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.
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