Reviews Are In: Read, Write and Expand Your Career

Verma (senior editor, National Information Standards Organization [NISO]) sees professional review writing as not just a way to share book opinions but as a way to practice, expand, and put library leadership on display. This book begins with several chapters on library leadership, and how it differs from library management. Library leaders, Verma maintains, exist at all professional levels, and writing reviews can be an influential tool. Along with more traditional review routes, such as journals, newspapers, and magazines, reviews can be written for in-house newsletters, personal blogs, booklists handed out to patrons, and on social media. Rather than librarians waiting to be noticed, Verma suggests stepping up and offering reviews through a variety of channels. The second half of the book includes guidelines and bulleted lists for common types of reviews, such as Nonfiction for Adults. Verma worked for School Library Journal and was head of Library Journal's review team before taking her current position with NISO. Occasional "Leader Interviews" and "Leader Profiles" sprinkled throughout allow readers to learn from real-world library influencers.