1st Edition

Managing the Mystery Collection From Creation to Consumption

    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    Unravel the mystery of fostering a vibrant mystery collection for your library patrons!

    Whodunnit? Managing the Mystery Collection: From Creation to Consumption reveals just who is responsible—for providing high-quality library mystery collections to fans. This resource takes you through the complicated process, from creating a mystery story to getting it to the library bookshelf and your patrons—all with clear explanations and no plot twists. Authors, readers, critics, scholars, and librarians give you an interdisciplinary inside look at the production and collection of one of the most popular genres in literature, the mystery.

    This unique book comprehensively explains how a mystery story journeys a surprisingly winding way to reach an avid reading public. No red herrings here though. Acquisitions and collection development resources are provided along with effective strategies that will help librarians to sift through the clues on how to bring life to their mystery collections. Examinations of various subgenres of the mystery are provided, such as romance and Native American mysteries, as well as an enlightening discussion of the links between mysteries, libraries, and interest groups.

    Managing the Mystery Collection brings you:

    • mystery writer Barbara Fister describing the creative process
    • insights about Sisters in Crime—an organization that promotes mysteries authored by women—and its special relationship with libraries and librarians
    • a detailed introduction to buying and selling books online
    • Web and print resources
    • guidance for the acquisition of mysteries for the younger mystery reader
    • development of a collection of ethnic mysteries
    • the creation of special collections of Sherlock Holmes and author Conan Doyle
    • extensive listings of subgenre titles and details of popular series
    • an organization that networks creators, fans, and scholars of detective and mystery fiction
    • and more!

    Managing the Mystery Collection: From Creation to Consumption solves the mystery behind the step-by-step process it takes to provide readers with what they want—access to a collection of perplexing, well-written mysteries. This is perfect for public and academic librarians with an interest in building quality collections of mysteries; library school faculty teaching courses in collection building, popular culture and libraries, genre literature, and special collections; and students of those fields.

    • Introduction (Judith Overmier and Rhonda Harris Taylor)
    • Bodies of Evidence: How Mystery Writers Imagine Their Worlds Through Research (Barbara Fister)
    • Libraries and Sisters in Crime (Kathy Harig)
    • Buying Books Online Is No Mystery (Larisa Somsel)
    • Review Sources for Mystery Fiction (Jean Bielke-Rodenbiker)
    • “I Need a Good Mystery”: Selecting for the Juvenile Reader (Nancy Larson Bluemel)
    • African-American Mysteries (Connie Van Fleet)
    • The Native American Detective (Rhonda Harris Taylor)
    • The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the Toronto Public Library (Victoria Gill)
    • The Adventure of the Unopened Box: Building the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries (Timothy J. Johnson)
    • Mysteries in a Law Library: The Law in Popular Culture Collection at the University of Texas School of Law (Marlyn Robinson and Rhonda Hankins)
    • Mystery and the Romance Reader (Tracy Allen)
    • Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem: The Development of a Mystery Book Discussion Group (Elizabeth Arneth)
    • A Brief History of Scholarly Study of Detective Fiction, with Particular Attention to the Detective & Mystery Fiction Area of the Popular Culture Association (Mary P. Freier)
    • Tracking Miriam Grace Monfredo Through Herstory, Librarianship, and Sleuthing (Judith Overmier and Rhonda Harris Taylor)
    • Index
    • Reference Notes Included

    Biography

    Judith A. Overmier, Rhonda Harris Taylor