CSUEB librarian is national columnist and reviewer of...romance novels?

• April 16, 2010 3:00am

Since 1994, Librarian Emerita Kristin Ramsdell has been educating fellow librarians on the romance genre via her column in the Library Journal. She said, “Most librarians knew nothing then about the romance genre, but they need to because library users expect them to be able to recommend books of all kinds, including romances.”  Ramsdell credits the Library Journal as being the first national professional journal to publish a regular column on the romance genre.

There are many misconceptions about romance novels, including that romances are unrealistic because they have happy endings. “The problem with that criticism is that it assumes there are no happy romantic relationships or marriages, which isn't true,” said Ramsdell.  “Romances usually show people working out their problems in successful ways.”

Read Ramsdell's latest column on “Mystique of the West.”

--Kimberly Legocki