Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect with Your Whole Community

Citation

McNicol, S. (2009), "Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect with Your Whole Community", New Library World, Vol. 110 No. 5/6, pp. 300-301. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800910954325

Pop Goes the Library was inspired by the blog of the same name which was launched in 2004 (www.popgoesthelibrary.com/). Its eight contributors are public, school, and academic librarians who believe libraries can learn from and use pop culture to improve their collections, services, and public image. The book is intended to complement the blog by exploring in detail what pop culture is, and is not; what it means to create a pop culture collection; and how to use pop culture to generate support from staff and the public.

As the authors make clear, their vision of pop culture is not just about keeping up to date with celebrity news, music and films, but about being aware of “whatever people in your community are talking, thinking and reading about”. This means that the pop culture of any library will differ depending on its community and what works in one library may not work elsewhere.

After defining pop culture, the authors discuss how libraries can find out about the pop culture of their communities, for example, by using surveys, focus groups and statistics. The third chapter focuses on collection development. An important point is that, as well as print and online selection tools, libraries need to use library staff and the community to inform their pop culture selections. This chapter also includes an interesting discussion of the relative merits of hand selection and standing order plans and how the two can be effectively combined.

The longest chapter of the book is devoted to advocacy, marketing, public relations and outreach, not just to the public, but also to engage library staff and management boards. This is followed by chapters on trendspotting, how to make effective use of ICT and programs/events. Finally, there are suggestions for pop culture themes throughout the year.

The book includes a number “sidebars”, useful tips written by librarians who have experienced success in a particular area. In addition, at the end of each chapter, there is a “Voices from the field” section: responses to an online survey which the authors conducted on their blog about how readers view, consume and apply pop culture knowledge. While these make interesting reading, I think much better use could have been made of the responses by incorporating them in the main text or at least providing an overview to accompany each section.

Of course, one of the most important aspects of incorporating pop culture is keeping up to date and at the end of the book, there is a useful list of online, print and televised resources which provide information about available pop culture materials. There is also a section providing suggestions for pop culture themes which are suited to different times of the year and ideas to show how libraries can hook into these.

Pop Goes the Library is written in a friendly, easy‐to‐read style and there can be no denying the authors' enthusiasm for their subject. It is a useful reminder of the many ways in which libraries can and should try to make their services more relevant to their communities. There is certainly a lot of food for thought about how libraries can involve and work with communities. My main criticism of this book is its strong US focus. This means that, while it would be an extremely useful resource for librarians working in the USA, its practical use for those in other countries is limited. My advice for librarians outside the United States would be to read the blog for general ideas and to get a feel for the authors' overall approach and think about how these might be adapted and incorporated in your library.