Presenter: Laura Tartak Presented at the Georgia Libraries Conference in Columbus, GA on 10/03/2018. This presentation discusses the most popular titles and authors mentioned in Georgia Library Quarterly’s “My Own Private Library” columns.

1. What’s on Your Shelf?:
An Informative Look at
Georgia Library Quarterly’s
“My Own Private Library” Columns
Laura Tartak
Perimeter College at Georgia State University
ltartak@gsu.edu

2. read about

3. Why the interest in analyzing
“My Own Private Library” columns?
1. To assist future columnists who want to research past
articles
How long were the columns?
How many photos were included?
What were the average number of titles mentioned?
What was the first sentence?
How often were quotes used?
2. Curiosity
What titles were mentioned the most?
Which authors got the most shout outs?
What interesting things did the columnists reveal about themselves?

4. Your collection represents
time periods, occasions,
and locations in your life.
● Family
● Childhood
● High school, college, advanced
degree
● Interests and hobbies
● Apartments, duplexes, or houses
● Different jobs
● Collection merging (roommate,
partner, spouse)
● Travel (guides & souvenirs)
● Gifts

5. “I realized that my collection told the story
of my life, and I realized that so many of my
past reading experiences could be summed
up as, it’s just a phase.”
“Forget the medicine cabinet, when I visit
people, I snoop through their bookcase!”

7. Methodology
1. Read 49 “My Own Private Library” columns from 2007 to 2018.
2. Created three Excel spreadsheets:
Spreadsheet 1 = Issue information, columnist, number of pages,
photos, type of library, and if worked at a bookstore.
Spreadsheet 2 = Separated out: title, author, subject areas, author
only or series, titles/authors mentioned, audio, magazine, DVDs
or CDs, and E-books. Used lines 3 through 523 for entries.
Spreadsheet 3 = Included first sentence, quotations used,
something interesting or good advice, and what I found relatable
in each column.

8. Spreadsheet 1
 ID (entry number) of Georgia Library Quarterly columnist
 Volume, Issue, Quarter, Year, Article Number
 Name of Columnist, Position (though this wasn’t counted)
 Number of Pages, Number of Photos
 Library Type (Academic, Public, or Misc.)
 Number of Titles
 Did columnist (or partner) work in a bookstore

9. Actually, Spreadsheet 1 Included the Following Areas Which Were
Removed:
 Number of bookshelves
 Number of moves
 Places lived
 Bookshelf locations
 Were books stored at parent’s house
 How many titles mentioned were from childhood (K-12) or college
 Did someone work in a bookstore
 How many times were the words “cull” or “weeded” used
 How many times was it mentioned that books were not in order
 What majors were listed
A True Confession

10. Spreadsheet 2 = Author, Title, Subject Areas, Author Only or Series,
Title/Authors Mentioned, Audio, Magazine, DVDs/CDs, and E-Books mentioned

11. Spreadsheet 3
First sentence  Something interesting or good advice  Something relatable
What quotations were used?

13. Defining a “Personal Library of a Librarian”
Some columnists consider a personal library more
than just books on a bookshelf. They can be:
 E-books on an e-reader
 An audiobook collection
 A collection of CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, laserdiscs,
albums, and podcasts
 A public, college, or media center library

14. Not A Collector (NAC) and Less is Better
Philosophies:
“Many people have book collecting problems that have
caused books to encroach on more and more parts of their
homes…Once I've read them, it's time for me to pass them
on. I give them to people, or I donate them to library
Friends groups.”
“My books come from the library, and they always have.
So when I think of my own private library, it's not part of
my home; it's a lot of libraries in a lot of different places.”

15. Weeding Advice
Going from 2,500 books to 500 books:
“If I hadn’t read it in ten years, it was out. If I hadn’t ever read it
and couldn’t remember why I bought it, it was out. If it wasn’t
good enough to recommend to someone else it, was out. We took
six hundred books to my in-laws house and I stashed a hundred
books in my office.”
Advice for culling:
“To cull... Each partner selects what in good conscience they will
never read or ever read again. The other partner gets veto power
on the selection with no justification required.”

16. Someone once said, “You
have too many books.”
I replied, “You can’t have
too many books; you just
might not have enough
room for them all.”
This Edward Gorey tee-
shirt agrees.

17. Column Page Length
How long was each column?
1 page
5 columns
1.25 pages
2 columns
1.50 pages
8 columns
1.75 pages
12 columns
2 pages
15 columns
2.25 pages
4 columns
2.5 pages
3 columns

18. How Many Photos Were in Each Column?
0 photos
11 columns
1 photo
17 columns
2 photos
20 columns
3 photos
1 column

19. Columnist by Library Type
Public
Library = 10
Academic
Library = 37
Misc. = 2

20. From https://www.bookstr.com/5-authors-you-may-not-be-following-instagram-should-be

21. Authors from Columns C & F
Most Mentioned Authors
12=Beatrix Potter
11= William Shakespeare
7= Dorothy Sayers
6= Charles Dickens
6= Shirley Jackson
6= Stephen King
5= David Haberstam
5= F. Scott Fitzgerald
5= Walker Percy
5= Laura Ingalls Wilder
Most Mentioned Authors, cont.
4= Pat Conroy
4= George Eliot
4= Neil Gaiman
4= Allen Ginsberg
4= Marguerite Henry
4= Janisse Ray
4= Tom Wolfe

22. Most Mentioned Titles from Column D
4= Lord of the Rings
3= Grimm’s Fairy Tales
3= Shakespeare’s Complete
Works
2= Absolutely True Diary of a
Part-Time Indian
2= Best and the Brightest
2= Book of Common Prayer
2= Gone With the Wind
2= Great Gatsby
2= Hobbit
2= Howl
2= Life Changing Magic of
Tidying Up
2= Middlemarch
2= Moby Dick
2= Things They Carried
2= Sin in the Second City

23. Most Titles Listed in Column D
1st Place = 53 titles
2nd Place = 46 titles
3rd Place = 37 titles
4th Place = 21 titles
5th Place = 20 titles

24. Shortest First Sentences in a Column
 1 word = Read?
 4 words = I’m a book hoarder.
 5 words = You are what you read.
= I am an army brat.
 6 words = I hadn't planned on a move.
= I am a recovering English major.
= Let me begin with a confession.
= My library…is like a river.

25. Quotations used in Columns
Number of Quotations used in columns = 4 total
(1 person used 2 quotes)
Longest Quotation = 107 words
"Now, what's so important about the problem of access to the shelves? One of the
misunderstandings that dominate[s] the concept of libraries is that you go into one to
look for a book whose title you already know. In reality it often happens that you go to
a library because you want a book whose title you do know, but the principal function
of the library, at least the function of the library in my house and of that of any friend
we may chance to visit, is to discover books whose existence we never suspected, only
to discover that they are of extreme importance to us.” – De Bibliotheca by Umberto
Eco

26. Mentioning Titles, Authors, and Subjects (TAS)
GOOD News:
• Many people will enjoy
numerous title, author and
subjects (TAS) listed in your
article.
BAD News:
• Other people may be
overwhelmed by too much
detail.
GOOD News:
• Mentioning TAS that you
once read and decided not
to keep OR kept, then gave
away is informative.
BAD News:
• That is too informative
and you should only list
TAS you still have.

27. https://www.buzzfeed.com/jarrylee/literally-just-50-hilarious-memes
-about-books?utm_term=.oewOZ23Oa#.gh1vXwpvA

28. E-books
“The saving grace for all habitual readers is the e-
reader. I can place newspapers, whole collections
of books, magazines, and Angry Birds on one
device smaller then Alan Furst’s thrilling recent
offering.”
“Love books, whether they're print or digital.
Embrace the book junkie within.”

29. Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

30. More True Confessions - What Hasn’t Been
Tallied Yet
•1. Subject Areas - The non-official areas most
mentioned were: cooking, art, children’s books, sci-fi,
fantasy and mysteries.
•2. Series titles or just author names.
•3. Titles or authors mentioned, but not necessarily
kept.

31. Primary Material
Want to read the original
“My Own Private Library: A Peek Inside
the Personal Library of a Librarian”
columns in chronological order?
Visit http://bit.ly/2g6xFah or
digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu

32. Jamie Jones / BuzzFeed UK

34. These are the oldest bookshelves
which have made it through many
moves
Cooking gadget storage &
bookshelf -a converted hand-
me-down.
Two of Laura’s
eight bookshelves.
Most of the others
are loaded with
books; some from
her Oxford Book
Store days.

35. Any Questions ???

36. Contact Information
Laura Tartak
Associate Department Head
Perimeter College at Georgia State University
Newton Campus Library
ltartak@gsu.edu
770-278-1342

37. What’s on Your Shelf?:
An Informative Look at
Georgia Library Quarterly’s
“My Own Private Library” Columns
Laura Tartak
Perimeter College at Georgia State University
ltartak@gsu.edu