Q&A

Collection Review Sites

Posted by Morlee Maynard on April 2, 2026 at 16:43 in Collection Development

 Roxy Klassen wants to know . . .

What review sites do you use to determine if a book should be added to your library?

I've used https://www.alignmyread.com/ for adult books.

And https://christianparentreviews.com/ for kids books.

But they don't have all books so I would like to have a few others to look at.

 

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Replies

  • Linda Vollmer April 17, 2026 14:35

    Thank you all! This is so very helpful!

  • Johanne Bryant April 8, 2026 16:02

    Once a year or so I have taken our library staff to nearby Christian Bookstore and given them a target area, i.e, Children, Bibles, fiction, etc.   Also look through LifeWay publications for author and titles, and occassionally a bibliography in the back of a book and check resources in church literature against our collection.

    When we withdrew our Books on CD colleciton last year, we made a list of titles we wanted in book format for which we had only bought the CDs.

  • Gail OConnor April 7, 2026 7:56

    I also used redeemedreader.com for reviews of books for kids and YA

    I also look for good book recommendations on Christianitytoday.com (they also have yearly book awards) and Christianbookwards.com for their year awards.  I also love rabbitroom.com (Rabbit Room was born with the mission to create and curate stories, music, and works of art for Christians - they have a bookstore with their recommendations)

    I also browse through the englewoodreview.org which reviews and discusses book focused on socially-engaged Christian literature.  

  • Ann Johnson April 6, 2026 15:17

    We use LibraryThing tso can check how many and which "Similar Libraries" have the book. After doing that for a few years, we've learned which of those "similar libraries" are selective and think most like we do, which can sometimes be helpful. We also read Amazon reviews - both the good, average and bad reviews. Sometime the bad reviews are v enlightening. Rarely, I'll google a title or author and do actual research. 

  • Debbie Dehart April 6, 2026 15:04

    We mostly use reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads....in particular the one-star reviews. Those often give  more useful information than the five-star ones. Of course we don't always agree - but we do find them to be helpful. 

     

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