Introduction
This is one of the most fun, joyful aspects of librarianship for me! I love the process of helping somebody open up, examine their preferences, and settle on the item (or items!) that really makes their eyes light up. To me, good readers’ advisory is about helping people discover the joy in reading, either for the first time or all over again. Also, the process of really listening to what somebody wants and enjoys is deeply connective and powerful. Especially when a patron’s tastes differ from my own, it gives me the opportunity to get outside of my own box and appreciate new things. Plus, it’s just plain old fun to tell people about the great books out there!
Librarian, Milwaukee Public Library
July 2010 – present
Competencies demonstrated:
- Assists users with choosing popular and recreational reading, viewing and listening choices
- Understands the theory of appeal, listens carefully to information elicited from the user and bases recommendations on an interpretation of what appeals to the user
- Identifies and recommends a selection of materials that align with what appeals to the user
- Demonstrates the ability to read widely, formulate connections between resources, and converse with users about the resources
- Connects children and their families and caregivers with resources that encourage reading
- Develops strategies and sources to stay well-informed as a readers’ advisor
- Applies customer service skills to enhance the level of user satisfaction
Since I’ve worked with adults, teens, and children at several locations, I’ve been fortunate to be able to keep improving my readers’ advisory for all ages! However, I think the best RA principles don’t depend on age. Above all, I listen. I respect the views and desires of my patron, and don’t make assumptions. Adults need as much help focusing their questions as children and teens, too! I love to work with the patron to figure out what ignites their passion, whether they love James Joyce or superhero movies. (In fact, “Tell me about a movie you love,” is a favorite technique of mine; somehow, people who can’t seem to come up with a book they love can usually immediately call a film to mind. And I can come up with a book that will appeal for similar reasons!) I read very widely, and always keep an eye open for excellent booklists, reviews, and tools like NoveList. Let’s talk about what you’d love to read!
Blogging and Reviewing, Various Institutions
dates variable
Competencies demonstrated:
- Creates booklists, read-alikes, read-arounds, book-talks, displays, electronic documents and other special tools to increase access to library resources and promote their use
- Assists users with choosing popular and recreational reading, viewing and listening choices
- Demonstrates a broad knowledge of the library’s collection and of a wide range of materials of interest to library readers
- Uses Web tools and social networking communities to engage with and provide
services to users
I have contributed reviews and booklists to a variety of blogs. Read my recommendations at:
Read@MPL (July 2010 – present)
Shelf Talk (June 2009 – February 2010)
Sno-Isle Teens (January 2010 – March 2010)
I also write professional reviews for library-centric publications such as Library Journal; take a look at those on the Leadership and Service page.
Which Book Next (Facebook Readers’ Advisory), Milwaukee Public Library
September 2011
Competencies demonstrated:
- Uses Web tools and social networking communities to engage with and provide services to users
- Explores the potential of social networking to interact with users and meet their information needs
- Understands the unique opportunities, norms and limitations of online engagement with users
On September 14th, I’ll be working with a team of librarians to provide a readers’ advisory blitz on our Facebook page. Readers will tell us what they’ve been reading lately, and we’ll suggest their next read. I’m really looking forward to this – it will be a blast! It’s a great way to stretch ourselves to engage our community, and gives us a chance to hone our RA skills to boot.
Virtual Readers’ Advisory Service Proposal, Milwaukee Public Library
September 2010
Competencies demonstrated:
- Defines and implements outreach services for the library community to increase use of library services and to reach underserved populations
- Demonstrates ability to be creative, promote new ideas
- Understands and articulates the importance of engaging with users in non-traditional ways that extend beyond the physical library
- Aligns efforts with the vision and direction of the organization
- Devises strategies to keep up with emerging tools and techniques, and connects with professional communities to seek and share best practices
- Identifies the appropriate opportunities, resources and timing to act in support of the library’s vision and mission
- Works to meet or exceed goals by obtaining resources and support, and by eliminating obstacles
- Evaluates programs, using appropriate evaluation strategies
MPL would like to do a better job of engaging teens and young professionals, despite its very limited staffing and space resources. We are also actively seeking new ways to use online tools to engage our own local community. At the same time, I identified a need for stronger readers’ advisory services at MPL. Combining these needs prompted me to propose a virtual readers’ advisory service which provides personalized, librarian-created book lists. In other libraries, this service has been extremely successful in attracting local use. It has the added benefit of often being immensely popular especially with teens and twentysomethings. A virtual service also allows us to reach many people with a minimum expenditure of resources, as it requires neither space nor a single, dedicated, physically present librarian. I’m so excited about the possibilities of this service! I crafted a proposal (click image above for full text) for our virtual services committee. It was accepted, and hopefully the program will move forward soon!
Student Librarian / Readers’ Advisor, Seattle Public Library
June 2009 – February 2010
Competencies demonstrated:
- Provides excellent customer service to a diverse audience
- Assists users with choosing popular and recreational reading, viewing and listening choices
- Demonstrates a broad knowledge of the library’s collection and of a wide range of materials of interest to library readers
- Creates booklists, read-alikes, read-arounds, book-talks, displays, electronic documents and other special tools to increase access to library resources and promote their use
As a student librarian at SPL, I worked on the fiction desk at the downtown Central branch. Primarily, I performed readers advisory for adults, but also created passive readers advisory tools, answered reference questions, and helped with collection maintenance. At times, I also worked shifts on the general reference desk and the teen desk. Wherever I worked, I valued conducting strong reference interviews, excellent customer service, and serving the public including diverse populations.
In addition to providing readers advisory from across our collection, in literary fiction, mystery, romance, westerns, science fiction, short stories, nonfiction, and teen fiction, I also created some passive readers’ advisory tools. In order to draw attention to authors with poor circulation numbers, I created a few “shelf talkers” such as this one:
“We have 11 new shelf talkers in the stacks! Audrey [and others] whipped some up, and are keeping an eye on how these directly merchandise books. For our
experiment, we’ve been selecting authors who have multiple copies of books that haven’t seen as much “movement” in recent months and authors who are living in unfortunate circumstances on lower shelves. I’m convinced that Audrey’s write up of Anita
Diamant inspired people to check out her books (five checked out in a couple of days)” – SPL librarian
I’ve also responded to readers’ needs through building displays. Several patrons asked me for romance novels based upon how much sex they include, wanting something either very steamy or something with no explicit sex. However, romance is usually sorted by setting, such as Regency or Western.
To address the desire for romance-by-spice, I created this “Spice Up Your Reading” display, which sorted romance novels into mild, moderate, and hot. It stayed up for a month and enjoyed significant popularity. I also created an accompanying booklist and posted it to the adult services blog. Read the booklist here. (Note: the SPL blog has been reformatted since this post, and the teeny little chili pepper graphics are now HUGE and the formatting is wonky.)
Children’s Services Directed Fieldwork, Seattle Public Library
March 2010 – June 2010
Competencies demonstrated:
- Creates book-talks and displays to appeal to children
- Provides services and spaces appropriate to the developmental needs of children
- Works with parents, caregivers and other adults who serve children
My spring and summer children's display
During this fieldwork, I provided readers’ advisory to children and caregivers regularly. In addition to helping them at the desk, I tried to actively reach out and engage children in reading. One method was creating a fun, eye-catching display which featured seasonal-themed books. For spring and summer, I made my theme “Grow! Read!” The centers of the flowers are images of garden and outdoor picture books.
I also created booklists for parents and caregivers to use. Take a look at my blog about this experience to see the booklist I created for a parent who wanted books to help her toddler understand what having a new baby in the house would be like. However, she wanted only positive books – no Julius, the Baby of the World types which featured an older sibling’s resentment toward a younger sibling.
Click the image to link to my blog about this experience.
Finally, I went on an elementary school visit to promote summer reading, and gave booktalks to several age groups. It was so energizing to experience the kids’ enthusiasm! A book about extreme scientists was especially exciting for boys, while a new Kathryn Lasky stand-alone book, Hawksmaid, piqued the interest of Guardians of Ga’hoole readers.
Coursework: LIS 569: BookLust
Readers’ advisory guru Nancy Pearl taught techniques and theories for advising readers in genre fiction. Each session, I presented and received critique on at least one booktalk, improving my booktalking skills.
