[Publib] What are Americans reading?

[Backwage at aol.com]

Two things:
 
Bestseller lists show what's being bought at certain bookstores, not  
necessarily what's being read.  I would estimate that the most read books  include 
Goodnight Moon, whose text is recited by new parents, and the  Elements of 
Style, of course--that sort of thing.  Elie Wiesel's  Night appears high on 
bestseller lists; the reason for that being that  the book is commonly assigned by 
school and college teachers.  Do you  remember Who Moved My Cheese?  At one time 
that one was moving off  the shelves like nobody's business, owing to the 
fact that it was ordered to be  read by managers everywhere.  In order to bring a 
sort of order to  this chaos, bestseller lists have been broken down into 
many  sub-categories, which only makes the situation harder to assess.  It is  
rather like those awards shows--you know, "Best Documentary in a Foreign  
Language Spoken by Fewer than a Thousand People."  What really are people  reading?  
A better question for library folk is what they want to  read.  Apart from 
the stuff on the bestseller lists, if you listen to  patrons, you will find out 
exactly what they want, which brings us to item  two--
 
Which is about Chilton and similar auto repair manuals.  Librarians  are more 
often well-versed in the lore of Shakespeare than in the mysteries of  
automatic transmissions.  Which is why it is a good idea to keep auto  repair books 
on hand and in good shape.  Libraries are often referred to as  universities 
of the poor, but we forget that poor people (among them library  workers) drive 
old cars.  Those cars need to be kept alive, and mechanics  cost money.  
Those auto manuals are important when your Oldsmobile needs a  transplant if 
you're going to get to work on Monday.  Those oily marks  on the pages of the 
Chilton books are the fingerprints of the poor.  Rich  folks don't have to tear 
down engines.  If you want to help your patron  base, get to know those auto 
manuals:  assign yourself to discover the  manual for the first model car you ever 
owned:  if it isn't in your  collection, imagine yourself needing the thing 
and it not being there.  And  if your library doesn't stock those manuals, find 
a local one that does, and  make a mental note of it for reference.  Want to 
know which ones you should  stock?  Find out the most popular car and truck 
models of the past thirty  years and go from there.  
 
M. McGrorty
First Car:  1963 Ford Falcon, R.I.P.
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