nerdy librarian argument: Where to put Harry!

[orangerful]

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (the rehearsal script) will be published on July 31st and cataloging librarians are having fun debating where this book should live (when it eventually gets to a shelf...which might take awhile

Comments

[rogueslayer452]

I thought she co-wrote the play as well?

Anyway, I'm not entirely certain myself. With bookstores they either have public displays for newer releases and then have all the books of a franchise together in one place (or have some there but also in the area with other screenplays as well, esp since there will be the screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts movie coming out soon, it might have its own little section), but I'm not really sure if libraries organize things similarly in that way.

[author_by_night]

Yeah, I feel like the idea that she basically just sat there and nodded was an early misconception - like how everyone thought it was about Teddy Lupin at first. I feel like she planned the story, at the very least. (Which is still different from casually greenlighting.)

I've also heard it's a way better play than it sounds via the spoilers...

[rogueslayer452]

Yeah, I figured that people wouldn't have been making such a big fuss about it if she had only approved of the play. She is credited to being involved with the story and perhaps even stating that she considers it canon? I'm not entirely certain on that last part, though, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did.

I've also heard it's a way better play than it sounds via the spoilers...I've heard that it's great, production-wise. There's already stills from the play itself and it does look stunning, and anyone who is fascinated with the theatrical aspect will most likely enjoy it. Which is understandable. It's kind of like seeing a movie that has amazing special effects and great performances, but the story itself is weak and has too many plot holes. I sort of equate it to that. But, as you said, sometimes things do seem worse from the vague spoilers versus reading the actual thing -- at the same time, however, with an already established canon and with a play that completely messes with not just the story and characters but also the

[author_by_night]

I think she said she considers it canon too. But honestly, even if I love it, I probably won't consider much, if any of it, canon. It's like Pottermore - there's things I've loved and incorporated into fics, but also things I don't love.

In fairness, lot of entertainment is less about the plot and more about other things - the dialogue, the scenery, whatnot. An example is actually the PoA movie, where even the dialogue is very rushed and choppy, but the scenery was amazing. So that's fine if that's what it is; on the other hand, if we are supposed to accept it as canon, I'm not really sure how that works. Not to mention that just reading it as a script might make it very hard to follow. JKR also doesn't seem like the type to write something absurd for the specific purpose of being absurd. Then again, IIRC JKR also loved the PoA movie, so maybe she is fine with absurdity for absurdity's sake.

I'm saying all of this as someone who is most definitely not a drama expert or critic. Just as a disclaimer. :P

We'll just have to wait

[tigtogiba34]

Prolly too much time in price changes at my grocery store but put in in plays and put a small sign in the Harry section that states it is in the plays?

[kaitydid33087]

I think I would put it with the plays, since it is a play.

[ofwinterspast]

I really feel it should go with the plays. I am not opposed to the play really...it just seems more orderly.

[touchofgr3y]

Hahahahah I was so thinking about this earlier!

Here's what's *going* to happen: the OCLC record will have it in the 800s, which is where the staff doing copy cataloging will put it. It'll sit there for three seconds until one of the librarians comes and whines at me to reclassify it to live with the other Harry Potters. I just don't have the strength to argue about these reclassifications anymore, I'm getting awful. "Just write down what you want and give it to someone else to deal with! I don't have time for this!"

Bahahaha and this is how tired I am, the Dewey made completely sense to me and made me liar (to be fair, I spent lots of years in a Dewey library). SO FINE PN -> PR.

[orangerful]

LOLOLOL yeah, there was a HUGE email trail in my inbox today with Maryland catalogers having this discussion. I'm not a cataloger so I couldn't chime in but I wanted to because I ALWAYS HAVE OPINIONS ON CATALOGING LOL.

I an probably that whiny staff member you so dread...I honestly argue with our head cataloger all the time about things like this. But I won't about Harry because I am not volunteering to relabel 150 books if I could convince her to change her mind.