Science Fiction in Libraries

by

Carolyn J. Sleith

This dissertation was submitted in part fulfillment of requirements for the

degree of MSc. Information and Library Studies

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE

January 2010

Table of Contents
1 Introduction

2 Literature Review

2.1 The Value of Fiction in Libraries

2.2 Defining Science Fiction

2.3 Science Fiction in Libraries

10

2.4 Science Fictions poor reputation

12

2.5 Good science fiction

15

2.6 The science fiction reader

16

2.7 Science fiction as popular culture

19

2.8 Scottish Science Fiction

21

2.8.1 The Past

21

2.8.2 The Present

26

2.8.3 The Future

33

3 Methodology
3.1 Stage 1 Survey of the Fans

35
36

3.2 Stage 2 Survey of the Libraries science fiction collections

39
3.3 Stage 3 Survey of how science fiction is promoted in libraries.
51
3.4 Anticipated Constraints
3.5 Ethical Considerations
4 Results

53
54
55

4.1 Questionnaire for Fans

55

4.1.1 Demographics of Fans

55

4.1.2 Reading Habits of Fans

57

4.1.3 Positive Feelings

60

4.1.4 Negative Feelings

64

4.1.5 Potential Improvements

68

4.2 Catalogue Survey

70

4.2.1 Scottish Science Fiction Books

70

4.2.2 Classic Science Fiction Books

73

4.2.3 Series
4.3 Library Survey

81
82

4.3.1 How are science fiction collections promoted in libraries?

82
4.3.2 Do librarians have a good knowledge of science fiction?
85
5 Analysis and Discussion

92

5.1 The Fans

92

5.1.1 Users and Non-users

92

5.1.2 Geographical Differences

97

5.1.3 Male and Female

99

5.1.4 Age Groups

104

5.2 The Libraries

110

5.2.1 How are science fiction collections promoted differently in

libraries?

110

5.2.2 How does library staff knowledge of science fiction differ

across the country?
6 Conclusion

111
114

6.1 General

114

6.2 Research Questions

115

7 Limitations of Methodology and Reflections

119

7.1 Limitations

119

7.2 Reflections

122

8 Recommendations and Future Research

123

8.1 Recommendations

123

8.2 Future Research

124

9 Bibliography

127

10 Appendices

150

Appendix A - Questionnaire for Fans

150

Appendix B - Mystery Shopper Scenario and Questionnaire.

159

Appendix C - Results of Catalogue Survey

167

Appendix D All Text Responses to Is there anything else you like about the
public library you use?

168

Appendix E - All text responses to Is there anything else you don't like about
your public library?

170

Appendix F - All Text Responses to Is there anything that would make you go
to the public library more often than you do now?

173

Appendix G Mystery Shopper Text Responses on Library Visits.

177

List of Graphs
B

A
Age Groups of Fans
Occupations of fans

55
55

Geographical distribution of respondents

56

The number of Scottish Titles held compared with council population

71

Total number of Scottish Titles held compared with council population

72

Number of Top Ten Classic Science Fiction books held compared with

council population
G

73

Number of classic titles held compared with council population

75

Total number of classic titles held

76

Is the science fiction grouped in one place?

83

Do the SF books have spine labels?

83

Are there any displays of SF books?

84

Are there any SF books as part of a larger display?

84

Were the staff able to help?

86

Responses to Can you recommend a science fiction book by a Scottish

author?

87

List of Tables
2

1
Scottish Science Fiction
Classic Science Fiction

40
46

3
Reading Habits of Fans
Which media respondents enjoy

57
58

Responses to positive statements

60

Responses to negative statements

64

Responses to improved promotional activities

69

Classic titles with the most copies held in each library service
77

The most popular books held in Scottish libraries from both Classic and

Scottish lists

79

10

Users and Non-users responses to negative statements.

93

11

Geographical comparison for those statements that the group, as a

whole, have no strong feelings.

97

12

Reading habits of male and female fans

100

13

Male and female science fiction form preferences.

101

14

Men and womens feelings about their library

102

15

Reading habits of the different age groups.

104

16

Age-groups and science fiction form preferences

106

17

Age-group responses to positive and negative statements

107

18

The promotion of science fiction book collections in Glasgow City and

other council districts of Scotland

19

110

The science fiction knowledge of library staff in Glasgow City and other

councils

112

List of Figures
A

Wikipedia Page on Scottish Science Fiction Authors.

89

Chapter 1
Introduction
Science Fiction is a genre that strikes fear in the hearts of many
librarians.
Joyce G Saricks (Saricks, 2001, P261)
Genre is French for kind, type or form and is the way that literature is
categorised. However genre definitions can be very broad and no work fits
perfectly into one genre. For example Iain Banks most recent work
Transition, despite being published under his mainstream name, contains a
number of ideas much more in keeping with his science fiction work.

Genres are used to classify texts, which obey common conventions in their
structure, content, or style (Hutchinsons, 2009). Genre is something that is
also decided by publishers in order to market their books. It has been argued
that genres produce their own pleasures precisely because audience members
know what will happen next and want to see how it will be done (Abercrombie,
2006).
Since 1850 there has been the question about whether light or genre fiction
should be represented in libraries at all (Ashby, 1953). However, with 80% of a
librarys issues being fiction, it would seem now that if the public library is to
serve the wishes of the community and adhere to Ranganathans Second Law
of Every Reader his book (Ranganathan, 1931) then it seems that lending
popular fiction is one of the main functions of the modern public library. There
remains the question of which genres to stock extensively and which to
promote.
Usherwood and Toyne have researched the benefits that readers derive from
reading imaginative fiction. These benefits include escapism, relaxation,
education, increased literacy skills, self-development and improvement

(Usherwood, 2002). In fact bibliotherapy has recently become popular as a

way of treating mental health issues (BBC, 2008). Therefore fiction is a very
valuable resource for quality of life and having as much access to it as
possible, whether for pure pleasure or for more serious personal development,
is very important to a large number of people.
The leisure role of public libraries has often been controversial with the
education and information roles being more attractive to both librarians and
library funding agencies. But as most users use the library in a recreational
fashion and genre fiction is the most borrowed category in the library it would
appear that good genre fiction would be what the public require and demand
from their libraries (Hayes, 2005).
Morris, Hawkins and Sumison (Morris, 2001) have completed a study in
Loughborough, Bedford, Hinckley and Rugby libraries to ascertain how much
people say they would have been willing to pay to borrow the books that they
were returning. On average it would appear that people would be willing to pay
8% of the cost of the cover price of a fiction book. So it is possible to set a
monetary amount on the value that people derive from reading fiction. This is
in addition to the less tangible benefits previously mentioned.
Science fiction is a genre that is very poorly represented in our libraries
(Broderick, 1983), but it is generally held that science fiction (SF) is a genre
popular with male readers and young adults. As libraries try to attract more
male readers and teenagers, carrying and promoting genres that appeal to
them would seem to be a worthwhile strategy. However libraries feel that SF is
a minority genre that does not bring sufficient issues to be worthwhile
promoting. It would also appear that many SF writers had their first taste of SF
in their public library (SF Signal, 2009), so having good quality SF is essential
for the future of the genre.

Although SF is particularly strongly represented in Scotland by the authors Iain

M. Banks, Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross and Richard Morgan, this seems not to

be reflected in the media where SF is still largely disparaged or in libraries

where the collections are small or of poor quality. Active SF fandom is also
alive and well in Scotland with current conventions and future Worldcon bids in
2014 (Satellite 2 (2009); Worldcon (2009)).
The Public Lending Rights annual Most Borrowed Titles and Most Borrowed
Authors Reports (Public Lending Right, 2008) indicate that SF authors and
titles do not appear in the top 250 most popular for public libraries in the UK.
However in the BBCs 100 Top books (BBC, 2003) there 23 are SF or Fantasy
books and more recently the Telegraphs Top 100 Books (Telegraph, 2007)
contains 20 SF or Fantasy titles. This would imply that SF or Fantasy is a
popular genre with the book-buying public, but this is not reflected in library
lending.
In the cinema the best selling movie of 2008 was The Dark Knight, a movie
based on the comic book Batman and in 2009 it was James Camerons 3D epic
Avatar. Looking at the Top 50 grossing movies of all time reveals that 21 of
the titles are Science Fiction. This is the most popular category with the second
most popular being fantasy with 15 titles (Movieweb, 2009). So it would
appear that SF and fantasy are popular film genres. The television schedules
are full of SF and fantasy programs and Star Trek continues to run in an
almost constant loop. There are plenty of fans of media SF shown in the
success of the Dr Who franchise in the UK and the US and in the recent Star
Trek Movie. The media fan base of science fiction would seem to be large and
healthy and the stocks of media tie-in books dominate the bookshops.
Generally media tie ins are frowned on by the serious science fiction fan, but
as current media writers are heavily influenced by the SF writers of previous
decades it would seem to be a natural progression from media to books.
SF has not been about ray guns and rockets and read only by white teenage
boys for about fifty years. SF, as it is perceived by the non-SF world, does not
resemble the genre as it exists (Mendlesohn, Date not Given). In book shops in
the UK 1 in 10 books sold are SF (Roberts, 2006, P30), so it would appear that

the genre is thriving as far as booksellers are concerned. In journalism though

the phrase like science fiction is often used disparagingly to describe
something unbelievable or far-fetched, despite the fact that SF defines itself as
being plausible.
SF in the UK is currently very strongly represented at the moment. Kim
Stanley Robinson has said the range, depth, intensity, wit and beauty of the
science fiction being published in the UK these days is simply amazing
(Roberts, 2009). But still the genre struggles to gain acceptance by the literary
community. Science Fiction books are still judged to be bought by a special
kind of person who has special weird things they go to and meet each other
according to John Mullan, a Booker prize judge (Flood, 2009). However John
Mullan delivered a Plenary speech to the Jane Austen Society of America
(JASNA, 2009) a conference which includes such events as workshops,
demonstrations, fan-fiction dramatisations and games. In fact an event that
sounds exactly like a science fiction convention. This hypocrisy, lack of
understanding and patronising generalisation of the genre and its readers
shows an unparalleled level of ignorance, which is shocking for someone in a
position of such cultural influence.

Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 The Value of Fiction in Libraries
Very little work has been done on the preferences of genre fiction readers in
libraries. David Spiller (Spiller, 1980) surveying 500 library users in the
Loughborough area in 1980 found that the most popular genre by far was
mystery followed by romance. This would still appear true today, as the fiction
shelves of public libraries are full crime mysteries and thrillers. Mystery is also
a genre popular with both male and female readers. SF is one of the least
popular genres with western being the only genre that had fewer issues than
SF. In all four libraries that were studied at the time, the majority of borrowers
were female, so genres popular with women are more likely to be borrowed
leaving the male preferred genres marginalised. One interesting thing about
the figures for SF borrowing was that while only 6% of users borrowed SF,
10% of people said that they looked for SF when they were browsing for fiction
(Spiller, 1980). Perhaps this means that if there were more SF choices then
they would borrow them.
Bond and Hollands are involved with a particularly successful SF/Fantasy
reading group (Bond, 2008). The long running success of the group is due to
the varied themes that they explore monthly and that they do not all read the
same book each month. Genre book groups are generally small and shortlived, but the one in Williamsburg has a large number of members and has run
for a number of years. One of the reasons for this is that they do not chose a
particular book to read for the month rather that the readers choose a book
they want to read on the monthly topic. Many SF readers are well informed
and highly critical of the genre they love and so refuse to read certain subgenres or authors that they dislike. So the format of the Williamsburg group
has contributed to its longevity. Also the benefits the members derive from the
group are more extensive than extending their reading boundaries. The group

bonds have extended into their personal lives and into other aspects of SF
fandom in their area. This could be a valuable model in setting up any kind of
genre book group.
In the future libraries will have to stock more ebooks in order to meet the
demands of modern technology and according to McKnight, Dearnley and
Morris (McKnight, 2008) one of the most popular genres currently held in
ebook format is SF. This could be due to the nature of the readers who like to
be at the forefront of new technology adoption and are more likely to be online and have the latest gadgets.
2.2 Defining Science fiction
Defining science fiction is the subject of many late night debates in Science
Fiction Convention bars and websites and has as many definitions as it does
writers. The term science fiction, or scientifiction initially, was first coined by
Hugo Gernsback in 1929. He is regarded as father of SF and has had SFs
highest accolade, The Hugo, named after him (The Hugo Awards, 2010).
Gernsback edited the magazine Amazing Stories from 1926 till 1929. The
purpose of this magazine was to help popularise the new emerging technology
of radio and also to help the sales of his non-fiction magazine made for radio
enthusiasts (Attebury, 2003, P34). His mission was not only to entertain, but
also to educate.
Since then SF has acquired many definitions as there are authors, ranging
from the cynical to the academic to the passionate. For example editor Damon
Knight said that SF was what we point to when we say it in 1952 (Wilson,
2008). A simple definition from the Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
describes science fiction as stories which are set in the future, or in which the
contemporary situation is disrupted by an imaginary device such as a new
invention or the introduction of an alien being. (Cambridge, 2000) while
Crystal Reference describe it as fiction that focuses on the technical
possibilities and human effects of scientific advance (Crystal, 2005).

A more academic definition from Darko Suvin is a literary genre whose

necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of
estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device is an imaginative
framework alternative to the authors empirical environment (Roberts, 2006,
P7).
Asimov has said, Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that
consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible
consequences, and the possible solutions. (Wilson, 2008). However one of the
best definitions of SF comes from the library community. Betty Rosenberg in
1982 said science fiction has been labeled a fiction of questions: What if.? If
only.? If this goes on?(Rosenberg, 1982, P173).
Science Fiction and Fantasy are often grouped together as a genre, sometimes
along with Horror, as it is too difficult to separate them. Fantasy was described
by Tolkien as a higher form of art (Swinfen, 1984) and although fans may
often protest that science fiction and fantasy are separate genres, Paul Brians
describes science fiction as a plausible subdivision of fantasy literature (Wilson,
2008).
In the same way that Fantasy has a number of sub-genres, so also does
science fiction. These include hard, soft, space opera, cyberpunk, alternate
history and military amongst many others. It would seem that a new wave of
SF is born every year. Most recently we have had described New Weird and
Mundane (Vector, 2005) each with its own set of fans. For instance
Mundane science fiction describes itself as literature where the most likely
future is one in which we only have ourselves and this planet. While the New
Weird is described as a sub-genre which merges elements of science fiction,
fantasy and horror, while being written in a literary prose style. With such a
rich variety of sub-genres SF has a very wide appeal and fans have their own
loyalties to the different sub-genres.

Science Fiction is about important things like racism, alienation, ecology,

sociology, politics, history, philosophy and human psychology. It also sheds
light on the issues of today by extrapolating into the future and examining the
outcome under a microscope. A recent example of this is the movie District 9
which spotlights South Africas policy of apartheid. Literary people feel that
literature should be about personal relationships and how characters feel about
things. Science fiction is a discussion with the universe (Mendlesohn, 2003,
P2).
2.3 Science Fiction in Libraries
SF has attracted the interest of academics more in the last thirty years or so
with literature courses being offered in SF at a number of universities. Also
courses on the media and popular culture often include SF as a subject. But
Mulcahy has found in his study of American Association of Research Libraries
(Mulcahy, 2006), that the collections of SF are rarely in depth or extensive
enough to be valuable as a research tool. The study comprised of examining
the catalogs of 112 libraries with respect to a control sample of 200 SF novels
chosen from the reading lists of literature courses and award winners. The
average number of these novels that the libraries contained was between 81
and 100. Perhaps a similar study of public libraries SF holdings would reveal
similar collecting practices. Mulcahy also noted that many of the ARL libraries
held only one book of a series and it was impossible to borrow an entire
narrative. This has also been found to be common in public libraries according
to the anecdotal comments in the blog posting, Do Science Fiction Fans Hate
Libraries? (Shaffer, 2008).
If librarians have little or no knowledge of SF then the librarys collection will
suffer, however Brewis and Gericke propose a model for the selection of
science fiction which covers such categories as setting, language, theme,
megatext, entertainment value, plot, scientific knowledge, myth & symbolism
and style (Brewis, 2003). This model would seem to be able to distinguish
quality works from those perhaps less worthy and would serve in absence of

any personal experience of the genre.

In addition to this model is advice from Janice Bogstad on balancing a librarys

SF collection. In her article she lists quality authors in the field as well as
critical works, periodicals and publishers. And while it somewhat out of date
now could still be used to enhance any collection (Bogstad, 1983). More up to
date is Kim Kofmels SCI-FI 101 article which points out the diversity of the SF
reader and why people are so drawn to SF. The purposeful reasons are the
exploration of ides, the affirmation of worldview and escape. The four strategic
reasons are habit, using SF as a filter to keep the selection task manageable,
influence of the readers social network and domain knowledge. She also
explains that readers of SF will continue to select the genre until their
experience outgrows the collection and at that point they may abandon the
library (Kofmel, 2004). This would generally be the case if the collection was
small and out of date and if library staff fail to spot an advisory opportunity
and move the reader on to a related genre such as techno-thriller or fantasy.

2.4 Science Fictions poor reputation

Science Fiction, and indeed any genre literature, has had difficulty in being
called literature at all. Apparently genre fiction is ephemeral and only when it
has crossed over to the best-sellers list does it come to the attention of the
literary media and become classed as literature (Futas, 1993). At that point SF
usually loses its categorisation as SF as if it is good then it cannot be SF. There
have been a number of books recently that publishers have resisted calling SF
so that they would be reviewed in the press. Notably The Time Travelers
Wife which, despite having obvious SF elements, has been classed as a
romance and has been marketed as such. CS Lewis, back in 1966, observed
that articles critical of SF were written by people who did not like SF at all and
so were ill-equipped to distinguish good SF from bad (Lewis, 1966). Whereas
SF fans themselves are well known to be highly critical of the genre that they
love (Brotherton, 2008; Ash, 1975, P76).

In the publishing world science fiction is held in very low regard. David
Langford in Ansible publishes a regular column called As others see us
(Langford, 2009) which describes instances of science fiction being derogated
in the mainstream press or as can be seen in this example, ill-informed or
bafflingly contradictory: Max (Jennifer Government) Barry is yet another author who defines
SF by futuristic gadgetry and regards this with Atwood-like alarm:
'I had the idea for a story set in an ultra-capitalist world for a long
time. But I didn't want to write a science-fiction book with laser
guns and flying cars. I was more interested in writing a social
fiction: taking the world we live in now and tweaking it a bit.' (Orbit
Ezine 60) [DH] Of course no SF author could create that kind of
thing. The Observer's reviewer agreed: 'The point of the dystopian
satire, of course -- as opposed to pure science-fiction -- is that its
imagined world is both recognisable and chillingly possible ...' (27
July) (Langford, 2009, Ansible, Vol 193).
Some authors who have written definitive works of science fiction deny that
their work is science fiction and insist that it be shelved on main stream
bookshelves. Most notably Margaret Atwood, referred to in the quote above,
author of the SF books The Handmaids Tale and Oryx and Crake, has
insisted that her work is speculative fiction or adventure romance and
infamously said, Science fiction is rockets, chemicals and talking squids in
outer space (Langford, 2009). This may be a reference to Stephen Baxters
Manifold: Time novel of 2000, although many other talking squid books are
referenced by author Vonda McIntyre (McIntyre, 2008). This comment has
promoted much anger from authors and fans alike, but Brian Aldiss has
admitted, A certain amount of opprobrium has always hovered around the title
science fiction (Appleyard, 2007). The Cambridge Guide to Literature in
English describes the genre in its pulp days as absurd and gaudy
(Cambridge, 2000) and says that much of it still is especially on screen. In fact

the terrible films of the 40s and 50s have given the genre its poor reputation in
the literary world (Ashley, 1974). Recent movies such as Sunshine and
Armageddon have done little to dispel this reputation. Samuel Delany feels
that the badly written adventure fiction is SF anti-literature (Delany, 1971) and
this poor quality space opera which were no more than westerns with space
ships has forever tainted the genre (Westfahl, 2003, P199). However modern
space opera, such as Star Wars, is immensely popular and authors such as Iain
M Banks and Dan Simmons are critically acclaimed.
Theodore Sturgeon first uttered what has become known as Sturgeons Law in
1958 in an issue of Venture magazine where he said Ninety percent of science
fiction is crud, but then ninety percent of everything is crud. (Websters Online
Dictionary, 2010). It was also noted by James Blish that science fiction is the
only genre that is exclusively judged by its worst examples (Blish, 1971). It is
the equivalent of judging all books about love by the output of the publisher
Mills and Boon.
Why does SF have such a poor reputation in literary circles? Robert Conquest
believes that literary intellectuals look down on scientists as childish and that
the literary mind does not have a capacity for imagination (Conquest, 1976,
P32-35). He goes on to say that there are a lot of literary people who regard
themselves as educated, but have a willful ignorance of even basic science
(Conquest, 1976, P39). This is certainly true in this authors experience and is
exhibited in a discussion about the movie Sunshine where an anonymous
commenter feels they are not ignorant despite knowing nothing about science
whatsoever (Sunshine Ranting and Spoilers, 2007). There are a number of
reasons why literary people do not enjoy SF and ignorance of science and
technology is certainly one of them.
Another is the intertextuality involved in reading SF. Knowing something of the
genre enhances the readers enjoyment of it in terms of itself and how it
references or even directly quotes classic works. For example some SF devices
have dropped into common usage such as the ansible, a device which makes

instantaneous communication possible over vast distances. First named by

Ursula Le Guin it has been re-used in works by Elizabeth Moon and Orson Scott
Card amongst others. It is almost impossible to recommend an SF book to
someone who has never read SF before.
2.5 Good Science Fiction
However science fiction is not without its literary stars. Doris Lessing, who
wrote the science fiction series Conupus in Argos series, won the Nobel Prize
for literature in 2007 (Crown, 2007) and Sir Terry Pratchett has been accused
and found guilty of literature (Butler, James & Mendlesohn, 2004) and
honoured by The Queen for his contributions to the field.
There are countless SF authors who have achieved literary acclaim (Anders,
2008) such as Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury, Neal Stephenson and many others
some of whom are even studied on college courses.
2.6 The Science Fiction reader
The genre itself has difficulty defining itself and so too do the readers. While
the general public may view your average SF fan as a teenage male (Carl V.,
2008) this is a sweeping generalisation. There now almost equal numbers of
male and female SF readers according to the National Science Foundation
Survey of 2001 (National Science Foundation, 2002), which states that 31% of
men and 28% of women survey said they read science fiction books or
magazines. This would seem to be against received wisdom and it would be
interesting to see if there are equal numbers of men and women active in SF
fandom. Also readers of science fiction are often perceived to be geeks and
nerds (Walter, 2008) amongst other things, but fans rarely see themselves
this way. Many are academics, professionals and female (Newitz, 2008;
Mendlesohn 2008).
Also SF readers are unique in that there are active and passive fans. Passive

fans watch or read SF as a form of entertainment. Active fans meet other fans,
talk about the genre, write about the genre or review books and some even go
as far as organising large-scale events to bring fans, writers and actors
together to talk about the genre. SF fans uniquely also add to the genre via fan
fiction, art, filk (SF folk music) and fanzines (Jenkins, 1992). And perhaps
surprisingly the producers of these works are more likely to be female.
Many SF fans come to the genre during their childhood and David Harwell has
said that the gold age of science fiction is 12 and that publishers know it is a
genre popular with teen readers (Tixier-Herald, 2002). A survey in Locus
magazine in the 70s confirmed that for young people aged 12 it is their
favourite genre (Hay,1973). Dorothy Broderick maintains that the young
adults, who enjoy reading books in the SF genre, are so uncatered to in
libraries that they stay away in their droves, buy their own books and lend
them to each other like an old-time lending library (Broderick, 1983). One
reason that younger readers like SF so much is that they are generally
adventure stories imbued with meaning about things that are true and
beautiful (Jones, 1991).
Rafael Behr suggests that the reason SF draws in so many male readers is
because in an SF world, such as Star Trek, it is possible to know everything
there is to know about that universe. The very fact that it is imaginary and
therefore finite, is what draws men who find the real world too full of
unknowns (Behr, 2005). He goes onto suggest that it is this child-like quality of
men that distinguishes them from women, who grow up and learn to adjust to
the imperfect universe. Men however want there to be possible solutions to
everything, a characteristic that is popular in SF where the hero uses his
intelligence and technology to solve an issue and fix everything.
Mark Hillegas believes that SF is written and read by people who share a
somewhat similar background of education and interests (Hillegas, 1971). That
may have been true in the 70s, but now it is clear that SF is able to reach a
much wider audience than that. Although SF readers do seem to share some

characteristics of intelligence, imagination and curiosity.

Science fiction fans are generally avid readers, but they do not seem to borrow
books from the library. It would appear that there are a number of reasons for
this such as poor collections, gaps in series and the fact that SF readers tend
to buy rather than borrow (Shaffer, 2008). There would also appear to be a
self-perpetuating problem of poor collections leading to poor borrowing, which
leads to less SF being bought for the collections. However there are a number
of other factors not least of which is that SF books are not well promoted in
libraries.
According to librarian Diana Tixier-Herald there are two types of SF reader: the
casual reader who will benefit from a readers advisory service and the serious
reader who will be much more knowledgeable and independent (Tixier-Herald,
2002). However the serious reader will rapidly exhaust the collection of their
library and if they cannot get their fix there will instead frequent bookshops in
order to get the latest titles.
People who do not read science fiction, such as Carolyn Heilbrun, may not do
so as they feel that imaginative fiction is childish and about things rather than
people (Conquest, 1976, p32). They may also feel it is a masculine and
misogynistic genre that does not speak to women and that fiction should
concern itself with how things are in the real world rather than an imaginary
one (Helibrun, 1984). This misogyny is apparent in Poul Andersons comments
that women have not been relevant in SF and that the absence of women in SF
is of no great significance. Lefanu goes on to note that the images of women in
SF reflect women as seen by men (Lefanu, 1988, P14). However since the
arrival of Star Trek in the late sixties there has been a vast increase in the
number of female readers and writers (Roberts, 2006, P95). The womens
press published thirty titles in their science fiction series in the eighties and
woman dominated SF has a long tradition.

2.7 Science Fiction as popular culture

Outside of the media of books SF enjoys quite a wide popularity. Love Films All
Time Top 250 Titles for movies and TV DVD rentals contains 63 choices in the
SF/F/H genre (Love Film, 2009). However it is not well understood whether SF
readers and SF watchers are the same group of people. SF films have been
described as sci-fi, a term coined by Forrest J Ackerman (SciFiSlacker, 2009),
which is a somewhat derogatory term in the serious SF literary circles
(DeNardo, 2008; Michaels 1996). Although not all SF fans think that sci-fi is a
debasement and use the terms interchangeably. One of the reasons that
journalists refer to SF as sci-fi is because SF is the standard abbreviation for
the City of San Francisco and they wish to avoid confusion. It is not an
intention to separate SF films from books or to comment on the consumers of
either medium.
SF has long been an influential force in the development of technology. Jason
Pontin the editor of Technology Review has commented that the imagination of
technologists is driven by SF (Pontin, 2007). Star Trek communicators have
driven the design and widespread use of the mobile phone and despite that
fact that artificial intelligence may never be possible it is still a buoyant
research area. Similarly caution about GM foods and nanotechnology has its
origins in tales of warning from SF stories. The World Wide Web was proposed
by Tim Berners-Lee four years after the publication of William Gibsons
Neuromancer. SF is less about the future than about today and todays SF
readers are tomorrows scientists and engineers.
Popular culture has entered academia and colleges now offer courses in media
and popular culture. A public librarian should be well versed in as much
popular culture as possible in order to serve customers well. To that end a
good knowledge of genre fiction is essential and keeping abreast of the latest
popular culture trends would be a necessary part of the job (Overmeir, 1995).
J.G. Ballard at a BSFA meeting in 1969 said that SF may well prove to be the
most valid expression of the 20th Centurys response to science (Ballard, 1969,
P24). And Robert Conquest said great literature, a cultural expansion, often

goes with a physical expansion (Conquest, 1976). So with these things in

mind the future may prove that the genre of SF produced the greatest
literature of the 20th and 21st century.
2.8 Scottish Science Fiction : A Historical Summary
The following list contains authors born in Scotland and those who lived long
enough in Scotland to adopt it as their home and become part of the culture.
This list not only includes authors, but editors, poets and more recently award
winning television and comic book writers all of whom have had some influence
on the science fiction genre.
2.8.1 The Past
Whilst it is generally held that science fiction began with Mary Shelleys
Frankenstein in 1818, it could be said that science fiction in Scotland began
with the proto-science fiction novel of Armata by Thomas Erskine from 1817,
a year earlier (Erskine, 1817; MacGillvray, 2000). This book deals for the first
time with the idea of the twin-earth theme (Science Fiction History, 19751981).
George MacDonald (1824-1905) wrote Phantastes in 1858 and Lilith in
1895 (Great Science Fiction and Fantasy Works, 2008). Both of these are
fantasies, but can be regarded as having the science fiction element of parallel
worlds as their basis.
Robert Louis Stevensons (1850-1894) Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and My
Hyde in 1886 (Classic Literature Library, Date Not Given) is perhaps one of
the first well known science fiction novels exploring the dark side of mankind
and the idea of split-personality.
Robert Barr (1850-1912) who was known mostly for detective fiction, but
writing as Luke Sharp (Fantastic Fiction -Robert Barr, 2009), wrote a number of

short supernatural works such as From Whose Bourne published in 1893.

J.M Barrie (1860-1937) was a Scottish playright who created the character of
Peter Pan for the stage. He later published the novel as Peter and Wendy in
1911 (Brown, 2009).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), was a contemporary and friend of Robert
Barr, and is best known for his Sherlock Holmes detective novels. He also
contributed to the field of science fiction with his Professor Challenger novels
(Fantastic Fiction - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 2009) The Lost World (1912),
The Poison Belt (1913) and The Land of Mist (1926). Although these were
fantastic adventure novels they also speculated on the unexplored areas of the
world and posited the notions of dinosaurs surviving to the present day,
pollution destroying the world and the afterlife. There were also some
Professor Challenger short stories called When the World Screamed 1928
which deals with a creature that lives at the centre of the world. The
Disintegration Machine 1929 and a machine which can transfer matter to
energy, a speculative technology familiar to Star Trek fans.
David Lindsay (1876-1945) published the science fiction work A Voyage to
Arcturus in 1920 (Fantastic Fiction - David Lindsay, 2009). This work was
recently published as a Fantasy Masterwork as, although not originally a
commercial success, it influenced C.S. Lewis (Violet Apple, 2009) and many
others. The book has a longevity, which belied its initial lack of sales.
Eric Temple Bell (1883-1960) was a Scottish born mathematician who also
wrote science fiction under the name John Taine. His work was published in
Hugo Gernsbachs Astounding Stories and he was described as a master of
science fiction (Westfahl, 2004). He published novels and short stories from
1924-1954. One of his most famous works was The Time Stream 1931 which
was published in four parts in Wonder Stories. A full bibliography is available
from Fantastic Fiction (Fantastic Fiction - John Taine, 2009).

Neil Gunn (1891-1973) wrote The Green Isle of the Great Deep in 1944, a
book which has been compared to 1984 as a dystopian fantasy (Silver, 2009).
However this book was not his most successful and is his only work to fall into
the genre, although only loosely.
Naomi Michison (1897-1999) wrote two science fiction novels ; Memoirs of a
Spacewoman (1962) and Solution Three (1975) (Fantastic Fiction - Naomi
Michison, 2009). Memoirs of a Spacewoman was published in the SF Master
series and succeeds in creating worlds which are truly alien (Potts, 2008).
Solution Three explores the idea of homosexuality as a method of population
and aggression control (The Feminist Press, 2009).
James Leslie Mitchell (1901-1935) who wrote as Lewis Grassic Gibbon is best
known for his Scots Quair Trilogy, but also wrote two science fiction books.
Three Go Back (1932) is a story of three airship travellers who crash and find
themselves in pre-historic Atlantis. Gayhunter (1934) is a post-holocaust
story set in a barbaric far-future Britain (Fantastic Fiction - Lewis Grassic
Gibbon, 2009).
Angus MacVicar (1908-2001) wrote the juvenile science fiction series The Lost
Planet(1953-1960). This six book series was dramatised for radio and
television in the 50s. (Whirligig, 2009) and was translated into Hebrew (Israeli
Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2001) and was consequently a strong
influence on genre development in that country.
However one of the most influential SF editors of the golden age was John W
Campbell (1910-1971) of Astounding Magazine from 1937 to 1971. He was of
Scottish descent and as a writer penned Who Goes There?, the short story
which spawned two movies called The Thing. However his influence as editor
on several writers such as Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein amongst others
was profound. He was partially credited with Asimovs famous Laws of
Robotics and two literary science fiction awards still bear his name (The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 1999, P187).

David I. Masson (1917-2007) published a number of short stories in New

Worlds magazine which were later collected in the book The Caltraps of Time
(The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 1999, P783).
Michael Elder (1931-2004) wrote 14 science fiction novels during the 70s and
80s. His works include the Barclay, Mindslip and Oil series as well as
several other novels with a space opera bent (The Encyclopedia of Science
Fiction, 1999, P 373). He was also an actor on Take the High Road.

Chris Boyce (1943-1999) won the Sunday Times/Gollancz best SF Novel for
Catchworld (1976). He had two other science fiction novels; Brainfix (1980)
and Blooding Mr Naylor (1990) and a number of short stories in collections
such as Starfield and Pulsar 1. He started the Dog and Bone Press in 1990
with his wife and Alasdair Gray. Chris was prominent at Glasgow Science
Fiction conventions and Glasgow fandom in general.
Richard Gordon (1947-2009) wrote a number of science fiction series, under
the name Stuart Gordon, including the Eyes trilogy (1973-1975), The
Watchers trilogy (1987-1990). He also write Time Story (1972), Smile on
the Void (1982) and Fire in the Abyss (1983). He also wrote travel books
and a number of motorbike novels under the name Alex R. Stuart (Locus
Online, 2009).
2.8.2 The Present
The present day boasts a large number of successful Scots (and adopted
Scots) working in the genre in many fields.
Edwin Morgan (1920-) wrote a number of science fiction poems such as The
First Men on Mercury (From Saturn to Glasgow, 2008) and was Glasgows First
Poet Laureate in 1999 and Scotlands national poet in 2004 (Kraszkiewicz,
2009). He has said that some of his science fiction influences are Iain M. Banks
and Chris Boyce.

Archie Roy (1924-) wrote three science fiction novels; Deadlight (1968), The
Curtained Sleep (1969) and All Evil Shed Away (1970). He has also written a
number of Horror novels and non-fiction that incorporate his interest in psychic
phenomenon and the supernatural.
JT McIntosh (1925-) was the pen name for journalist James MacGregor who
wrote short stories throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s. He also published a large
number of science fiction novels during these decades (JT McIntosh, Internet
Speculative Fiction Database, 2009). He also wrote the screenplay for the
movie Satellite in the Sky(1956) (Internet Movie Database, 2009).
Sydney Jordan (1931-) is the author and artist of Jeff Hawke : Space Rider a
cartoon strip run in the Daily Express from 1955-1974 and syndicated till 1988.
He is also the creator of the Daily Records Lance McLane and has drawn for
Dan Dare (Jeff Hawke Club, 2008).
Angus McAllister, a Scottish solicitor, published the story What Dreams May
Come (1978) which was published in two magazines before being collected in
Starfield edited by Duncan Lunan. He has also published other fiction novels
including the SF novel The Cyber Puppets (2002) (Angus McAllister, Fantastic
Fiction, 2009).
Alasdair Gray (1934-) is most famous for his genre defying work Lanark
(1981), but A History Maker (1994) is distinctly science fiction being set in
the 23rd Century. Although Grays work is mostly marketed as mainstream
much of it is fantastical and speculative and hence rather apart from either
genre. Alasdair Gray started the Dog and Bone Press with Chris Boyce. He
appeared at number 29 on The Times 50 Greatest British authors since 1945
list (Times Online, 2008).
Sheila MacLeod (1939-) wrote one science fiction book Xanthe and the
Robots in 1976. She has written other non-genre novels (Fantastic

Fiction,2009, Sheila MacLeod).

Duncan Lunan (1945-) edited the anthology of Scottish Science Fiction
Starfield (1989) and is credited with the founding of the Glasgow Science
Fiction Writers Circle, which has incubated a number of local Glasgow authors.
He has written three science books and achieved international fame with a
claim of having decoded a message from aliens living in the system of Epsilon
Bootis (Time Magazine, 1973). He has also published a number of short stories
and is a writer on the Jeff Hawkes Cosmos magazine (Jeff Hawke Club,
2008).
Margaret Elphinstone (1948-) has written two SF books ; The Incomer
(1987) for the Womens Press science fiction series and the sequel Sparrows
Flight (1989). However she is more generally known for her fantasy works
and historical fiction (Contemporary Writers, 2004).
Paul Barnett (John Grant) (1949-) has written 25 fiction books and 35 nonfiction books. He wrote 12 Lone Wolf books (1989-1994) with Joe Dever which
were novelisations of the role-playing game. He also wrote the Encyclopedia of
Fantasy with John Clute and was technical editor of The Encyclopedia of
Science Fiction. He was also published in Nova Scotia : New Scottish
Speculative Fiction (2005), a collection published to coincide with the Glasgow
Worldcon. He has written two childrens re-tellings of Frankenstein and Dr
Jekyll and My Hyde as well as other satirical fantasy works. (John Grant/ Paul
Barnett, 2009).
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre (1948-) wrote the science fiction novel The Woman
Between the Worlds (1994), which won a Locus Poll award for Best First
Novel. He has also written several short stories for the US SF magazines
Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales and
Analog (F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, 2009).
David Pringle (1950-) is the founder and editor of the magazine Interzone

from 1982 to 2004. Interzone is the foremost publisher of UK science fiction

and won the Hugo award for best semiprozine in 1995. Interzone started the
career of almost every UK SF writer. He was also editor of Foundation : The
Review of Science Fiction (1980-1996). He has also edited a number of SF
anthologies and written Science Fiction: 100 Best Novels (1985) and The
Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (1990). (Internet Speculative Fiction
Database, 2009).
Michael Scott Rohan (1951-) is best known for his fantasy novels, but did write
two science fiction books Run to the Stars (1982) and First Byte (1983)
(Fantastic Fiction, Michael Scott Rohan, 2009).
Iain M Banks (1954-) has two writing careers. His mainstream novels as Iain
Banks are very successful and well received; The Crow Road (1992) being
made into a TV series. His SF novels, as Iain M. Banks, are also successful with
Excession (1996), part of The Culture(1987-2008) series, winning a BSFA
award for Best Novel. He has had one Hugo award nomination for The
Algebraist (2004) (Fantastic Fiction - Iain M Banks, 2009). He certainly
Scotlands best known science fiction writer and appeared at number 38 in The
Timess 50 Greatest British Writers since 1945 (TimesOnline, 2008).
Ken MacLeod (1954-) has been publishing political science fiction since 1995.
Three books from his Fall Revolution Series (1995-1999) won awards. The
Star Fraction (1995) and The Stone Canal (1996) both won Prometheus
Best Novel awards and The Sky Road (1999) won the BSFA Best Novel
award. His works, The Sky Road, Cosmonaut Keep (2000) and Learning
the World (2005) have all been nominated for Hugo Awards (Fantastic Fiction,
Ken MacLeod, 2009).
Two Scottish authors have been involved with The Black Library which publish
novelisations of the Warhammer 40,000 role-play game. William King (1959-)
(The Official William King Website, 2009) and Graham McNeill (1971-) (The
Fourth Company, 2009).

Mike Cobley (1959-) whilst not born in Scotland has lived here for so long he
can be considered to have adopted the culture. He has written the
Shadowkings (2001-2005) fantasy trilogy and the science fiction novels
Seeds of Earth (2008) and The Orphaned Worlds (2010) (Fantastic Fiction,
Michael Cobley, 2009). He is a member of Glasgow Science Fiction Writers
Circle.
Grant Morrison (1960-) is one of the worlds best comic book writers. He has
Batman to his credit as well as a lengthy list of other works, which can be seen
on his website (Grant Morrison, 2008).
The long-running British SF drama, Dr Who has had two Scottish writers in its
recent return to the screen. Stephen Moffat (1961-) has recently become the
head-writer on the show, taking over from Russell T Davis. As a television
writer he has previously written Coupling (2000-2004) and Press
Gang(1989-1993). His Hugo awards are for Best Dramatic Presentation Short
Form for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (2006), The Girl in the
Fireplace (2006) and Blink (2007). Also Stephen Greenhorn (1964-), creator
of BBC Scotlands River City, wrote The Lazarus Experiment (2007) and
The Doctors Daughter (2008) for Dr Who.
Charles Stross (1964-) although born in Leeds has lived in Scotland for so long
he has integrated fully into the language and customs of his adopted home. He
is a successful author with a lengthy bibliography. Glasshouse (2006) won
the Prometheus award for best novel and has written the Merchant Princes
(2004-2010) fantasy series (Fantastic Fiction - Charles Stross, 2009). He has
also been nominated six times for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, but has
never yet won it.
Richard Morgan (1965-) whilst not born in Scotland, still lives and works there.
He has written The Takeshi Kovacs series (2002-2005) of which Altered
Carbon(2002) won a Philip K Dick Award for Best Novel. Market Forces

(2005) won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel and Black
Man (2006) won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel. He has also
written the fantasy series Land Fit for Heroes (2008-2009) (Fantastic Fiction
- Richard Morgan, 2009).
Gary Gibson (1965-) has written a number of hard SF novels Angel Stations
(2004), Against Gravity (2005), Stealing Light (2007) and Nova War
(2009). He is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle
(Fantastic Fiction - Gary Gibson, 2009).
Matthew Fitt (1968-) writes in the Scots language and wrote the only science
fiction novel in Scots, But n Ben A-Go-Go (2000) (Books from Scotland,
2009). He is the National Scots Language Development Officer.
Mark Millar (1969-) is a highly successful comic book writer who has worked on
many titles from DC and Marvel, including Marvels Ultimates imprint. A full list
of his credits is available from his website (Millarworld, 2009).
Hal Duncan (1971-) has written two genre crossing works Vellum
(2005),Ink (2007) and Escape from Hell (2007) (Fantastic Fiction - Hal
Duncan, 2009). He is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle.
Jack Deighton has written A Son of the Rock (1997) and has had short
fiction published in New Worlds, Interzone and Nova Scotia. He is a member of
the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle. (Jack Deighton, 2009).
Alan Campbell has written the Deepgate Codex Series (2006-2009) which is
defined as a dark urban fantasy (Alan Campbell, 2009).
Deborah J Miller or Miller Lau has written the Last Clansman (2001-2004)
fantasy series and the Swarmthief Trilogy (2005-2009) (Fantastic Fiction Deborah J Miller, 2009).

Neil Williamson co-edited Nova Scotia (2005) and The Ephemera (2006)
and has published short stories in Interzone and The Third Alternative (Neil
Williamson, 2009).
Andrew J Wilson (1963-) is the co-editor of Nova Scotia, is the science fiction,
fantasy and horror reviewer for The Scotsman and has short work published in
Gathering the Bones (Writers Bloc,2009, Andrew J Wilson).
2.8.3 The Future
The Glasgow SF Writers Circle and The Edinburgh and East Coast Writers
Circles both have talented published writers as members. Some of these have
already published their first stories in magazines, and are working on novels.
Hannu Rajaniemi (1978-) author of The Quantum Thief due to be published
in 2010. He is also published in the 23rd The Years Best Science Fiction
despite English is not being his first language as he was born in Finland, he
lives exclusively now in Scotland. (Fantastic Fiction - Hannu Rajaniemi, 2009).
Mark Harding has published short fiction in various magazines and on-line
(Mark Harding, 2009).
Andrew C Ferguson has had short work published in Interzone and Nova
Scotia. (Writers Bloc- Andrew C Ferguson, 2009,).
Gavin Inglis has written the young adult work Mirror Widow (2002) and had a
short story in Nova Scotia (Writers Bloc - Gavin Inglis, 2009).
Stefan Pearson has published short work in the collections Nova Scotia and
Read by Dawn (Writers Bloc - Stefan Pearson, 2009).
Michael S Collins has short stories which can be read in Clockwise Cat
(Clockwise Cat, 2009).

Richard W Mosses has had a short story published in New Writing Scotland 26
(RW Mosses, 2009).

Chapter 3
Methodology
There is a general feeling that libraries do not cater to SF fans and that SF fans
do not like libraries. This generates a feedback loop with each situation
enforcing the other. Here are some quotes from SF fans about libraries from
Scott Shaffers blog entry on SF Signal (Shaffer, 2008):Most public libraries I've lived near have had *terrible* collections of
SF. Terry Weyna.
I don't go to the public library because I prefer to own my own books.
SMD.
Seems like a Catch 22 won't get better selection cause there no
demand, there is no demand cause the selection stinks. Matt.
These kind of comments are fairly typical in the comments to this post, but
there are also some very positive comments from the same source:The public library in Burlingame, California. It has an *excellent* SF
collection Terry Weyna.
Our library has an amazing selection, so we go there all the time Shira.
They do have the ability to call on a very large number of other
branches to find the books I am looking for. Tim.
So with these comments in mind the research proposes to answer the following
questions :1. Who are Science Fiction readers?

2. Do Science Fiction readers use their library?

3. How do Science Fiction readers feel about their librarys science fiction
collection?
4. Do libraries have good Science Fiction Collections?
5. Are Scottish libraries supporting Scottish Culture by stocking Scottish
Science Fiction?
6. How are Science Fiction Collections promoted in libraries?
7. Do librarians have a good knowledge of science fiction?
3.1 Stage 1 Survey of the Fans.
Fans of anything have a very negative reputation especially in the popular
press. Fans, especially Star Trek fans, are regarded as inarticulate autists and
zealots (Tulloch and Jenkins, 1995, P15). Fans are also regarded as
dangerous, abnormal and silly (Lewis, 1992). However this is generally unlikely
to be the case and science fiction fans are as diverse a group as any, with
much wider ranging interests than they are given credit for. This survey is
designed to find out who fans are and whether their dislike of libraries is
universal or not.
Sample
The intention will be to reach as many literary science fiction fans as possible.
They will contacted via LiveJournal communities for literary science fiction
conventions and the Facebook groups for the literary fanzine Ansible and the
British Science Fiction Society (BSFA). The members of a local fan group (The
Resurgence of Trout) and the researchers personal network will also be
contacted by email. Literary fans are to be targeted specifically because it is
felt that they would be more likely library customers than the Para-science
fiction audience as described by Theresa Ebert (Tulloch and Jenkins, 1995,
P53). Para-science fiction fans only like popular film and television science
fiction and although numerous, are not necessarily the people who borrow SF
books from the library.

The quantitative research will be done by survey on the internet using

SurveyGizmo (SurveyGizmo, 2009). There will also be identical paper surveys
distributed at fan group meeting nights to readers who cannot or who do not
wish to participate in an on-line survey.
There will be a pilot study of one survey to test readability and usability of the
survey and any corrections will be made before general release.
Survey Categories
Demographics
The survey instrument is contained in Appendix A and is broken down as
follows. Questions 1-4 are designed to determine the demographic nature of
the participants. There is also a question to determine where the participant
lives as it will be useful to compare Scotland with other UK residents as well as
UK residents with international participants.
Reading Habits
Questions 5 and 6 are to determine the reading habits of fans to determine
whether they are literary SF fans or para-SF fans and to determine the veracity
of the assumption that SF fans prefer to buy books rather than borrow them.
Question 7 is to divert participants who admit to not using their library to a
later section as non-users are unlikely to have positive opinions about their
library.
Positive Feelings
Question 8 is to determine what the users borrow from their library and Q9 is a
matrix of positive statements about libraries and participants are asked
whether they strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree or
strongly disagree. Q10 allows participants to record any other positive
thoughts they have on the library they use.

Negative Feelings
Q11 is an opinion matrix of negative statements which is designed to
determine why SF fans do not use their library and to find out if the library
users have any issues with the library they use. Q12 is to allow participants to
record any negative statements they may have about their libraries.
Potential Improvements
Questions 13-16 are to determine if the participants feel there are any actions
libraries could take to bring SF fans into the library.
This questionnaire will allow us to answer the questions Who are Science
Fiction readers?, Do Science Fiction readers use their library? and How do
Science Fiction readers feel about their librarys science fiction collection?
3.2 Stage 2 Survey of the Libraries science fiction collections
To answer the question of Are Scottish libraries supporting Scottish Culture by
stocking Scottish Science Fiction? the collection of all the Scottish library
services will be interrogated via the OPAC by the researcher. A list of
specifically Scottish Science Fiction is contained in Table 1.

Title

Author

Year

National

The Lost

Arthur

1912

ity
Scottish

World

Conan

free by

Doyle

Glasgow

A Voyage to

David

Libraries.
Scottish

Arcturus

Lindsay

1920

UK

Award

Comments
Distributed

descent.
Influential
work.

Recently
republished.
A History

Alasdair

Maker
Feersum

Gray
Iain M

Endjinn

Banks

1994
1994

Classic (98)
SF set in

Scottish
Scottish

Scotland
BSFA Best Novel Sections of
phonetic s
Scots

Excession

Iain M

1996

Scottish

Moonseed

Banks
Stephen

1998

UK

The Sky

Baxter
Ken

Road

MacLeod

BSFA Best Novel

Set in
Scotland

1999

Scottish

BSFA Best novel

Nominated for
Hugo Best Novel

But N Ben a

Matthew

Go Go

Fitt

Nova Scotia

Eds

2000

Scottish

Written
entirely in

2005

Scots.
Short story

Uk

Andrew J

collection set

Wilson &

in Scotland

Neil

by Scottish

Williamso

authors

Vellum

n
Hal

2005

Scottish

Against

Duncan
Gary

2005

Scottish

Gravity
Accelerando

Gibson
Charles

2005

English

Stross
The

Ken

Execution

MacLeod

Channel
Halting

Charles

State

Stross

2007

Locus Best SF

Free ebook

Novel

under CC bync-nd
Set in

Scottish

Scotland
2008

English

Nominated for

Set in

Hugo Best Novel Scotland

with sections

in phonetic
The Night

Ken

Sessions

MacLeod

2008

Scottish

Scots
BSFA Best Novel Set in
Edinburgh

Table 1 Scottish Science Fiction.

Each of these books has been chosen with certain criteria in mind.
1. The book is either written by a Scot, or a person who has lived so long in
Scotland that they have adopted the manners and culture of Scotland.
2. The book is set in Scotland.
3. The book has won an award or has been nominated for a world class award.
4. There has also been an attempt to choose modern books as well as classics
that are still in print.
These fifteen books were chosen for the following reasons:Classics
The Lost World (1912) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been chosen as an
example of classic science fiction by a nationally important Scottish author.
Glasgow City libraries also distributed a copy of this book free during the
literary festival Aye Write in 2009, so it is a book worthy of collection.
Voyage to Arcturus (1920) by David Lindsay has recently been reprinted as a
Fantasy Masterwork by Gollancz and has been recognised as a work that
influenced other writers such as C.S. Lewis. It has also been named No 98 in
Harriss Classics of Science Fiction list (Harris, 2003). Lindsay was from a
Scottish family although English born himself, but he spent much of his life in
the Borders.

Set in Scotland
A History Maker (1994) by Alasdair Gray is set in Scotland and Gray
appeared at number 29 on The Times 50 Greatest British authors since 1945
list (Times Online, 2008). Although Lanark (1981) is more well-known, A

History Maker is more easily defined as science fiction. Alasdair Gray is

Scottish.
Moonseed (1998) by Stephen Baxter is set in Scotland. Stephen Baxter is a
very successful UK science fiction writer.
Iain M Banks
Feersum Endjinn (1994) and Excession (1996) by Iain M Banks won the
BSFA Best Novel award and Feersum Endjinn has sections of phonetic Scots.
Also Iain M Banks appeared at number 38 in The Timess 50 Greatest British
Writers since 1945 list (TimesOnline, 2008).
Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod is a highly successful Scottish author who writes futuristic
political thrillers. The Sky Road (1999) by was nominated for a Hugo award
and won a BSFA Best Novel award. The Execution Channel (2007) is set
largely in Scotland. The Night Sessions (2008) won a BSFA Best Novel award
and is set in Edinburgh.
Charles Stross
Accelerando (2005) won a Locus Best SF novel award. The author was born
in Leeds, but has lived in Edinburgh for many years. He has been nominated
for a Hugo Award six times from 2004-2009, but has not yet won. Halting
State (2008) is set in Scotland.
Scots Language
But n Ben A-Go-Go (2000) by Matthew Fitt is the only SF novel written
entirely in Scots.
New Authors
Finally these three books have been written by young up and coming Scottish
authors. Nova Scotia (2005) is a collection of SF short stories written by
Scottish authors and published to coincide with the Glasgow Worldcon
Interaction. Vellum (2005) by Hal Duncan is a genre defying fantasy work,

which has had critical acclaim. Against Gravity (2005) by Gary Gibson is a
hard sci-fi novel written by an up and coming Scottish author.
A second list of classic science fiction will also be used to determine whether
libraries have a good collection of science fiction. Brewis and Gericke (Brewis &
Gericke, 2003) offer a model for the selection of science fiction which details
that marks out of five should be given to each book for the following criteria;
setting, language & dialogue, theme, megatextual qualities and fabulata,
entertainment value, plot, scientific knowledge, myth and symbolism, style and
a general category. This detailed scoring system is helpful in determining which
books to collect and which to reject for the library, but in the case of this
research it is not practical to score a large number of books in order to
determine which should represent the genre as a work of quality. Bogstad
(Bogstad, 1983) suggests a core list of authors, the majority of which are from
the US excepting, notably, Arthur C Clarke, CS Lewis and Michael Moorcock. In
this study it would be better to choose from a list of authors which included
more UK authors.
As only a small number of books are being chosen a simple set of criteria may
be more useful. The methodology in this case has been initially to select the
Top Ten Classic Science Fiction books from James Wallace Harriss list (Harris,
2003). This list has been compiled from a collection of other Classic SF lists
and represents an objective collection of books, which are regarded as classics
from 28 other lists. In this case the Classics by Rank list has been used which
consists of 192 novels.
The remaining 15 novels have been chosen from the Hugo Award Winner List
(Hugo Award for Best Novel, 2009) the BBCs Big Read list (BBC, 2003) and
The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Guardian, 2003) with the following
criteria :1. The book must have won a Hugo, Nebula or Locus award
2. It must be on Harriss classic list (Harris, 2003), the BBC list or the

Guardian list
The books chosen are listed in Table 2. Inevitably a number of books have
been omitted which an individual may want to see included in the list, but it
was decided to keep the number of books to a manageable 25. The books
selected are a broad range of tropes, styles and authors. UK authors have
been included, but the majority are from the US. Three female authors have
been included, but the majority are male.
Title

Author

The Demolished Alfred

Year

National

Award

Comments

1953

ity
US

Winner of the

Classic (1)

US

first Hugo.
International

Classic (2)

Man
More Than

Bester
Theodore

Human
Dune

Sturgeon
Frank

1965

US

Classic (3)

Foundation

Herbert
Isaac

1951

US

Classic (4)

Trilogy
A Canticle for

Asimov
Walter

1960

US

Hugo Best Novel

Classic (5)

Leibowitz
Stand on

Miller
John

1968

UK

Hugo Best

Classic (6)

Zanzibar

Brunner

The Left Hand

Ursula Le

of Darkness

Guin

1953

Fantasy Award.

Novel, BSFA
1969

US

Best Novel
Hugo Best

Author has won

Novel, Nebula

more Locus

Best Novel

awards than
any other.

The Time

HG Wells

1895

UK

Classic (7)
Classic (8)

Machine
War of the

HG Wells

1898

UK

Classic (9)

Worlds
Childhoods End

Arthur C

1953

UK

Classic (10)

1984

Clarke
George

1949

UK

8th in the BBCs

British Classic

Orwell

Big Read Top

(16) Massive

100. 59th on

cultural impact.

Guardian list

On school

Brave New

Aldous

1932

UK

curriculum
53 on Guardian British Classic

World
Stranger in a

Huxley
Robert

1961

US

List
Hugo Best Novel

Strange Land

Heinlein

rd

(20)
Author has won
4 Hugos for
best novel
equalling LMB.

Gateway

Frederik

1977

US

Pohl

Hugo, Nebula,

Classic (22)
Great book.

Locus, John W

Classic (26)

Campbell
Awards for Best
Novel.
Fahrenheit 451

Ray

1951

US

Classic (29)

Do Androids

Bradbury
Philip K

1968

US

Basis for

dream of

Dick

Bladerunner.

William

Nebula, Hugo &

Classic (48)
Classic (51)

PKD awards for

Heavily

Best Novel

influential.
Classic (61)

Nebula, BSFA

Set. Classic

electric sheep?
Neuromancer

1984

US

Gibson
Slaughter

Kurt

1969

US

House 5
Red Mars

Vonnegut
Kim

1992

US

Stanley
Green Mars

Blue Mars

A Fire Upon the

Robinson
Kim

(134)
1993

US

Hugo Best

Stanley

Novel, Locus

Robinson
Kim

Best Novel
Hugo Best

1996

US

Stanley

Novel, Locus

Robinson
Vernor

Best Novel
Hugo

1992

US

Set

Set

Classic (156)

Deep
The Hitchhikers

Vinge
Douglas

Guide to the

Adams

Galaxy
Oryx and Crake

Margaret

2003

US

Orange Finalist

Mirror Dance

Atwood
Lois

1994

US

Hugo Best

Author has won

McMaster

Novel, Locus

more Hugo best

Bujold

Best Novel

novel awards

1979

UK

4th on BBC Big

Read Top 100.

than any other

living author.
Table 2 Classic Science Fiction.
The first ten books are from Harriss Classics list (Harris, 2003). The next
fifteen have been chosen for the following reasons. 1984 (1949) by George
Orwell and Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley have had a massive
cultural impact. They are taught in schools and both occupy positions on the
Guardians list and rank high on Harriss list (Harris, 2003). Stranger in a
Strange Land (1961) by Robert Heinlein was chosen because the author has
won four Hugos for best novel and at least one book of his deserves inclusion
in this survey. This book also ranks highly on Harriss list. Gateway (1977) by
Frederik Pohl has won more best novel awards than any other and is a highly
ranked classic. Fahrenheit 451 (1951) by Ray Bradbury is a highly ranked
classic and influential book. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) by
Philip K Dick was the basis for the movie Bladerunner and consequently has
remained constantly popular and in print. Dick is also a very popular author
and at least one book of his deserves inclusion in this study. Neuromancer
(1984) by William Gibson pioneered the idea of cyberspace and started the
whole cyberpunk movement. Slaughterhouse 5 (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut is
studied in schools and colleges and transcends the science fiction genre. Red,
Green and Blue Mars (1992-1996) by Kim Stanley Robinson was chosen as
Red Mars (1992) won a Nebula and BSFA award, and all three have been
included to challenge the claim that libraries do not hold copies of all the books
in a series. These three books form a continuous narrative and all should be
collected or not at all. A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) by Vernor Vinge won a

Hugo Award and although this writer is not as prolific as some, his work has
heavily influenced many others. Vinge also is not well-known in the UK and
this book may offer a challenge to the Scottish library catalogues. The
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (1979) by Douglas Adams is an incredibly
popular book in the UK and versions have appeared in radio, TV, on stage and
recently in film. Editions have been published for children and it is one of the
most accessible science fiction books published. Oryx and Crake (2003) by
Margaret Atwood was an Orange Fiction finalist and despite not being
marketed as science fiction it does fall firmly into the genre. This work has
been included in the list to determine if the publishers marketing has
influenced the librarys selection this work. The Time Travellers Wife (2003)
by Audrey Niffenegger would also have been a valid choice for this reason. As
this has recently been made into a movie, it was decided that this would
influence the results of the study as it would attract a large non-SF audience
and hence be more likely to be collected by libraries. Mirror Dance (1994) by
Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold has won four Hugos for Best novel, a record
equalled only by Robert Heinlein. For this reason one of her award-winning
books should be included in the list, but as the author is not particularly wellknown, the selection of this work may be more of a challenge to the libraries
catalogues.
Sample
These two lists will be checked against all 32 of the Scottish Libraries OPACs.
The number of copies available for borrowing will be counted to determine the
extent of the collection and the popularity of the book. Books held by the
school library service or the prison library service will not be counted as these
are generally not available for public borrowing. Except in the case where a
school library is a dual purpose library and the public do have access.
This catalog survey will allow us to answer the questions Do libraries have
good Science Fiction Collections? And Are Scottish libraries supporting Scottish
Culture by stocking Scottish Science Fiction?

3.3 Stage 3 Survey of how science fiction is promoted in libraries.

To answer How are Science Fiction Collections promoted in libraries? a
mystery shopper exercise will be carried out. The mystery shopper will be
required to enter the library and go to the science fiction section, if it exists,
and determine the presentation of the books and the presence of displays. The
next part will be to ask the following questions of available library staff :1

Can you recommend a science fiction book by a Scottish author?

2
If the first thing they give you is by Iain M Banks then ask I have read
all of his books. Have you got something by someone else?
3

Can you recommend a science fiction book that is set in Scotland?

4
Do you have a science fiction reading group or any science fiction events
coming up?
These questions will allow the researcher to answer the questions How are
Science Fiction Collections promoted in libraries? and Do librarians have a
good knowledge of science fiction?
Mystery shoppers will be under instructions not to ask staff if the library is
busy, not to allow the staff to go to too much trouble to find answers and not
to stress the staff in any way. The purpose of this exercise is to gauge the
staffs immediate knowledge of the genre not to test whether they can answer
a research question or to survey customer service issues. The questionnaire
and scenario is contained in Appendix B.
Sample
Ten libraries in the Glasgow City library service run by Culture and Sport
Glasgow will be visited. Friends will be recruited to carry out the exercise in
some of these libraries in order to carry out research where the researcher is
too well-known to be effective. Also to minimise discrepancies between
researchers at least one library will be visited by two different researchers to
determine if different results will be achieved on different occasions by

different people.
The researcher will visit as many of the Scottish library authorities as possible
in order to compare with Glasgow City libraries and to gain an overall picture of
how other library services treat their science fiction collections.
The researcher will also carry out a limited pilot study to iron out any
difficulties in question wording or readability.
3.4 Anticipated Constraints
The sample of SF readers will be from the active fan community. So the
answers to the questions will be in terms of active SF readers rather than the
entire SF readership. This means that passive fans, i.e. those who do not go to
conventions or attend fan groups, will not be represented in the survey.
Passive fans could be a target sample for future research.
It will be difficult to tell from the OPAC of a library what its overall SF collection
is like as only specific titles can be searched for. There is not a usually a
browse or a genre specific facility. It will be possible to determine the presence
of indicative texts, but not the presence of lower quality ones. It will also not
reveal the series gaps that many readers have mentioned as an issue, except
in the specific cases of the Foundation Trilogy and the Mars Trilogy. It will not
give an idea of the percentage of SF books present in a collection. Nor will it
give any idea if the books circulate at all.
The mystery shopper exercise is time consuming and travelling to the libraries
is expensive. So as many library authorities as possible will be visited in the
time available, but it will not be possible get a complete sample.
3.5 Ethical Considerations
All questionnaires will be entirely anonymous. The researcher will not be aware

of the identity of the reader respondents. No questions of a sensitive nature

will be asked and all data will be destroyed on completion of the project.

Chapter 4
Results
4.1 Questionnaire for fans
There were 255 people who clicked on the initial survey link. 98 of these were
abandoned surveys, i.e. the respondent clicked on the link but did not answer
any questions. Three surveys were partially completed and so were removed.
Also one duplicate answer was removed from the results as was one obvious
hoax answer. This left 152 useable responses in total.
4.1.1 Demographics of Fans

The fans who responded to the survey are 48% female, 52% male.
Age Distribution of responding fans

Occupations of responding fans

1%
6%

1%

9%

13%

13%
21%

Under 18
19-25
26-35
23%

36-45

Working
5%

Retired
Studying

46-55

Not working

56-65
Over 65
73%

35%

Graph A Age groups of fans

Graph B Occupations of fans

Their ages are distributed according to Graph A. I can be seen that the age
group 36-45 is the largest however that may be related to the use of the
researchers personal network to gather respondents. Graph B shows that
nearly three-quarters of those responding are working. So far from the
average science fiction fan being a 14 year old boy; the average fan is just as
likely to be working and middle-aged and just as likely to be female as male.
Similarly as the researcher is located in Scotland the largest group of
respondents s from Scotland as can be seen in Graph C. This however does not
mean that 40% of all science fiction fans are Scottish. As the survey was
posted in English it restricts the likely respondents to English speakers with
access to the internet.

Location of Respondents

1%
17%

40%

Scotland
England and Wales
US
Elsewhere

19%

Unknown

23%

Graph C Geographical Distribution of respondents.

4.1.2 Reading Habits of fans
Results from the opinion matrix have been amalgamated into Table 3. In this
case, for simplification, those agreeing and strongly agreeing have been added
together while those disagreeing and strongly disagreeing have been added
together. The largest proportion of the respondents has been highlighted for
ease of reading.
Statement

Percentage in

Neither

Percentage in

I dont read much

Im an avid reader
I like to buy my own

Agreement
7
88
85

3
7
10

Disagreement
90
5
5

books
I have plenty books to

89

read at home
I like collecting books
I prefer paperbacks
I prefer hardbacks
I get my science fiction

81
51
17
17

10
33
44
38

9
12
39
55

online
I like to get the newest

20

39

41

publications first
I buy books from second

70

15

15

hand bookshops
Table 3 Reading habits of fans
Table 3 shows that 90% of respondents disagree with the statement I dont
read much and 88% agree with the statement Im an avid reader. There
were a small number of people i.e. four who did not understand the wording of
the question and gave contradictory answers.

The next three statements about owning books confirms that over 80% of
respondents like to own books, collect them and they have a lot of books at
home.
Perhaps surprisingly 41% disagree with the statement that they like to get the
newest publications first. It is often said that we are living in an age of instant
gratification, but the responses to this statement do not reflect that and people
are prepared to wait for new publications. 70% of respondents like to buy
books from second hand bookshops and this seems to agree with the science
fiction fans habit of buying and collecting books.
The preferred media of respondents is as follows in Table 4.
Media
Percentage
Books
96
Films
93
TV
88
Comics/Graphics
45
Radio
12
Table 4 Which media respondents enjoy.
Table 4 adds up to a number in excess of 100 as respondents could choose as
many media forms as they liked. In this case only 4% of respondents like their
science fiction in film and TV form only. This shows that the targeting to the
questionnaire to literary fans has been successful.
Question 7 is used to direct fans who do not use their library to the negative
statements section of the questionnaire and in this case 50% of respondents

claim not to use their library to borrow science fiction. Question 8 is to once
again filter out people who do not borrow science fiction books from libraries as
DVD borrowing is outwith the scope of the project. In four cases people who
answered that they did not use their public library went on to answer that they
borrowed books from their library. This could be a simple slip of the mouse
during menu option selection. In these cases their answers have not been
discarded. In five cases people answered that they did not borrow from their
libraries but did not skip ahead to question 11. These answers have not been
discarded although they may prove to be biased towards the negative
statements. In no instance did anyone say they borrowed only science fiction
DVDs from their library and in only one case someone said they only borrowed
comics or graphic novels. In this case graphic novel readers will be counted as
literary fans.

4.1.3 Positive Feelings

Table 5 shows the respondents feelings about some positive statements about
their library. The number of respondents in this section of the questionnaire is
75, roughly half of those who responded in total.
Statement

Percentage in

Neither

Percentage in

agreement
48

11

disagreement
41

My library has a

10

47

43

17

33

60

good stock of
science fiction
The Library Staff
have a good
knowledge of
science fiction
They have all the
latest titles

They have small

20

74

25

27

55

27

69

16

15

77

19

92

92

70

19

11

44

52

36

56

19

19

press books that

I cant get
anywhere else
They have a good 48
collection of
classics
They will order
anything I
request
I can check the
website and put a
hold on anything
I like
They have a
separate science
fiction section
I can get books
from other
branches in the
same library
system
They put the new
books out on
display
I can read books
I wouldnt
normally read
Theres a science
fiction book
group
The have talks by
science fiction
authors
I never run out of 62
things to read

The library sales

24

44

32

80

14

are great for

science fiction
It costs me

nothing.
Table 5 Responses to positive statements.
Of the number of respondents who use their library about half think their
librarys collection of science fiction is good and slightly less disagree with that,
but the numbers are very similar. Just over 40% disagree that the library staff
have a good knowledge of science fiction, but closer to half neither agree nor
disagree. This is probably indicative of the fact that they do not know if the
staff have a good science fiction knowledge or not and are uncomfortable
making a definite statement. Some feedback in comments to Livejournal posts
confirm this (Helenex, 2009). 60% disagree that the library have the latest
titles and three-quarters disagree that the library have hard to find books from
the small press. Nearly half think that their library has a good collection of
classics and more than half think the library will order anything they request.
69% can check the website and put holds on anything, but that is not an
indicator of whether they use this facility or not. More than three-quarters of
libraries have a separate science fiction section, but this means that 19% of
libraries do not separate science fiction from general fiction. 92% agree that
they can get books from other libraries in the same system and that they put
new books out on display. 70% agree that the library gives them access to
books they would not normally read. Nearly two-thirds agree that they never
run out of things to read in their library. 80% agree that the library costs them
nothing but 14% disagree with that, showing that the cost of travelling to their
library is significant for them.
Here is a selection of text answers about the things they like about their
library. Punctuation has been inserted where appropriate and spelling corrected
for ease of reading only.
Caf.

The Library Catalogue covers the whole county. You can order books
online from any library stock to be collected from any other library at no
charge. They will email you (or send a letter) when the books arrive.
I would never, ever be able to afford to buy all the books I read. I'm
also more likely to pick up something new to try because I'm not
committed to actually owning the book.
Very comfortable and welcoming, good for sitting and reading.
Knowledgeable staff.
I like using it for the things I know I'm only going to read once.
I actually use three different libraries as the county I live in has three
separate library systems. And the state has an interlibrary loan system
for books for any of the 140+ library systems in the state.

You can't

request books that are less than 6 months normally, but some times you
can find a book that way that you wouldn't be able to.
Having staff to talk to, and the range of books that are there that you
wouldn't find in bookshops.
Local library is very friendly, they know who you are.
All text answers appear in Appendix D.
4.1.4 Negative Feelings
Table 6 shows the feelings of fans towards negative statements about the
library and the science fiction collection.
Statement

Percentage in

Neither

Percentage in

agreement
13

30

Disagreement
57

They never

35

51

14

19

34

47

have anything
good
The staff know
nothing about
science fiction
They only have

media tie-ins
They only ever

48

35

17

18

41

41

23

41

36

fiction is terrible
My library is too

17

76

hard to get to
My library

20

76

18

23

59

18

26

56

12

27

61

11

42

47

18

37

45

18

33

49

have a few
parts of a series
I used to go,
but now Ive
read everything
they have.
Their collection
of science

doesnt want
me as a
customer
My library is
never open
when Im able
to go
The lending
period is too
short.
The books are
too dirty and
tatty
There is always
a waiting list for
the books I
want
They never
have anything
new
They never
have my type of

book
I prefer getting

55

23

22

22

31

47

my science
fiction from the
bookshop
I can get all the
science fiction I
want on-line
Table 6 Responses to Negative Statements
More than half disagree that libraries never have anything good. More than half
neither agree nor disagree that the library staff have a good knowledge of
science fiction. Once again this is probably a lack of knowledge rather than a
lack of opinion. Nearly half disagree that the library has only media tie-ins
despite the substantial presence of media tie-ins in book shops it would appear
the people do not agree that this is reflected in libraries. Nearly half agree that
the library only ever has a few parts of a series and only 17% disagree with
this statement showing that there is definitely an issue with series collecting.
41% of people have no feelings about whether the librarys science fiction
collection is terrible or not.
Here are a selection of the text answers provided in response to the request
Is there anything else you dont like about libraries? Some capitalisation and
punctuation have been added for readability. All of the text answers are
included in Appendix E.
I love libraries, the reason I don't use them is that I already buy more
books than I have time to read, and guarantee to get the titles that I am
interested in.
Generally unwelcoming atmosphere.
That I have to give the books back. I used to borrow regularly from the
library, but now I have enough money to buy and keep books
I am disappointed about the way that the number of books in libraries
seems to have gone down in recent years, to be replaced by other

community amenities, such as computers. Although I appreciate the

need for community access to these facilities, I think that libraries should
be about books!
Wish it was bigger and had a wider selection of all books.
The selection is small. It takes 6 months for the library to acquire new
books. There's nowhere to curl up and read. It's too noisy.
Not enough library staff to handle busy days. Too much focus on popular
titles vs. classic titles. Always, always out of the first book in any series.
They have less sci-fi fantasy books than I do.

4.1.5 Potential Improvements

Here are a selection of text answers to the question Is there anything that
would make you go to the library more often than you do now?
Some method for borrowing electronic books would be wonderful and
would really encourage me to use the library.
My local library is very small, therefore I mostly order books and collect
them, rarely browsing the collection. A better selection might tempt me
to pass by more often.

One idea might be to use similar technology as

Amazon in order to recommend stocked books and authors to me, based

on my past borrowing.
Better opening hours. Friendlier staff. Fewer weirdos hanging out there
cos it's warm and dry.
Out of hours returns - lending periods are fine, remembering to return
books only occurs after the library is closed. Being able to return when
the library is closed would make it easier to borrow in the first place.
It would be nice if there was a comfortable reading area. And if I'm
allowed to dream, they would sell (good) coffee.
I'm not sure. Now that I'm adult with a reasonable job, I feel like I

should be buying books to support the authors. I would probably only go

to the library to check out something I was dubious about.
Greater convenience -- online extensions to borrowing periods, opening
hours outside working time, and a policy of always having all books in a
series!
Better stock of science fiction books, instead of ones that are old
enough to be classed as antique!
All text answers are collected in Appendix F.
If a science fiction author came

Yes
59

No
0

Maybe
41

31

17

52

53

45

to talk at your local library

would you go along?
If your local library had a
science fiction reading group or
fan group meeting would you
go along?
If your local library had a
science fiction promotional
event would you go along?
Table 7 Responses to improved promotional activities.
It would appear from Table 7 that author talks, reading or fan groups or any
kind of science fiction promotional event would encourage science fiction fans
to visit their library, although a reading group or a fan group is not as popular
as the other two.

4.2 Catalogue survey

4.2.1 Scottish Science Fiction Books
The number of Scottish Titles held by each library service is shown in Graph D.

This indicates which of the titles the libraries hold at least one copy. Here we
can see that five councils hold all 15 titles.
These are Glasgow City, Edinburgh City, Fife, Aberdeenshire and Angus.
The correlation coefficient between council population (General Registry Office
Population Estimates, 2008) and the number of Scottish titles held is 0.60.
Indicating a positive, but not strong correlation. Showing that a high
population does not necessarily mean that all titles will be carried. In this case
the stand out council is Angus with a population of 110,000 they have all 15
titles. The worst is Clackmannanshire with only 6 titles, but as they have a
population of 50,000 perhaps this is to be expected. West Lothian on the other
hand with a population of 169,000 perhaps might be expected to carry more
than 9 Scottish titles. The mean number of Scottish titles held by the library
services of Scotland is 12.
Number of Scottish Titles Held

13

500

11
400

300

7
5

200

3
100

Orkney (4)

Shetland (6)

-1
Western Isles (6)

Clac kmannans hire (9)

Midlothian (9)

Inverclyde (7)

Moray (15)

Stirling (18)

East Renfrewshire (10)

Argyll and Bute (12)

West Dunbartons hire (10)

East Lothian (12)

East Dunbartonshire (8)

Angus (11)

Borders (12)

Council

South Ayrshire (15)

East Ayrshire (21)

North Ayrshire (17)

Dundee City (15)

Perth and Kinross (13)

Falkirk (9)

Dumfries and Galloway (24)

West Lothian (14)

Renfrewshire (11)

Aberdeen City (17)

Highland (40)

Aberdeenshire (37)

South Lanarkshire (25)

North Lanarkshire (24)

Fife (55)

Edinburgh City (27)

Number of Scottish Titles Held

15

Glasgow City (35)

Population in thousands

600

Graph D - The Number of Scottish Titles Held Compared with Council

Population.
If we look at the total number of Scottish copies held, i.e. all copies of all
Scottish titles are counted, we see Graph E.

Total Copies of Scottish Titles

600

250

400
150
300
100
200
50

Orkney (4)

Shetland (6)

0
Western Isles (6)

Clac kmannans hire (9)

Midlothian (9)

Inverclyde (7)

Moray (15)

Stirling (18)

East Renfrewshire (10)

Argyll and Bute (12)

West Dunbartons hire (10)

East Lothian (12)

East Dunbartonshire (8)

Angus (11)

South Ayrshire (15)

Borders (12)

East Ayrshire (21)

North Ayrshire (17)

Dundee City (15)

Perth and Kinross (13)

Dumfries and Galloway (24)

Falkirk (9)

West Lothian (14)

Renfrewshire (11)

Aberdeen City (17)

Highland (40)

Aberdeenshire (37)

South Lanarkshire (25)

North Lanarkshire (24)

Fife (55)

Edinburgh City (27)

100

Council

Graph E - Total number of Scottish Titles Held Compared with Population.

This has a correlation coefficient of 0.83. This is a much stronger correlation
than just the presence of the titles. Which is to be expected as larger services
will carry more copies of each title to service their larger populations. Although
Edinburgh City hold many more copies than would be expected when
compared to Glasgow City. This result is probably skewed by the 179 copies of
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle which Edinburgh City libraries have in
stock.
4.2.2 Classic Science Fiction Books

Number of copies

200

Glasgow City (35)

Population

500

Looking at the number of Top Ten Classic Science Fiction Books that the library
services hold compared with the population of the council of which it is a part.
In this case the titles which the libraries hold at least one copy of is counted.
This can be seen in Graph F.

Number of Top Ten Classic Title Held compared to Population

10

8
7

400

6
300

5
4

200

3
2

100

Council

Graph F - Number of Top Ten Classic SF Books Held compared with Council
Populations
It can be seen that while the population drops sharply the number of Top Ten
Classics held remains relatively constant. The number in brackets after the
council name is the number of branch libraries and mobile service that each
service has. Points to note from this graph is that Renfrewshire while having a
large population of 170,000 has only 3 of the top Ten Classics, while Moray
with a population of 88,000 has all ten. This is more than both Glasgow and

Orkney (4)

Shetland (6)

0
Western Isles (6)

Clac kmannans hire (9)

Midlothian (9)

Inverclyde (7)

Moray (15)

Stirling (18)

East Renfrewshire (10)

Argyll and Bute (12)

West Dunbartons hire (10)

East Lothian (12)

East Dunbartonshire (8)

Angus (11)

South Ayrshire (15)

Borders (12)

East Ayrshire (21)

North Ayrshire (17)

Dundee City (15)

Perth and Kinross (13)

Falkirk (9)

Dumfries and Galloway (24)

West Lothian (14)

Renfrewshire (11)

Aberdeen City (17)

Highland (40)

Aberdeenshire (37)

South Lanarkshire (25)

North Lanarkshire (24)

Fife (55)

Edinburgh City (27)

1
Glasgow City (35)

Population in Thousands

9
500

No of Top Ten Classic Titles Held

600

Edinburgh Cities who only have nine. Calculating the correlation coefficient for
number of Top Ten classics held and population gives a value of 0.48. This
means that while library services, which serve a larger population will tend to
have more of the classics, the correlation is not exactly linear. The mean
number of Top Ten Classic science fiction books held by Scottish library
services is 6.
If we look at the total number of Classic Titles held the results can be seen in
Graph G.

Orkney (4)

Shetland (6)

-3
Western Isles (6)

Clac kmannanshire (9)

Midlothian (9)

Inverclyde (7)

Moray (15)

Stirling (18)

East Renfrewshire (10)

Argyll and Bute (12)

West Dunbartonshire (10)

East Lothian (12)

Angus (11)

East Dunbartonshire (8)

South Ayrshire (15)

Borders (12)

East Ayrshire (21)

North Ayrshire (17)

Dundee City (15)

Perth and Kinross (13)

Council

Graph G - Number of Classic Titles Held compared with Council Populations

Graph G indicates which titles from the entire Classic list the library service
holds at least one copy of. Looking at the number of classic science fiction titles
held, a correlation of 0.46 between this and the population of the council can
be calculated. From the graph we can see that Moray council once again stands

No of Classic Titles

Dumfries and Galloway (24)

100

Falk irk (9)

West Lothian (14)

200

Renfrewshire (11)

12

Aberdeen City (17)

300

Highland (40)

17

Aberdeenshire (37)

400

South Lanarkshire (25)

22

North Lanarkshire (24)

500

Fife (55)

27

Edinburgh City (27)

600

Glasgow City (35)

Population in Thousands

Number of Classic Titles Held

out as having 27 of the 28 Classic Titles, beating every other council. Faring
badly are Inverclyde and Clackmannanshire with only 12 each. The mean
number of classic titles held is 19.
The total number of copies of classic titles held is in Graph H. This indicates the
total number of copies of all titles on the Classic list. The correlation coefficient
between the total umber of copies held and the population of the council is
0.89. This is a similar result to the total number of copies of the Scottish Titles
and not unexpected.

Total number of Classic Held

400

300
400

250

300

200
150

200

100
100

Orkney (4)

Shetland (6)

0
Western Isles (6)

Clac kmannanshire (9)

Midlothian (9)

Inverclyde (7)

Moray (15)

Stirling (18)

Argyll and Bute (12)

East Renfrewshire (10)

West Dunbartons hire (10)

East Lothian (12)

Angus (11)

East Dunbartonshire (8)

South Ayrshire (15)

Borders (12)

East Ayrshire (21)

Dundee City (15)

North Ayrshire (17)

Perth and Kinross (13)

Dumfries and Galloway (24)

Falk irk (9)

West Lothian (14)

Renfrewshire (11)

Aberdeen City (17)

Highland (40)

Aberdeenshire (37)

South Lanarkshire (25)

North Lanarkshire (24)

Fife (55)

Edinburgh City (27)

50

Council

Graph H Total number of copies of Classic Titles Held

In this case Dundee City stands out as having more copies of classic science
fiction novels than we might expect from their population of 142,000.
Moving on to which books from the lists are the most popular with libraries we
obtain Table 8.

Total No of classics held

350

500

Glasgow City (35)

Population in thousands

600

Council

Most Popular Scottish

Most Popular Classic Title

Glasgow City
Edinburgh City

Title
The Lost World
The Lost World

Oryx and Crake

The Hitchhikers Guide to the

The Execution Channel

Galaxy
The Hitchhikers Guide to the

The
The
The
The
The
The

Galaxy
1984
Brave New World
1984
1984
1984
The Hitchhikers Guide to the

Fife
North Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
Aberdeenshire
Highland
Aberdeen City
Renfrewshire

Night Sessions
Lost World
Night Sessions
Night Sessions
Lost World
Execution Channel

West Lothian
Falkirk
Dumfries and

The Lost World

The Night Sessions
The Lost World

Galaxy
1984
1984
1984

Galloway
Perth and Kinross

A History Maker

The Hitchhikers Guide to the

Dundee City

The Lost World

Galaxy
1984

North Ayrshire
East Ayrshire

But N Ben A-Go-Go

The Execution Channel
The Lost World

1984
Dune, Time Machine, 1984,

Borders
South Ayrshire
Angus

The Night Sessions

The Lost World
The Lost World

Brave New World

1984
1984
1984

East

A History Maker
The Execution Channel

Oryx and Crake

Dunbartonshire
East Lothian

Nova Scotia

Do Androids Dream of Electric

West

Excession

Sheep
The Time Machine

Dunbartonshire
Argyll and Bute

The Execution Channel

Excession

1984
The Hitchhikers Guide to the

Vellum
Execution Channel
The Night Sessions

Galaxy
Oryx and Crake
Brave New World
The Hitchhikers Guide to the

East Renfrewshire
Stirling
Moray

Inverclyde
Midlothian
Clackmannanshire
Western Isles
Shetland
Orkney

The Lost World

The Lost World

Galaxy
1984
The Hitchhikers Guide to the

Nova Scotia
The Lost World
The Lost World
The Lost World

Galaxy
Fahrenheit 451
1984
1984
Oryx and Crake

Table 8 -Titles with the Most Copies of Classic Titles Held in each Library
Service.
In each case the title with the most number of copies held by the library
service is noted, but in the cases where The Lost World is in bold it is
because this title was the most popular of all books on both lists, not just the
Scottish list alone. If we count up copies held over all the library services in
Scotland we find that the most popular books are in Table R.
Rank
1

Scottish
The Lost World

Classic
The Hitchhikers Guide

to the Galaxy
2
The Execution Channel
1984
3
The Night Sessions
Oryx and Crake
Table 9 - The most popular books held in Scottish Libraries from both Scottish
and Classic lists.
The explanation for why these books are collected in so many copies can in
most cases be explained. The Lost World has been distributed free by
Glasgow City libraries in 2009 and is readily available. It is also written by
Arthur Conan Doyle, whose Sherlock Holmes books and stories have achieved
longevity and international renown. The Execution Channel and The Night
Sessions both by Ken MacLeod are relatively new publications, both are set in
Scotland and The Night Session won the BSFA Best Novel prize in 2009. Ken
MacLeod was part of Glasgows Aye Write Book Festival during the release of
The Execution Channel, so the book has had some promotion at a literary
festival.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a very accessible

and humorous work. It has been published as a movie tie-in, an edition
marketed to children and now Eoin Coifer is continuing the series. It has also
had an edition published that was aimed at adult literacy improvers. It has also
been performed in various incarnations on radio, film, television and on stage.
1984 has had enormous cultural influence with many aspects of the novel
entering popular culture, such as Big Brother and Room 101.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was an Orange Literary prize finalist in
2004 and was not marketed as science fiction. Instead it is termed a nearfuture thriller. One of the reasons this book ranks so highly is because it was
chosen to be studied by a number of book groups and so has been stocked
heavily. Glasgow City alone have 71 copies of this book.
There is however one book that has not been stocked by a single Scottish
library from the Classic science fiction list. Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster
Bujold was a Hugo award winner in 1995, but as a US book it may not have
had a UK hardback edition. It is also conceivable that if it was collected in
paperback those copies may have been discarded by now. Driven by curiosity
the researcher widened the search for this book using Worldcat, but found only
two copies stocked in the whole of the UK, at The University of Oxford and the
British Library. Bujold is not a very well known author in the UK despite having
won the Hugo award for Best Novel four times. It is perhaps the case that the
library suppliers did not offer this book to libraries to be purchased at all.
4.2.3 Series
Two three- part series were looked for in the catalogues. It has been said by
Mulcahy (Mulcahy, 2006) that libraries do not always carry all parts of a
continuous narrative series of books. In order to test this for Scottish libraries
two popular series were chosen. Kim Stanley Robinsons Martian series and

Isaac Asimovs Foundation Trilogy are both continuous narratives which readers
are likely to want to read in their entirety. With more literary books there are
rarely continuous narrative series, but in science fiction (and especially
fantasy) this is quite common. So series in the science fiction genre does
require specialist treatment and knowledge if the collection is to be useful.
Kim Stanley Robinsons Martian series Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars
was found as a complete set at 9 out of 31 library services. A complete set
means that all three volumes are found in one branch. A complete set at
separate branches was found in 6 out of 31 services. This would mean that a
customer could, via the librarys own internal exchange system, have access to
the entire series. However in 12 out of 31 cases there was an incomplete set.
This means in over one third of the libraries in the country a customer would
not be able to have access to the entire series. It is almost better to have the
entire series missing, as is the case in 4 libraries, than to have an incomplete
series.
The presence of The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov was also examined.
In 12 out of 31 services a complete trilogy was available at one branch. In
three of those cases this was due to the presence of an omnibus edition. At 4
services a complete set was available, but split across several branches. In 8
cases out of 31 there was an incomplete set and in 7 cases the entire trilogy
was absent. This classic trilogy fares slightly better than the Martian Trilogy,
but in nearly one third of the library services in Scotland it is not possible to
read the entire narrative.
4.3 Library survey
In all, twenty-seven libraries were visited. Ten of these were in Glasgow and
seventeen were in the surrounding area.
4.3.1 How are science fiction collections promoted in libraries?

Is the Science fiction grouped in one place?

15%

Yes
No

85%

Graph I Is the SF grouped in one place?

Do the science fiction books have spine labels?

22%

Yes
No
Sometimes
59%
19%

Graph J Do the SF books have spine labels?

Graph K Are there any displays of SF books?

Are there any displays of science fiction books?

30%

Yes
No

70%

Are there any science fiction books as part of a

larger display?

48%
52%

Yes
No

Graph L Are there science fiction books as part of a larger display?

As can be seen in Graph I the science fiction books generally have their own
section, but not always. From the essay comments added by the researcher
and mystery shoppers it can be seen that the crime section is generally the
largest and that there are often sections for Mills and Boon romances and
westerns.

Graph J shows that more than half of the time the science fiction books have
spine labels, but it is not guaranteed and in 22% of libraries there are
inconsistent spine labels. Graph K Shows that in general science fiction books
are not displayed.
Graph L shows that about half the time there is a science fiction book as part
of another display although from comments it would seem that this is rather
random. The presence of SF books in larger displays ranges from a New
Books display to a display of books that had predominantly green covers.
4.3.2 Do librarians have a good knowledge of science fiction?
The first question is Were the staff able to help you? This is a subjective
question which depends on the researchers feelings of if they felt helped or
not. Graph M shows that 47% of the time the researcher felt partially helped,
but in 32% of the time they did not. In only 21% of cases did they feel that
the staff were able to help them completely.

Were the staff able to help?

21%

Yes

47%

No
Partly

32%

Graph M Were the staff able to help?

Graph N shows that in more than half the cases the librarians were able to
recommend a specific author. In fifteen of these cases it was Iain M. Banks, in
two it was Ken MacLeod and the other two it was Anne McCaffrey and Robert
Rankin, neither of which are Scottish. In five cases the staff pointed the
researcher in the direction of the science fiction section only and in five cases
they could not recommend either an author or a specific book. On the one
occasion that they did recommend a specific book they suggested a book of
short stories by Ray Bradbury, who is not Scottish.
When you asked "Can you recommend a science fiction
book by a Scottish author?" what did they say?

19%

Specific author
Specific book
None of these

19%

58%

Indicated Section Only

4%

Graph N Responses to Can you recommend a science fiction book by a

Scottish author?
If the answer to the first question was Iain M Banks the next step was to say
that they had read all of his and was there anyone else they could recommend.
In this case 18 librarians could suggest no one else, 6 suggested other Scottish
authors and 3 suggested other science fiction authors they knew, but were not
Scottish such as Greg Bear, Ray Bradbury and Douglas Adams. The librarians
often made use of the internet when trying to answer the questions. In 9 cases
they printed out the Scottish Science Fiction Authors page from Wikipedia,
shown in Fig A. In 3 cases they looked at Fantastic Fiction (Fantastic Fiction,

2009) and in 3 cases they consulted Who Else Writes Like (Huse, 2005) and
in one case they used amazon.co.uk. In 5 cases the staff member went to the
shelves and picked up likely sounding Scottish names in the hope of finding
someone whose biography said they were Scottish. This tactic was often less
than successful as many popular science fiction authors such as Stephen
Baxter, Paul McAuley and Anne McCaffrey all have Scottish names without
being Scottish.
When asked if they could recommend a science fiction book set in Scotland 25
out of 27 staff members could not. Two did manage to recommend books after
either consulting colleagues or the Bibliotravel website (Bibliotravel, 2009). In
these two cases one found Ken MacLeods The Execution Channel and the
other consulted colleagues in the publishing business and suggested Matthew
Fitts But n Ben A-Go-Go and Michel Fabers Under the Skin.
The final question was if there was any science fiction author events coming up
in the future and all 27 replied that they did not. Two mentioned events that
they had had in the past.

Fig A Wikipedia Page on Scottish Science Fiction Authors (Wikipedia, 2009).

The next set of questions was for the researchers opinion on the visit. For the
question Did the staff seen knowledgeable? in only 2 cases out of 27 was the
answer yes and in the majority of these cases the researcher has noted in text
boxes that the staff admitted themselves to not having much knowledge of the
subject.
Did they enlist the help of more knowledgeable colleagues? - 10 out of 17
said Yes. In some cases though a member of staff, who was thought to have
more knowledge, was unavailable.
Were the staff friendly? resulted in only one case where the staff were
regarded as unfriendly, but this was the library that was visited twice by two
separate researchers and on a different day a different staff member was
friendly.
Did the staff seem interested? - 20 out of 27 did seem interested in the
enquiry.
In the case where the same library was visited twice by two different mystery
shoppers, one of the major inconsistencies in reporting was what constituted a
display. One shopper regarded a front facing book either on the shelves or on
top of the book-case as a display. The other regarded only a separate table or
stand as a display. Also on the case where a science fiction book was part of
another display this could vary from day to day whether there was a science
fiction book there or not depending on whether it was borrowed or not. In the
case where the display seemed to be of books with green covers this would
definitely vary depending on the availability of green books.
Here are a selection of text answers about the library visits. The full set of
answers from this section of the questionnaire is available in Appendix G.

The ref librarian copied a page from "Who Else Writes Like" and
printed me the wikipedia Scottish SF authors page. She also
offered to put me on a mailing list for up-coming library events.
She directed me to the bookshop for author events.
Library staff were nice and friendly.
All the staff pitched in to look for Scottish sounding names in the
SF section. They discussed, but didn't know how they could find
out.
She looked up and copied out the fantasy page of "Who Else
Writes Like". She noted down the fantasticfiction website and found
Ken MacLeod's Execution Channel in their catalog.
When I asked him he went straight to the internet and the
wikipedia page. He then mentioned Banks, Gray and Macleod. Then
tried to recall Nail Gaiman's Neverwhere. Then he recommended
going to Forbidden Planet.

Chapter 5
Analysis and Discussion
5.1 The Fans
The demographics of the fans may not give a comprehensive view of science
fiction fans in general. The 18 and under group had only one representative.
As no schools were involved in the survey and it is not be possible to reach
younger fans via the social networking site of Facebook and LiveJournal
especially by using the researchers network. Also younger fans tend not to be
the literary fans that the survey was targeted towards. There are also concerns
among fans about the graying of fandom (Davidson, 2008, Lerner, 2008).
Some feel that the fans are getting older on average and are in danger of
dying out but others feel that there are still plenty younger fans, it may be the
case that they prefer their own company, their own conventions and have
tastes for different forms and genres. For example they prefer manga and
anime or supernatural romances instead of space opera and hard science
fiction.
5.1.1 Users and Non-users
It might be expected that non-users would feel more negatively towards their
library than non-users. In Table 10 the percentages of people who agree,
disagree and have no feelings with the negative statements, separated into
non-users and users is shown.
Statement

Non-

They

users
Neither
45

never
have
anything

Agree
22

Users
Disagree
33

Agree
5

Neither
15

Disagree
80

good
The staff

41

53

28

49

23

26

47

27

11

21

68

43

46

11

55

24

21

24

47

29

12

35

53

27

54

29

20

27

53

11

30

59

93

34

63

89

26

31

43

11

13

76

know
nothing
about
science
fiction
They only
have
media tieins
They only
ever have
a few
parts of a
series
I used to
go, but
now Ive
read
everything
they have.
Their
collection
of science
fiction is
terrible
My library
is too hard
to get to
My library
doesnt
want me
as a
customer
My library

is never
open
when Im
able to go
The

26

35

39

11

16

73

15

41

41

13

79

58

37

16

27

57

26

55

19

12

17

71

24

58

19

12

80

73

18

36

28

36

31

38

31

11

25

64

lending
period is
too short.
The books
are too
dirty and
tatty
There is
always a
waiting list
for the
books I
want
They
never
have
anything
new
They
never
have my
type of
book
I prefer
getting my
science
fiction
from the
bookshop
I can get

all the
science
fiction I
want online
Table 10 Users and Non-users responses to negative statements.
It can be seen that for nine out of 16 statements most non-users neither agree
nor disagree. This may mean that they do not know because they do not visit
their library. The only statement which has a majority in agreement is I prefer
getting my science fiction from the bookshop.
For the users in fourteen out of sixteen statements the majority disagreed.
There are two statements with which the majority of users agreed ; They only
ever have a few parts of a series and I prefer getting my science fiction from
the bookshop.
There are a number of statements for which both users and non-users have
the same opinion. The staff know nothing about science fiction with which
both groups neither agreed nor disagreed. This is perhaps because it is not
something that they are certain about so would prefer to have no opinion. Both
groups disagreed with the statements My library is too hard to get to, My
library doesnt want me as a customer, My library is never open when Im
able to go, The lending period is too short, The books are too dirty and
tatty. And finally both groups agreed with the statement I prefer getting my
science fiction from the bookshop.
5.1.2 Geographical Differences
It may be that there are some cultural differences with the way people express
their opinions. People from all over the world responded to the on-line
questionnaire and in table K the responses for UK and US groups to statements
about which the total group have no opinion have been extracted and are

tabulated. The UK group and the US group are the two largest and so are most
likely to have significant comparable results.
Statement
Agree
2

UK
Neither
49

Disagree
49

33

49

23

terrible
The library 16

The

Agree
21

US
Neither
52

Disagree
27

19

21

54

25

46

31

14

32

44

45

39

35

39

26

41

38

14

32

54

Library
Staff have
a good
knowledge
of science
fiction
The staff
know
nothing
about
science
fiction
Their
collection
of science
fiction is

sales are
great for
science
fiction
I used to

21

go, but
now Ive
read
everything
they have.
Table 11 Geographical comparisons for those statements that the group, as a

whole, has no strong opinions.

There were 95 respondents from the UK and 28 from the US. Table 11
indicates the percentages from each group who agreed, disagreed and had no
opinion of the statements that had no preference expressed by the entire
group. It can be seen that residents of the US are more likely to disagree that
their libraries science fiction collections are terrible and that they no longer go
to the library because they have read everything. Neither group is willing to
comment on the knowledge of staff.
Only 4 people out of 28 in the US group are non-users of their library, but 60
out of 95 UK residents are non-users. This is a much higher proportion, which
indicates that certainly in the UK most science fiction fans do not use their
library. When delving deeper into the UK group this is reflected in Scotland
where 40 out of 61 science fiction fans do not use their library. This however
may be an artefact of how respondents came to answer the questionnaire. For
example one LiveJournal community that was targeted was the community
called Secret Librarians of Fandom. This group by definition would be an
international English Speaking group who work in libraries. So the US data in
this case could be heavily influenced by respondents from this community.
5.1.3 Male and Female
Comparing the answers of male and female fans we find that 64% of female
respondents are library users while only 37% of male respondents use their
library. Comparing their reading habits in Table 12 shows that male and female
fans in general have very similar reading habits as the largest proportion for
each statement is the same for males as females.

Statement
Agree
I dont read 8

Male
Neither
4

Agree
5

Female
Neither
3

Disagree
88

Disagree
92

much
Im an avid

85

92

reader
I like to

90

81

11

91

86

10

79

12

82

10

books
I prefer

51

37

14

51

39

10

paperbacks
I prefer

18

42

40

15

46

39

hardbacks
I get my

14

27

59

21

28

51

14

42

44

26

35

39

s first
I buy books 66

17

17

74

14

12

buy my
own books
I have
plenty
books to
read at
home
I like
collecting

science
fiction
online
I like to get
the newest
publication

from
second
hand
bookshops
Table 12 Reading habits of male and female fans.

Comparing the forms they like their science fiction in Table 13.

TV
Radio
Films
Books
Comics/Graphic

Male
78
14
91
91
44

Female
88
8
88
93
42

Novels
Table 13 Male and Female SF form preferences.
It would seem that female fans prefer TV and Book science fiction slightly more
than male ones, but not significantly so. While men prefer comics and graphics
novels, Films and radio more than women, but not significantly so.
All the statements were analysed with respect to the feelings of men compared
with women. In most cases the largest proportions of both groups were in
agreement and the statements where they differ have been extracted and are
listed in Table 14.
Statement
The Library

Agree
3

Male
Neither
56

Agree
15

Female
Neither
41

Disagree
41

Disagree
43

41

59

47

47

35

54

11

35

47

18

Staff have
a good
knowledge
of science
fiction
Theres a
science
fiction book
group
The staff
know
nothing
about

science
fiction
They only

14

46

40

24

21

55

42

49

54

21

25

18

47

35

19

25

56

16

42

42

21

22

57

have media
tie-ins
They only
ever have a
few parts
of a series
They never
have
anything
new
They never
have my
type of
book
Table 14 Men and womens feelings about their library.
Slightly more men have no strong feelings about the statement The Library
Staff have a good knowledge of science fiction than women. The largest
proportion of women disagree with this statement.
Theres a science fiction book group divides the women equally between
those who disagree and those who have no feelings. With men the largest
proportion disagree.
Most men have no feelings about the following statements
They only have media tie-ins
I used to go, but now Ive read everything they have
Their collection of science fiction is terrible
There is always a waiting list for the books I want
They never have anything new
They never have my type of book
Whereas most women disagree with these.

Most men have no feelings about the statement They only ever have a few
parts of a series whereas most women agree with this.
In all other cases the largest proportions of the male and female groups are in
agreement. This may be due to the fact that the largest proportion of men are
non-library users and consequently they have no knowledge or strong feelings
about many of the statements relating to libraries.
5.1.4 Age-Groups
The age groups were divided into three roughly equal sized groups. The young
group consisting of the 18 and under, 19-25 and 26-35 has 55 members. The
middle group was the largest single age group of 36-45 has 52 members. The
senior age group consisting of 46-55, 56-65 and over 65 has 43 members.
Table 15 shows the reading habits of the three age groups.
Statement

Young

Middl

Senior

Agree

Neith

Disagre Agre

e
Neith

Disagre Agre

Neith

Disagre

I dont

er
2

e
91

e
8

er
4

e
88

e
5

er
5

e
90

read much
Im an

82

11

90

93

84

11

81

11

93

89

88

88

avid
reader
I like to
buy my
own books
I have
plenty
books to
read at
home

I like

74

13

13

84

84

11

56

36

54

31

15

42

44

14

s
I prefer

16

40

44

15

42

42

19

51

30

hardbacks
I get my

22

27

51

15

25

60

14

30

56

20

45

35

27

27

46

12

44

44

65

13

22

75

17

70

16

14

collecting
books
I prefer
paperback

science
fiction
online
I like to
get the
newest
publication
s first
I buy
books
from
second
hand
bookshops
Table 15 Reading habits of the different age groups.
The reading habits of all the fans are very similar, but where they differ is in
whether they prefer hardbacks or not. The young group mostly disagree, the
middle group either disagree or have no opinion and the senior group have no
opinion. In the matter of getting the newest publications first the young group
have no opinion, the middle group disagree and the seniors are divided
between having no opinion and disagreeing. And looking slightly closer the
middle group have a larger proportion who do like to get the newest
publication first than either the young or senior groups. It is a commonly held
belief that younger people want instant gratification, but this belief is not
upheld in this survey.

Young Middle
Senior
TV
87
85
88
Radio
4
13
21
Films
91
94
93
Books
98
94
95
Comics/Graphic Novels
40
44
51
Table 16 Forms of science fiction and age-group.
Table 16 shows that all age groups seem to enjoy TV, Films and books equally.
The older fan groups tend to get their science fiction from the radio and also a
larger proportion of the senior group like comics and graphic novels. One
possible explanation is that the young group is 45% male and the older group
is 60% male. (For information the middle group is 50% male). As previously
shown in section 5.1.3 slightly more men like radio and comics and graphic
novels than women, so the influence of male preferences in the older group is
likely to dominate. So in this case no conclusions can be drawn about
differences in age group.
58% of the young group use their library to borrow science fiction, 44% of the
middle group and 47% of the senior group. However this could also be a
reflection of the male/female differences previously highlighted, which show
that 64% of women use their library while only 37% of men do. With females
dominating the young group it may explain the high number of young people
who use their library. However as males dominate the senior group we might
expect the senior group to have the smallest proportion of library users, but
this is not the case. However, less than half of the middle and senior groups
use their library.
Statemen

Young

Middl

Neith

Disagre Agre

e
Neith

Disagre Agre

Neith

Disagre

er
12

e
35

er
12

e
48

er
9

e
41

t
Agre
e
My library 53
has a
good

e
40

Senior

e
50

stock of
science
fiction
They

56

26

18

60

20

20

23

27

50

55

29

16

44

33

23

44

47

15

34

51

16

44

40

26

44

30

27

36

36

21

37

42

21

51

28

13

29

58

15

46

39

53

42

27

27

46

14

46

40

14

37

49

have a
good
collection
of
classics
They only
ever have
a few
parts of a
series
I used to
go, but
now Ive
read
everythin
g they
have.
Their
collection
of science
fiction is
terrible
There is
always a
waiting
list for
the books
I want
They
never
have

anything
new
Table 17 Age-Group responses to positive and negative statements.
For the most part all three age groups share the same feelings except for the
statements shown in Table 17 which have been extracted and shown for
simplicity. Here we see that while the largest proportion of seniors and young
people agree that My library has a good stock of science fiction, the largest
proportion of the middle group disagree.
The young group and the middle group both agree that They have a good
collection of classics, but the largest proportion of the senior group disagree.
This may be due to a difference of opinion about what makes a classic. The
senior group may be looking for golden age science fiction while the younger
group may consider Neuromancer from 1984 a classic.
The young and middle groups also agree that They only ever have a few parts
of a series while the largest proportion of the senior group have no strong
feelings.
The middle and senior groups have no strong feelings about I used to go, but
now Ive read everything they have while the young group disagree with this.
For the statement Their collection of science fiction is terrible all three groups
have different opinions. The young group are divided between no feelings and
disagreement, the middle group disagree and the senior group have no
feelings.
Both the middle and senior group have no feelings about There is always a
waiting list for the books I want while the young group disagree with this.
The young group and the senior group both disagree that They never have
anything new, while the middle group have no strong feelings.

5.2 The libraries

From the survey of libraries in Scotland it would seem useful to compare the
group from Glasgow with those from the other library services.
5.2.1 How are science fiction collections promoted differently in libraries?
It would seem from Table 18 that there is no consistent policy within Glasgow
City libraries to have a separate science fiction section and neither is there
across other national library services either.
Spine labels also seem to be an optional extra, but not having spine labels
relies on the staff being able to identify genre and put it back in the correct
section.
Glasgow City
90% Yes

Elsewhere in Scotland
81% Yes

section?
Do the science fiction

50% Yes, 10% No

62% Yes, 25% No,

books have spine

40% sometimes

13% sometimes

labels?
Are there any displays

20% Yes

38% Yes

40% Yes

56% Yes

Are the science fiction

books grouped
together in one

of science fiction
books?
Are there any science
fiction books

displayed as part of a
larger group of
fiction? (i.e. as part of
a new books table?)
Is there any science

100% No

100% No

fiction author events

or anything coming up
at the library?
Table 18- The Promotion of science fiction book collections in Glasgow City and
other council districts of Scotland.
It would seem that there are very few libraries that display their science fiction
books and in this case a display may only be a shelf of front facing books to
qualify. It is more common that they are displayed as part of a larger group of
fiction, but still in only around half of the libraries visited.
There are no science fiction events coming up at any of the libraries that were
visited and this is true all across the country.
5.2.2 How does library staff knowledge of science fiction differ across the
country?

Were the staff able to

Glasgow City
30% Yes, 20% No,

Elsewhere in Scotland
12% Yes, 56% No,

help you?
If they recommended a

50% Partly
Iain M Banks 70%

32% Partly
Iain M Banks 50%

specific author who was

Ken MacLeod 12%

it?
If you had to ask for

70% No, 20%

69% No, 25%

something other than

Correct,

Correct,

Iain M Banks could

10% Incorrect

6% Incorrect

they help you and if so

who else did they
recommend?

Could they recommend

100% No

88% No

set in Scotland?
Did the staff seem

10% Yes

6% Yes

knowledgeable?
Did they enlist the help

10% Yes

56% Yes

70% Yes

75% Yes

a science fiction book

of more knowledgeable
colleagues if
necessary?
Did they seem
interested in your
enquiry?
Table 19 The science fiction knowledge of library staff in Glasgow City and
other council districts of Scotland.
What stands out from Table 19 is that in Glasgow the staff were slightly more
likely to be able to help than those outside the city. It would appear that Ken
MacLeod is slightly better known outside Glasgow than in Glasgow and most
significantly the staff outwith Culture and Sport Glasgow are more likely to ask
other colleagues for help. This may simply be that the city libraries have more
staff available whereas in more rural libraries there was only one staff member
available to help with inquiries.

Chapter 6
Conclusions
6.1 General
Mulcahys findings (Mulcahy, 2006) that libraries rarely have all of the parts of
a series was at least partially confirmed. In 12 out of 31 Scottish library
services they had an incomplete series of Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars Series
and in 9 services they had an incomplete series of Isaac Asimovs classic
Foundation Trilogy. However in 15 out of 31 there was access to the entire
Mars Trilogy and 16 times out of 31 the Foundation Trilogy was available in its
entirety.
It is also very difficult for the libraries to select science fiction if it is not offered
by the library suppliers, for example in the case of Mirror Dance by Lois
McMaster Bujold. And as public libraries move towards supplier selection only
texts that have been popularised by movies or not published as science fiction
will meet selection criteria for the suppliers. This will leave most science fiction
books out and will encourage collection of TV and film tie-ins.
Science fiction fans also tend to buy their books rather than borrow and this is
supported by the results, which show that over 80% of the respondents like
owning and collecting books.

6.2 Research Questions

Returning now to the original research questions it should be possible to
answer them.
1

Who are Science Fiction readers?

According to the demographics of the survey of fans they are just as likely to
be female as male, most likely to be between the ages of 36 and 45 and most
likely to be working.
2

Do Science Fiction readers use their library?

Science fiction fans are divided roughly in half into those who do and those
who do not use their library. However it appears that 64% of women use their
library while only 37% of men do. Also 35% of UK fans use their library while
86% of those from the US do. More than half of the young group (<18 up to
35) use their library while less than half of the middle (36-45) and senior
groups (46 to more than 65). So generally speaking the question cannot be
answered definitively with this data. But it would appear that young women
are more likely to use their library than middle aged or older men.

How do Science Fiction readers feel about their librarys science fiction

collection?
Fans are quite evenly split over the matter of whether their library has a good
science fiction collection, but slightly more agree that it does. The largest
proportion, which is more than half of the total, generally disagree that their
library never has anything good. The largest proportion of respondents neither
agree nor disagree that their librarys science fiction collection is terrible, but
there are slightly more who disagree than those who agree. The largest
proportion of the respondents agree that their library has a good collection of
classics, but this is still less than half.
Taking all this together it would appear that the respondents generally feel
positively about their librarys science fiction collections. Most people it would

appear though would rather refrain from comment.

4

Do libraries have good Science Fiction Collections?

With regard to the classics, fans generally feel that the library has a good
collection and this is borne out from the catalogue survey with the mean being
19 out of 28 selected titles being held by libraries. Although there is one
council that stands out much better than all the others including the large city
libraries. Moray council holds far more titles than might be expected from the
size of the council alone. This could be down to the purchasing preferences of
one individual, so it is not possible to guess the real reason for this.
5

Are Scottish libraries supporting Scottish Culture by stocking Scottish

Science Fiction?
In general Scottish libraries do have science fiction by Scottish writers although
the library staff are often not aware of it. Of the 15 selected titles the mean
number which libraries hold is 12. Also five library services hold all of the titles.
6

How are Science Fiction Collections promoted in libraries?

Science fiction collections have their own section in libraries most of the time
although they may be quite small. Displays however are generally just a shelf
of front facing books or propped open on the top shelf. Occasionally one
science fiction book is displayed with others as part of a larger display.
There are however no active promotional activities for science fiction fans.
There are no author visits or book groups or other events, whereas the popular
crime genre has many such events.
7

Do librarians have a good knowledge of science fiction?

In the case of librarian knowledge out of the 27 libraries visited, in 19 of them

the library staff member admitted to not knowing much about science fiction.
In most cases they relied on the internet to answer a question about Scottish
Science fiction. So here the answer would have to be that library staff do not
have a good knowledge of science fiction by their own admission.

Chapter 7
Limitations of Methodology and Reflections
7.1 Limitations
This survey has only been partially useful in that the fan survey mostly
reached English speaking fans of the researchers age, which have access to
the internet. A fan survey that included more of the oldest and youngest age
groups would give a clearer picture. Also a survey which pulled in fans of only
film and television SF may give a clearer idea of how these para-science fiction
fans feel about their library. As virtually no para-science fiction fans responded
to this survey conclusions can only be drawn from the literary fans and the
active fans.
Also the method of advertising the questionnaire was Facebook and Livejournal
and consequently only attracted fans on those social networking sites. Hence
the heavy bias towards middle aged fans with access to computers and the
internet.
There were also 98 abandoned surveys. This is where respondents initially click
the link to the questionnaire and then do not fill in any of the questions. This
may be due to a number of reasons including the length of the survey or a lack
of interest in the topic. Conversely as the questionnaire was kept short in order
to maximise respondents some detail may have been missed, such as the
science fiction fans use of e-zines, fan-fiction, internet fanzines and other
sources of fiction such as short-fiction magazines and creative commons sites.
Also with on-line questionnaires people are reluctant to give out much personal
information so it would be counter-productive to ask too many in depth
questions about occupation and disposable income in an on-line survey such as
this one.
One limitation with questionnaires is that people are not entirely honest. They

like to portray themselves in the best light and consequently a large number of
people said that they neither agreed nor disagreed with statements that
criticised libraries or the staff. One way to avoid this is to try and force and
opinion, but then there may be an increased number of abandoned
questionnaires. Some people commented that they would have preferred a
Dont know option, but it was felt that people would have chosen that as a
default rather than expressing themselves negatively. Also people like to give
the answers that they feel are expected of them and so may not answer
truthfully but instead give answers that they feel refutes the damaging stereotype of the science fiction fan. Many of the respondents knew that the
researcher was an ILS student and so would be reluctant to criticise libraries in
general for fear of being perceived to be tactless or ill-mannered.
It was hoped that a library from all 31 of the Scottish library services could be
visited, but the time taken to travel meant that this was not possible. There
were also limitations with visiting local libraries, because as all Culture and
Sport Glasgow staff are pooled together, it became increasingly likely that the
researcher would meet the same member of staff in another library. This did
happen on one occasion and only the addition of a rain-hat and waiting till the
staff member left prevented the surveyor from being revealed. The success of
the research depended on the true purpose remaining a secret.
The catalogue survey could not reveal the true size and shape of the science
fiction collection. It has not determined the percentage of shelf space given to
the genre or the proportion of the collection itself. Nor could it lend any insight
into the use made of the collection. Perhaps a study using the library
management system statistics would reveal more information of that nature.
Also time constraints meant that only 42 titles were checked in total and these
were chosen by the researcher and hence were not entirely objective.

Only classic titles were searched for in the library catalogues. The presence of
newer titles was not investigated. One reason for this is that libraries often
suffer a delay between publication and the book arriving on the shelf that is

due to processing issues. So it may not be relevant to check very recently

published works, but there may be some value in checking for titles of about a
year old to see how up to date the collections are. There may be other
difficulties with this in that new titles may not have been extensively reviewed
and it would be difficult to objectively choose more recent titles. It would
probably rely on choosing new books by authors who had already produced
good quality work.

7.2 Reflections

The issue of fiction selection is increasingly being left to suppliers. Indeed

Culture and Sport Glasgow already use this method to obtain fiction for their
libraries. This policy does leave genre fiction in a difficult position. Small press
publishers and critically acclaimed titles without mass-market appeal are
ignored. Even Hugo award winners are uncollected if the suppliers do not
select it. Recently Farah Mendlesohn (Mendlesohn, 2009) pointed out that
female writers are still not getting recognition and libraries and bookshops tend
to have very few titles by female SF writers.

Crime and mystery books are the most popular genre and in some libraries the
crime section is not separate as it is effectively the general fiction section.
Author events tend to be crime authors and displays are often filled with the
latest crime titles. On television crime is a popular genre, but so is science
fiction. This survey has not shone a light on why SF film and TV is popular, but
SF books are not. Nor is it clear why crime is so much more popular than any
other genre.

However one thing is clearer and that is that SF fans do not feel that they
dislike their library or its collection although very little is done to encourage the
genres readers or promote the collection.

Chapter 8
Recommendations and Future Research
8.1 Recommendations
Science fiction could be better promoted in libraries. Perhaps giving it a section
of its own in the libraries that do not have one. Perhaps an occasional science
fiction dedicated display. It would be reasonable proposition to have a
promotion when the latest science fiction movie comes out. For example
Avatar may be partially inspired by Frederik Pohls short story Call Me Joe,
amongst others. And entire display of original inspiration for hit movies would
encourage the para-science fiction fans to read the original story and perhaps
introduce new readers to the genre.
Most fans said that they would attend a science fiction author event. While
these events can be very expensive there may also be a number of local
authors that may be willing, but have simply never been asked. However a
science fiction book group or fan group meeting is unlikely to bring as many
fans to the library.
It would also seem reasonable to collect the major award winners in any year,
such as the BSFA, Nebula and the Hugo Best Novel winners as these are the
ones most likely to become future classics. Also in the case of series there
would be no point collecting the third part of a series if the previous two have
no been collected. Similarly there would be little point in discarding part of the
series, but keeping others.
It is very difficult to recommend that library staff acquire a better knowledge of
the science fiction genre, but a few staff members that were encountered have
shown considerable knowledge despite not feeling that they do. As for the wellused Wikipedia resource that was often used by staff members, perhaps some
work on that page alone and those that it links to would be a worthwhile

activity for someone looking to improve the cause of Scottish science fiction.
Scotland is such a small country that often the actions of one individual can
make a difference nationally.
8.2 Future Research
It would seem logical to perform a more detailed study of whether the science
fiction collections are in circulation and how large a percentage of borrowers
use the collection. It would also be useful to gauge how large a percentage of
all the library holdings are science fiction. It may also be useful to see which
titles are borrowed most and try to determine the reason for the popularity of
some titles compared with the lack of popularity of others. As part of a more
detailed study into the influence of women writers a survey of the percentage
of female SF writers in stock could be incorporated into a more detailed study
of the librarys SF holdings. And whether there is a real dearth of female SF
authors in libraries in particular or in the genre as a whole.
Participants in the survey commented that libraries do not have the latest
titles, so using a list of more recently published books may provide evidence of
the truth of this statement.
An in depth study of the preferred tropes and themes in science fiction of men
and women, young and old would give insight into whether there are definite
preferences within the groups.
It would also be useful to look at other genres. Crime and Mystery is by far the
most popular and romance used to the second most popular, but it is difficult
to determine this by looking round the library if this is still the case.
As Science Fiction is regarded as a minority genre perhaps some of the other
minority genres should be examined too, such as the Western. It would appear
that Westerns still have their own sections in libraries even when science
fiction does not despite the fact that westerns are not even part of mainstream

publishing (Bennett, 2009). Also Supernatural Romances are now so popular

and numerous that they could be regarded as a new genre entirely and in fact
some branches that were visited have re-signed their fantasy section to that
effect.
Studies of genre in public libraries would be best done by staff in the front line
as they have access to the borrowing public as well as the LMS statistics. As
the last study of genre is now thirty years old perhaps there is room for
another on the topic.

Chapter 9
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Chapter 10 -Appendices
Appendix A Questionnaire for Fans
Science Fiction in Libraries Questionnaire
This questionnaire is entirely anonymous. Code numbers will be used
throughout when quoting text answers. All questionnaires will be destroyed on
completion of the project.
1

Are you male or female?

Male
Female

What age group are you in?

Under 18
19-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Over 65

Are you.
Working
Retired
Studying
Not working

Where do you live? (Town and country only).

How do you feel about the following statements that other people have

used to describe their general reading habits.

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neither

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

I dont read much

Im an avid
reader
I like to buy my
own books
I have plenty
books to read at
home
I like collecting
books.
I prefer
paperbacks
I prefer hardbacks
I get my science
fiction on-line.
I like to get the
newest
publications first.
I buy books from
second hand
bookshops.
6

In which form do you usually enjoy science fiction? (Tick all that apply)
TV
Radio
Films
Books
Comics/graphic
novels

Do you use your library to borrow science fiction in any form e.g. DVDs

or books or graphic novels?

Yes
No
If No go straight to question 11.
8

What science fiction do you borrow from your local library? (Tick all that

apply)
Books/Graphic
Novels
DVDs
9

How do you feel about the following statements that other people have

used to describe their library.

Strongly
Agree
My library has a
good stock of
science fiction.
The library staff
have a good
knowledge of
science fiction
They have all the
latest titles
They have small
press books that I
cant get
anywhere else.
They have a good
collection of
classics
They will order

Agree

Neither

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

anything I request
I can check the
website and put a
hold on anything I
like
They have a
separate science
fiction section
I can get books
from other
branches in the
same library
system.
They put the new
books out on
display.
I can read books I
wouldnt normally
read.
Theres a science
fiction book group
They have talks
by science fiction
authors
I never run out of
things to read.
The library sales
are great for
science fiction
It costs me
nothing.
10

Is there anything else you like about the libraries you use?

11

How do you feel about the following statements that other people have

used to describe their library.

Strongly
Agree
They never have
anything good
The staff know
nothing about
science fiction
They only have
media tie-ins
They only ever
have a few parts
of a series
I used to go, but
now Ive read
everything they
have.
Their collection of
science fiction is
terrible.
My library is too
hard to get to.
My library doesnt
want me as a
customer
My library is
never open when
Im able to go
The lending
period is too
short.
The books are too
dirty and tatty
Theres always a

Agree

Neither

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

waiting list for

books I want.
They never have
anything new.
They never have
my type of book
I prefer getting
my science fiction
from the
bookshop.
I can get all the
science fiction I
want online.
12

Is there anything else you dont like about libraries?

13

Is there anything that would make you go to the library more often than

you do now?

14

If a science fiction author came to talk at your local library would you go

along?
Yes

No
Maybe
15

If your local library had a science fiction reading group or fan group

meeting would you go along?

Yes
No
Maybe
16

If your local library had a science fiction promotional event would you go

along?
Yes
No
Maybe

Appendix B Mystery Shopper Scenario and Questionnaire.

Mystery Shopper Scenario
Introduction
This is not an investigation of customer service issues. It is to see how
the public library as an institution treats science fiction books. Please
do not stress the staff in anyway especially if the library seems really
busy. Accept any answers they give and move straight on. If they
appear to be making a huge effort to find you something tell them its
just a casual enquiry.
When your visit is complete fill out the following questionnaire as soon
as possible so the events are fresh in your mind.
1
Name and Location of
Library
2
Date

Day

Time

Scenario
Go to the public library at a time which avoids lunch hours and busy
times where possible. Go into the library initially and determine the
following:3
Yes
No

Is the science fiction grouped together in one area

Do the science fiction books have spine labels?

Yes
No
Some
5

Are there any displays of science fiction books?

Yes
No
6
Are then any science fiction books displayed as part of a larger group of
fiction, e.g. as part of a new books table?
Yes
No
Questions to ask an available staff member:1
Can you recommend a science fiction book by a Scottish
author?
2
If the first thing they give you is by Iain M Banks say I have
read all of his books. Have you got something by someone else?.
3
Can you recommend a science fiction book that is set in
Scotland?
4
Do you have a science fiction reading group or any science
fiction events coming up?.
7

Were the staff able to help you?

Yes
No
partly
8

Did they point you in the direction of the fiction shelves and ask you to

look yourself or did they come and hand you a specific book?

Pointed direction only

Specific Book
Specific author
None of these
9

If they gave you a specific book, what was it?

10

If they recommended a specific author, who was it?

11

If you had to ask for something other than Iain M Banks, could they help

you and if so who else did they give you?

12

Could they recommend a science fiction book set in Scotland?

Yes
No

13

If they could recommend a science fiction book set in Scotland, what was

it?

14

Is there any science fiction author events or anything coming up at the

library?

Yes
No
15

If there is, what is it? If not why not?

16

Did the library staff seem knowledgeable?

Yes
No
17

Any additional comments about staff knowledge?

18

Did they enlist the help of other more knowledgeable colleagues if

necessary?
Yes
No
19

Any additional comments about bringing in other colleagues?

20

Were the staff friendly?

Yes
No
21

Any other comments about the friendliness of the staff?

22

Did they seem interested in your enquiry?

Yes
No

23

Any other comments about the interest the staff showed in your enquiry?

24

Any other comments about this library?

25

Do you have any other comments about the visit you had to the library

today?