Reading the Covers?

Janet,

On our trips to Barnes & Noble I notice that you have strong opinions about book cover designs. I hear a lot of eewww from you. I stay away from the Mystery section so I am not as bothered by it ;-) This Spring I learned in my Visual Persuasion class about the controversy surrounding the cover of Reading Lolita in Tehran. A stock AP photo was cropped to make two Arab women look as though they were reading racy novel Lolita rather than the political newspaper actually held in their hands.

Why am I talking about covers? Because currently we have a display of sheet music covers right outside the Reading Room (where the popular reading collection is kept). These covers are just some of the recipients of the Music Publisher Association’s Revere Award – examples of “outstanding examples of graphic design.” Art, Music, or Graphic Design students may be especially interested in the display—come to the library soon though because we’ll pack them up at the end of the month. The images of this year and previous years’ winner are available online.

Looking forward to our lunch date and Barnes and Noble this week when we nail down our exciting plans for the summer! Kristen