Library makes series simple—February 20, 2009
OK, I would like a show of hands. How many of you have read a book only to get to the end and then realize that it was part of a series. And not only was it not the first book in the series, but it was actually in the middle of the series? Yep, that's what I thought. I'm not alone.
This happens to me all the time. I love to read books that are in a series. I want to see what happens to the characters. What kind of daring adventures will the author lead them on in the next book? These characters have become like a part of the family to me and I want to be with them in all of their adventures. My problem is that I don't have time to search on the Internet to see if the author has a web page, then search their web page to see if they have the books listed by series and title. What I discovered when I started working at the library is that the searching had been done for me.
The library has a "Series and Sequels" notebook located at the end of the New Fiction shelf, in the 2nd floor fiction room or can be viewed on our website: Series List [PDF]. Inside you will find an alphabetical listing of authors’ names, series names, titles of the books in numerical order and the location of the book, CD, Cassette or Playaway. Is that cool or what!
The list constantly changes as new titles are added and new series are started. And yes, some series are removed from the list. But, don't worry--we do not remove the series listing on the library database. We remove them from the list after the author has completed the series, but we do not remove the books from the shelves.
We have found that every year there is a new generation of series readers, and this new generation loves to read what we consider “old” series.
Some of our popular series for adults are the “Culinary mysteries” by Diane Mott Davidson, “Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella, and Parnell Hall’s “Puzzle Lady mysteries”. We also have series for young adults and children such as “Junie B. Jones”, “Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars”, “Dragonriders of Pern”, “Judy Moody”, and the “American Girls Collection Julie”. So when you are looking for a good series, stop by the Hastings Public Library and look through the “Series and Sequels” notebook.
