The Future of Reader's Advisory

With all the technology available to us now, there are so many ways to approach RA in the public library. While librarians are using these tools in effective ways, we can always stand to improve. So I went online to look for advice about how to use technology to conduct superior RA service.

Booklists are a popular RA tool, and most libraries have begun making their lists available online. One suggestion for enhancing this service is to create booklists specifically for your community of readers. Many of the lists you see online are generic, like "Mystery Authors A-Z" or "Fiction for Women by Women". While these lists have their purpose, creating a boolist for your patrons can be even more successful. You can personalize your suggestions even further by including a brief synopsis of each title and maybe even a few short lines of a book review.

Some libraries, like Hennepin County PL (http://www.hclib.org/pub/bookspace/), are offering online book discussion groups. The library can choose a book and formulate questions that patrons then respond to in an online format.

Another popular venture is allowing patrons to review and tag books. The Danbury Library (CT) (http://cat.danburylibrary.org/) has added LibraryThing content to its online catalog, allowing patrons to tag items with indexing terms that make sense to them.

Blogs and wikis also provide libraries with ways to reach out to readers online. These formats are useful particularly with teens.

Libraries are always coming up with new and innovative ways to use technology, which is great for our profession because change is inevitable.

Reader's Advisory Interview

The RA interview is similar to the reference interview in that you want to be approachable and ask open-ended questions. On Bookbitch.com, they reference the RA interview as a three-step process: an initial listening period, suggesting titles, and offering ongoing assistance.

At the initial stage of the RA interview, it is important to find out what type of book the patron is interested in reading. You can do this by asking a simple question like, "Tell me about a book you read recently that you liked." Or if a patron comes in looking for a bestseller that is checked out, you can ask if they want to read something else from that author or if they want to read a book by an author with a similar writing style in that same genre.

Once you've compiled a list of possible titles, put the books forth as suggestions, not recommendations. You don't want it to apprear as though you're endorsing a book, which could make it uncomfortable for the patron to refuse. You can also take the reader to the stacks to browse and look at the suggestions as you talk.

Finally, follow-up with the reader just as you would during a reference interview. Ask them to let you know if the books work out for them. Also, it is a good idea to give them reference tools to assist them as they look for future reads, i.e., websites for mystery readers or book lists the staff has created.

As always, the only way to learn a skill is practice, practice, practice. For more tips on conducting RA, visit the links below.

Happy reading.


interview with Joyce Saricks: http://lu.com/ranews/mar2006/orr.cfm

Bookbitch.com: http://www.bookbitch.com/READERS%20ADVISORY.htm

LIS Career Development Center: http://www.liscareer.com/larrabee_ra.htm

Library Journal article "Taking Back Reader's Advisory": http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA317643.html

Nonfiction Reader's Advisory

Nonfiction is a genre for which most librarians are leary about doing RA. There are only a small number of books about the topic, including The Readers' Advisory Guide to Nonfiction by Neal Wyatt; The Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests by Sarah S Cords; and Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin.

When asked about the future of RA, Joyce Saricks is quoted saying that nonfiction RA will become a prominent part of our jobs (http://lu.com/ranews/mar2006/orr.cfm). Libraries have caught on, and some are offering nonfiction book clubs. Western Massachusetts Regional Library put together some tips for nonfiction RA that can be accessed at http://www.wmrls.org/ce/notes/nonfiction-tips.pdf. For the Library Journal series "Redefining RA", Neal Wyatt wrote an article about nonfiction RA that you can read online at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6413459.html.

There are many nonfiction subgenres just as there are in fiction. Some of them include travel, humor, true crime, and biographies. The New Jersey Library Association put together a great resource for getting started with nonfiction RA. It can be found online at http://www.njla.org/conference/2007/presentations/NarrativeNonfiction.pdf. The information includes reading suggestions for the different nonfiction subgenres.

The future of RA is now. Happy reading.

A Tool for Series Fiction

As I check out books to patrons, I notice a lot series fiction. Christian fiction is especially popular with readers at my library, and there are several well-known writers in that genre who write series.

A useful tool for librarians when trying to find the next book in a series is the Series and Sequels database maintained by the Los Angeles Public Library. Access to the database is free and open on the library's website at http://www.lapl.org/resources/indexes/sequels.html.

Not all series are included in the database. For example, I was looking the other day for the Sisters of Holmes County series by Wanda Brunstetter. I couldn't find the information in Series and Sequels, so I ended up doing a simple online search for the series.

The database covers a wide range of popular series fiction writers though, and I use it with success on a regular basis. Hope you find it useful during your RA exchanges.

RA Books for Libraries

Most of what I read about RA is online, but I've looked at books on the topic, too.

Probably the most widely-known RA book is Genreflecting by Diana Tixier Herald. I read that book for my Adult Services class, and was amazed by the multitude of subgenres. For example, did you know there's a subgenre of science fiction called space opera? (The Star Wars series is part of that subgenre.)

Genreflecting was an important part of my RA education because it helped me see the world of genre fiction in a new light. For those of us who don't read genre fiction, learning that there are many types of science fiction books or mysteries out there can encourage us to try a book or an author we wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

I looked online for some suggestions of other RA books for librarians, and below I listed what I found. Enjoy.

What Do I Read Next? (put out every year by different authors)

Pearl, Nancy Book Lust

Pearl, Nancy More Book Lust

Saricks, Joyce The Reader's Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction

Saricks, Joyce Reader's Advisory Service in the Public Library

Shearer, Kenneth The Readers' Advisor's Companion (published in 2002)

Books Made into Films

As I've looked online at reading lists for readers' advisory, I've run across some lists of books made into movies. I thought it would be interesting to see what well-known movies of 2008 and 2009 were books first. Below is the list I came up with.

One of my least favorite book-to-film ventures was Reservation Road, which came out in 2007. John Burnham Schwartz wrote a beautiful poetic novel, but he and the director of the film did not translate that depth of feeling to the screenplay.

On the other hand, there have been some films I've loved when I couldn't get into the books. The Anne of Green Gables series and The Namesake are two I can name off the top of my head.

What are some of your favorite films made from books?


Boyne, John The Boy in the Striped Pajamas http://www.boyinthestripedpajamas.com/#/home

Brown, Dan Angels & Demons http://www.angelsanddemons.com/

Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Curious Case of Benjamin Button http://www.benjaminbutton.com/

Gibbons, Dave Watchmen http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/

Kinsella, Sophie Confessions of a Shopaholic http://www.bluefly.com/media/promotions/flash/shopaholic/main/shopaholic.html

Lee, Stan Iron Man http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/

Mezrich, Ben Bringing Down the House movie: 21
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/21/

Morgan, Peter Frost/Nixon http://www.frostnixon.net/

Palahniuk, John Choke http://www.foxsearchlight.com/choke/

Piccoult, Jodi My Sister's Keeper http://www.mysisterskeepermovie.com/

Roth, Philip The Dying Animal movie: Elegy

Schlink, Bernhard Der Vorleser movie: The Reader http://www.thereader-movie.com/

Shanley, John Patrick Doubt http://www.doubt-themovie.com/

Swarap, Vikas Q & A movie: Slumdog Millionaire http://www.foxsearchlight.com/slumdogmillionaire/

All Things "Twilight"

Can't get enough of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series?

I suspect that the most asked readers' advisory question this summer will be, "Can you recommend some books that are like Twilight?"

Most libraries have already composed readalike lists for the popular series, and I've given the links to a few lists below. I've also included links to the movie sites (Twilight and New Moon), as well as sites for fans of the movie and actors.

Hope you enjoy.

Until November...

Twilight readalikes:

Westport Public Library, Connecticut
http://www.westportlibrary.org/teenblog/2008/12/twilight_readalikes.html

Liverpool Public Library, New York
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/showarchive.html?sid=6529&nlid=4750623d4

Santa Clara County Library, California
http://www.santaclaracountylib.org/teen/lists/twilight_read_a_likes/index.html

Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Massachusetts
http://www.wakefieldlibrary.org/booklists/readalikes-for-stephenie-meyers-twilight-series/


Fansites:

Author Stephenie Meyer's official website: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

The Twilight Saga (fansite): http://www.thetwilightsaga.com/

Rob Pattinson fansite: http://robertpattinson.org/

Kristen Stewart fansite: http://www.kstewartfan.org/


Movie sites:

Twilight: http://www.twilightthemovie.com/ecard_widget/index.html

New Moon: http://www.newmoonmovie.org/

"Woodsburner" Review and Reading Map

I just finished reading "Woodsburner". It's the first novel for author John Pipkin. The story is set in the 1800s in Concord, Massachusetts, and is the fictional tale of what happened when Henry David Thoreau accidentally started a forest fire, burning hundreds of acres outside Concord. Throughout the novel, readers are introduced to several Concord residents, and as the story progresses, we find that the fire is the one thing that connects them.

The book is well-written, though I wasn't fully engaged until about page 80. I picked up the book because of my interest in Thoreau. While I didn't learn anything new about him, I did learn about the history of Concord during Thoreau's time, and the book also renewed my interest in transcendentalism and Concord's literary history. The novel is dark, like so many acclaimed literary novels these days. There is one episode in particular that was disturbing, the late-night incident in the pumpkin patch, but at the novel's close, you find there is hope for the characters, and in effect, redemption for the whole of humanity.

As I was reading, I gathered information about different themes found in the novel. I used them to create a simple reading map below. Hope you enjoy.

Woodsburner Reading Map

(John Pipkin, 2009)

Woodsburner tells the story of what happened that fateful day in April 1844 when Henry David Thoreau accidentally set fire to hundreds of acres of Concord's forests. The novel follows several characters as they try to conquer the fire as well as the trials in their individual lives. Author John Pipkin draws an interesting picture of life in Concord in the 1800s when it was the nation's literary center.


If you're interested in learning more about Thoreau, try these sources.

Books:
Richardson, Robert D, Jr Henry Thoreau: A Life of Mind (1986)
Emerson, Edward Waldo Henry Thoreau as Remembered by a Young Friend (1999)

Websites:
The Thoreau Society http://www.thoreausociety.org/
The Thoreau Institute www.walden.org/Institute/Collections/Collections.htm
Thoreau Farm Trust http://www.thoreaufarm.org/


To learn more about Concord, Massachusetts, try the following.

Websites:
Concord Museum http://www.concordmuseum.org/
The Thoreau Society: Visit Concord www.thoreausociety.org/_news_visitconcord.htm
Concord Library: A Brief History of Concord www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/bhc/bhc.html


More about Concord's literary history.

Books:
Cheever, Susan American Bloomsbury (2006)
Schreiner, Samuel Agnew The Concord Quartet (2006)


Information about Walden Pond.

Websites:
The Walden Woods Project http://www.walden.org/
Walden Pond State Reservation www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/walden

Read-a-likes, Reading Maps, the Web for Readers

The most commonly asked reader's advisory question a librarian gets is "Where can I find a book like [fill in the blank--Twilight, Size 14 is not Fat Either, etc.]?" Sometimes, I get lucky, and I'm familiar enough with the book or author that I am able to suggest other titles, based, of course, on what the patron liked about that particular book. Other times, I find that I need help.

In addition to any reader's advisory tools the library has in print, the internet can also be useful. Though it can be daunting navigating through the dead ends, I've found some online resources that are worth mentioning here.

There are many websites dedicated to helping you find books like read like your favorite author or novel. If there's a particular author you're interested in, try http://www.literature-map.com/. This is a fun tool to use, and from my experience, it's pretty accurate, too. Some of the read-a-likes the map lists for my favorite author Elizabeth Berg include Alice Hoffman, Anne Lamott, and Sue Monk Kidd, all three authors I find compararable to Berg. To find a read-a-like for a particular title, try http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/.

Reading maps are a more recent phenomenon. Reading maps provide more detailed information about a piece of literature and generally touch on several themes of a book. Prospect Heights Public Library of Illinois has created a few maps that can be accessed at http://phkreadingmaps.pbworks.com/. A few more sites to visit include: http://library.uwb.edu/pearl ; http://kanawhalibrary.org/advisory/reading_maps.html ; http://oppl.org/media/findbooks.htm.

Reading maps are fun to use and interesting and challenging to create. For assistance creating your own maps, read Neal Wyatt's article "Redefining RA: Reading Maps Remake RA", available online at www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6383011.html.

For more comprehensive reader's advisory sites, try the following: www.bookspot.com/readinglists ; http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ ; http://www.overbooked.org/ ; www.plcmc.org/readers_club/.

Happy reading!