The Bellaire Texan (Bellaire, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 51, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 26, 1978 Page: 20 of 28
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■LAIRE TEXAN, APRIL 26, 1978 Pag# 9
✓ *
Between the
Book-Ends
by Virginia Miller
BeBaire s Head Librarian
For a change, I’d like to
expound for a while on the
“problem" of the "Best
Sellers" -- those books which
appear on the various lists
as being the most popular
items of the week, usually
-j compiled from the sales in
S the book stores.
£ Which books will appear
£ on the best seller lists is a
tantalizing question, and
quite an unpredicable one.
The vagaries of public fancy
are nowhere more difficult
to predict than in this area.
Everyone in the book busi
ness tries to guess which
books will appear the
librarian, so that patrons of
the library will be albe ot
have the book available as
soon as possible; the book-
seller, so that he will have
enough copies ordered to
supply the demand; the book
reviewer, so that he will not
be guilty of overlooking the
season’s bombshell.
It is a pretty well known
fact in the book business
that the promotion given a
book by its publisher has a
great deal to do with whe-
ther or not it will reach
best-seller status. The more
appearances the author
makes on the television talk
shows, the more tours he
makes to cities to promote
his book, and the more times
the book is reviewed, espe-
cially in the prestige press,
the better chance the book
will have to become known,
and therefore bought. So,
unfortunately, the appear-
ance of a book on a best-
seller list is not necessarily a
guarantee of its literary
worth, nor of the public’s
good taste, but rather a
gauge of how well the book
has been promoted!
This leaves the librarian,
especially in a small library,
in an unenviable position.
Books are very expensive
today; the librarian knows
that he/she cannot buy
every book that is published;
she (forgive me but since I
am a female, it is easier for
me to speak in personal
terms) knows that her public
will want to have a chance to
read the books that appear
on the list; and she also
knows that a small library
does not receive very fast
service on book orders, since
the large orders placed by
book stores and large library
systems receive preference
in shipping, and the small
library with its order for one
or two copies of a book must
wait untill those large or-
ders are taken care of, and
sometimes wait for a second
printing, before it receives
the book. So we all try, and
try hard, to have the books
that are in demand, but
sometimes we fall very short
of our ideal!
There is anothe strange
all, we are here to try to
serve our patrons, to the
best of our ability with our
limited funds.
Forgive me for writing of
our problems, but this is one
that’affects our readers, and
I thought they might be
interested in knowing about
it.
Marian Plans Art Exhibit, Auction
phenomenon that affects
facet of book buying. The
book "Holocaust", by Gerald
Green, is a perfect example
of this situation. In spite of
the fact that the advertise-
ments for the four day show
ing of “Holocaust" on televi-
sion stated that it was from
"the best-selling novel by
Geral Green”, the fact is that
the book was not written
until after the script for the
television series. Gerald
Green was hired to write the
television series, and the
book came as an after
thought. It appeared just a
few days before the televi-
sion program, and it is only
available in paperback.
Most libraries do not oreder
a great number of paper
backs, therefore their sour-
ces are limited and the
service is terrible. So - we
had to go out and hunt the
paperback in the bookstores,
who had received the first
copies that came off the
press. We do have “Holo-
caust”, in paperback, but not
without making a great
effort.
At least, there was a book
to be found. There have
been several television per-
formances of plays written
by well-known authors that
were not taken from books,
and for which no book was
available. I remeber well
when David Westheimer, a
Houston author who was
working in Hollywood,
wrote the script for “The
Days of Wine and Roses”,
and we were besieged with
calls for the book. There
was no book! A paperback
was finally issued, some
while after the play was
performed, and we hurried
to buy it, but the great
demand was already over,
and many patrons were
never convinced that we
didn’t have the book because
there wasn’t a book to be
had. And that is only one of
many such instances.
We hope, therefore, that
you will be understanding
when the book on the
Best Seller list that you
want to read is not yet in
your library. We probably
are trying to get it and
having problems! We also
hope that you will take the
time to fill out a request card
for the book, as this lets us
know that there are many
people desiring to read the
book. As I said, there is no
way that we can buy all the
books that are published, so
we have to make judgments
as to which ones to acquire.
If a large number of our
patrons want to read a book,
that is certainly a large
factor in our decision! After
Marian Christian High
School will present their
First Annual Benefit At
Exhibition and Auction to be
held on Sun., May 7, at the
St. Dominies Diocesan Cen
ter Auditorium located at
2401 Holcombe at Almeda
Road, Houston.
Roger B. Williams, Presi
dent of the Board of Trus
tees, named Mrs. Mary
Callahan, wife of John J.
Callahan, Trustee, as gen-
eral chairman of the fund-
raising project. Mrs. Cal-
lahan has served as general
chairman of Corpus Christi
Catholic School Carnival for
the past two years.
According to Mrs. Calla-
han, refreshments and an
exhibition of the art will
precede the auction. All
proceeds will support the
Marian Christian High
School Development Pro-
gram.
Marian Christian High
School, a co educational Ca-
tholic High School is being
established to preserve,
through its curriculum, fa-
culty, and student body, the
educational tradition the
present Marian High School
offers. Plans call for the
construction of new facilities
to open this fall at 11101
South Gessner Road. The
new school will be adminis-
tered by the Christian Bro-
thers New Orleans-Santa Fe
Province, Brother J. Nicho-
las Grahmann, Principal.
Mrs. Shirley Wicks and
Mrs. Pansy Grand are co-
chairmen of the Publicity
Committee. Advertising
posters have been prepared
by the Marian High School
Art Class under the direc-
tion of Miss Barbara Ryan.
Mrs. Juanita Arnold is
heading the Invitation Com-
mittee and Mrs. Ruth Monks
is in charge of arrange-
ments.
The event is produced by
Collier Art Corporation, the
EVEN BIRDS ENJOYED the Westheimer Arts Festival
on Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16. [photo by Jay
Holt) _
largest benefit-art auction
gallery in the world. Be-
cause of its size, Collier can
purchase fine art throughout
the world at incredibly low
prices. This enables all
pieces auctioned to start at
extremely low opening bids.
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Bartholdi, Carol. The Bellaire Texan (Bellaire, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 51, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 26, 1978, newspaper, April 26, 1978; Bellaire, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth566932/m1/20/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bellaire Friends Library & Historical Society.