While we’re hoping many of you followed us over to Library Journal last fall, we suspect some folks might be coming across our site for the first time, or, didn’t make the switch.  Take a look at what we’ve been getting up to over there…

We crushed on The Readers Advisor Online, Book Dwarf, and KDL’s What’s Next, among others.

Karen found you readalikes for Elizabeth Gilbert’s Committed, Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, and provided timely resources on Haiti, both fiction and nonfiction…

While Rebecca wondered if there were any readalikes for The Lovely Bones, raved about Learning to Fly and Erasure (the novel, not the 80s band, although she loves them too) and showed her affection for post-apocalyptic fiction.

So come on over and keep track of us over at Library Journal! You can easily subscribe to the feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ShelfRenewalBlog

We have some non-LJ stuff in store this Spring, such as a program for ARRT, and Rebecca will be speaking at ILA’s Reaching Forward, PLA 2010 in Portland, and the Illinois State Library’s On the Front Lines.  So we’ll keep posting that sort of thing here on the good ol’ original ShelfRenewal site.

So, keep track of us here, but don’t forget about the blog at LJ… see you there!

Karen and Rebecca

PLA press release 2/1/2010:

The Allie Beth Martin Award recognizes a public librarian for demonstrating a range and depth of knowledge about books and other library materials and the distinguished ability to share that knowledge. This year’s award of $3,000, donated by Baker & Taylor, will be presented to Rebecca Vnuk for her unwavering dedication to books of any cover.

http://pla.org/ala/mgrps/divs/pla/plaawards/awardwinners/index.cfm

It took a little time (and a little complaining on our part…) but the feed for our new setup at Library Journal is now in working order!

So please add us to your feed reader from the LJ site, (http://www.libraryjournal.com/RSS, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom to find us) or, add the feed URL directly to your favorite reader (Karen’s partial to iGoogle, while Rebecca’s a Bloglines fan, but hey, we like ‘em all and think they are a brilliant invention.)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ShelfRenewalBlog

Subscribe away!!
…and thanks!

Dear Loyal Readers,
Well, it didn’t take long, we found ourselves a sugar daddy.  So it’s time to move out of the Barbie Dream House… will you please come visit us at www.libraryjournal.com/shelfrenewal?

The look is a little less luxe,  but we promise you all the same content you first fell in love with.  (and, momma always said looks don’t matter, it’s what’s inside that counts.)

We’re not leaving you entirely, either…check back here at www.shelfrenewal.com for updates on what Karen and Rebecca are doing in libraryland.  For example, we’d be thrilled if you invited us to come and play at your library for a training or a staff day.  We can provide information as well as entertainment – see what ILA had to say about us!

http://illinoislibrariesmatter.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/readers-writers-books-and-blogs/

So head on over to www.libraryjournal.com/shelfrenewal for our regularly scheduled blog postings.  Don’t forget to update your feedreader as well if you’re a regular – and thanks!!

Karen and Rebecca

Pat Conroy and I have this in common, we were both surprised to learn that John Grisham’s new book was a collection of short stories. Here is where we differ. I have yet to write an Amazon.com “exclusive”  that mentions John Grisham alongside writers John Irving, Richard Russo, Anne Rivers Siddons, Chekhov, de Maupassant, Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner and Eudora Welty.

I’m not saying Grisham isn’t a good storyteller. I’m not saying that at his best he’s not a great storyteller. And I’m not saying that I got a free copy of Grisham’s book before it was available to the public as, apparently, Conroy routinely does. I’m just saying that once there was a little boy who said he kept seeing wolves, but there actually were no wolves, so everybody stopped believing him. And then, this one time, there was a wolf. That’s all.

Shelf Renewal helps librarians move backlist titles to the front of the line. Librarians Karen Kleckner and Rebecca Vnuk show you how to use bestseller buzz to draw readers to the unjustly dusty titles on your shelves.