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Not to mention the “Complete Idiot’s Guide” to anything? I know, I get it that the series’ titles are eye-catching hyperbole, that they are marketed as ”A Reference for the Rest of Us”® as opposed to the specialists in the topics. But sheesh, I’m a 42-year-old professional librarian. I don’t want to be called a “dummy” even in the name of marketing.
Actually, it’s not the books I hate, just the titles. I have gotten good use out of many “For Dummies” books, from “Gardening for Dummies” to “Syndicating Websites with RSS Feeds for Dummies.” I even have a fond, proud and probably apocryphal early ’90s memory of my mom mastering her first PC with the help of the ur-Dummies book, “DOS for Dummies.”
The books themselves are actually perfect for people like me: curious lifelong-learners who want to get started in a subject without taking a class. I guess a book entitled “_________ For Smart People Who Don’t Have the Time, Desire, or Need to Get a Degree Before Getting Started” wouldn’t sell as well.
Now that I think of it, the point of this blog is to try to help smart people who don’t have the time, desire, or need to get a degree before getting started in social media for their library. So I guess I like the “For Dummies” books, after all. Never mind!
