If I were in a position of choosing between separating Urban Fiction and Queer Fiction from the rest of the general fiction section of the collection, my first instinct would be to reject the idea. Especially if it was prompted by patrons feeling "uncomfortable" about having these works housed in the general adult collection. This pressure does feel as though it is coming from a place of prejudice and segregation.  Urban Fiction may commonly contain overtly explicit themes, but these themes are also commonly found in other parts of the general fiction collection. Sexuality is prevalent in romance and relationship fiction. Visceral violence is easily found in detective and war fiction. These other genres are not separated from the general collection due to these themes, nor the identity of their authors, so we are left to wonder what exactly it is about urban fiction specifically that makes these patrons uncomfortable. And yes, the works are indeed fiction and not indicative o

 I wouldn't be me if I didn't reference Star Wars at least once in my writings. In 2007, at mega convention Star Wars Celebration , in front of thousands of adoring adult fans of the franchise, creator George Lucas answered a very serious question about the inception and inspiration of the first film. His response: "It's a film for 12 year olds." While some may take this as a damnation, and an open infantilizing of those adult fans, I believe (and I believe Lucas himself believes) that this is a strength of the film. Yes, the Light Side and the Dark Side are very cut-and-dry morality, and the film relies on classic adventure tropes and basic hero's journey structure of fantasy, but it is due to these things that the film has such a timeless quality to it. Youths may view it and feel a sense of belonging and identity, while adults can feel reinforced and nostalgic of those very same things. Adults can remember and identify with the same struggles of morality t

I chose to annotate More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera for my Young Adult selection, and the annotation is up here ! This was a delightful novel with science-fiction appeals, with procedures of memory manipulation and induced amnesia. I admittedly struggled at first reading the novel, attributed to my "cringe" reactions to the teenage vernacular and drama. That's not the novel's fault, it's mine, and I think it may be a shared experience a lot of adults may have in reading YA fiction meant for another generation. I've got a lot of memories of my own teenage years I'd like to excise from my own brain that haunted me before bed that the novel forced me to recall, and I don't think I'm alone in that. The science fiction appeals maintained my interest fully; I love a narration that can layer upon itself or misdirect with unreliability, which this novel succeeds at. Embrace the cringe, and enjoy the ride.