by Jessica McGilvray

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a recent graduate with my master’s in Library and Information Studies and feeling revved up because of that, but I’m feeling increasingly protective of the romance genre and it’s readers.

After a couple of years teaching middle school Geography, I realized that though I enjoyed teaching, it was not something I wanted to engage in long term.  I decided to leave teaching and to pursue a master’s degree in Library and Information Studies.  I’m now living in the D.C. metro area and working in the library field.  I’ve also recently started a blog on romance books that can be found at http://capitalromance.wordpress.com.
 
I am a great believer in the idea that it is not a librarian’s job to tell a person what to read, but to provide the books that are of interest to them.  Librarians today are learning how to recommend books that will fit into a person’s area of interest, we call it Reader Advisory – I took an entire class on the subject and left with a real appreciation of the role of the librarian. 

I know that in the past librarians were known to push “better books” on romance readers and that just burns my panties!  Ask for my opinion and I will gladly provide it, but I will certainly not push you in a different direction then you wish to go.  

I’ve been an avid reader of this genre for years and one of the things that keeps me here is that I am always assured of a happy ever after ending.  The other aspect of romance books that keeps me coming back for more, is that they are just great fun!  Yes, I know that the main characters will always end up together but the exciting part is the journey that they take to get there.  How will they find each other, reconcile differences, and figure out how to merge their two lives together? 

That is why I’m a fan of Harlequin Presents.  Every month I’m offered a variety of new stories to read.  Lately I have really been enjoying the royalty theme.  I suppose that is the fantasy side of romance; I know that I’m not going to end up marrying a prince but I sure do enjoy watching another normal woman do it!  And can I just say that eharlequin.com is dangerous for me! They will let me order the books a month a head of time and I can do it while sitting in my favorite comfy chair. This also helps to ensure that I don’t miss the continuation of a series that I’ve been enjoying. 

I would love to see more involvement by romance readers in libraries.  I know that they are coming in because romance books tend to have a high circulation rate and I know that romance readers enjoy discussing their books because they do it every day on any number of blogs, yet I think that some of them are hesitant to go out in public and announce that they are romance readers. This is one romance reader that is proud to shout it from the roofs!  I don’t want to hide my books behind covers or read them in private and I welcome the rest of you romance fans to join me in proudly reading the books that we enjoy!

Public libraries are there for the community to utilize.  Many libraries have book clubs, but I’m not aware of a flourishing romance book club in this area.  If people are members of a romance book club that has been successful, I would love to hear about it.  Another opportunity for romance readers who are members of larger libraries is to encourage the library to bring in an author that they enjoy for a book-signing event.  If you have other ideas about how to combine your interest in romance with your local library, please share it! I hope that romance readers will become more active in their public libraries – after all, that’s what they are there for.