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Each book comes with a cover, also called cover art or a book jacket. Through the writer and or their publisher they can enlist an artist to design its cover. If a book has new editions released, the cover may change. I have recently seen new editions of books released to coincide with their TV adaptation on Netflix or Hulu.
Cover art can run the gamut, ranging from simple text to a half-naked man for a romance book to pictures of food. I believe that a book's cover matters, even if we shouldn't fully judge a book by it. Statistically, books are purchased or borrowed more often if we see the cover, instead of only seeing its spine while displayed sideways. This is a reason why I always notice empty book displays and find a nice-looking book to fill the space.
If we are told to not judge a book by its cover, then why do books even come with covers? Fantasy books have especially intricate covers and can display maps and details found inside the book. I think it's safe to judge a book by its cover just as long as you peek inside for a description, look up a review on it, or simply read the first 100 pages. What do you have to lose?
How does the library's computer system know which cover to display for a book? In the books MA chine-Readable Cataloging, or MARC, record there is a specific identifier that matches to a book cover. The International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, connects the record to the cover image.
Last year, I completed a cataloging training course. This course helped me better understand MARC records and help improve our cataloging system. One project I have been working on is correcting and uploading missing cover art. Sometimes if there is a slight error in the system or if a book is really old, we won't see cover art for a title when searching the catalog. I can go and search for the book online and find its cover and then import it into our system. If I can't find anything online, I can simply find the book on our shelves and snap a photo of its cover with my phone. That photo can then be uploaded and seen when searching the catalog.
Book of the week!
If you are going to read one book, give this one a try...
Ann Judson – A Missionary Life for Burma by Sharon James
(Adult nonfiction: biography, religious) ~ 286 pages
In a nutshell: Previously published as 'My Heart in His Hands', this book is fully-revised and updated and is the best modern biography of Ann Judson available.
If you're going through trials or suffering you need to read this book and find out that trials are always for a purpose. In the Christian belief, they are rightly understood to glorify God and build us up in the faith. Sharon James uses the sources carefully to bring Ann (and Adoniram) Judson's piety and hard work for the Lord to our attention, not to venerate them but to challenge us to deeper commitment and service to the Lord.
For those who love rich and instructive historical narrative, deep and sacrificial Christian commitment, genuine and heart-felt devotion to Christ, and bold and daring service for the sake of the spread of the gospel — one can hardly find a story more amazing than one will read in Sharon James's excellent depiction of the life and times of Ann Judson, devoted wife to Adoniram Judson.
Bottom line: This fresh re-telling of Ann's story provides a marvelous biographical resource.
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Vince Giordano has been the librarian and director of the Juniata County Library since 2015.