Posted June 27, 2016
When evaluating reach, most public libraries find they have no problem drawing women. But men? That can be more challenging. According to aJanuary 2011 Harris Interactive Poll: Sixty-five percent of those polled said they had visited the library in the past year; 72% of women had visited, while just over half (58%) of men had.
As libraries try to find new ways to attract men to the library, many librarians have asked for help identifying titles that appeal to masculine tastes – beyond just westerns and nonfiction titles.
Robin Bradford is currently the collection development librarian for fiction, Large Print, DVD, music and world languages for the Timberland Regional Library System in Washington. Prior to moving to Washington a few months ago, she was the fiction collection development librarian for the Indianapolis Public Library. She has worked in a variety of libraries, academic and public, in a variety of positions, from student assistant to librarian. The one thing that has been a constant throughout, however, is a love of reading. When she isn’t working, or tweeting, or blogging, or reading, or at a conference focused on books, Robin is looking at the map and planning her next adventure.