New Blog by a MA Public Library

A few days ago, Laurie, an RA from the Brockton (MA) Public Library asked me to check out their new blog. I am always excited when librarians embrace new techniques to reach their patrons, so I dived right in. Here is a link to their blog.

Laurie and a colleague appear to be focusing on writing about the books they are reading and providing patrons further avenues of exploration for each title. Nice work guys.

This brings up 2 good points. First, all of you librarians out there should be writing at least a little about what you are reading. This helps you to remember what is best about a book, for which readers it will most appeal, and allows you to begin drawing connections from one book to another. This will only make your job easier and help your patrons get better leisure reading suggestions.

At BPL, along with my blog, our entire RA staff is required to write something about the books they are reading and at the very least suggest 1 possible readalike. We post these on Shelfari. You can click here to see our group shelf; and here for my shelf.

The second point Brockton PL's new blog brings up is that at its heart your library's RA service is driven by your patrons. It is an intimate and extremely local service. From one state to another, even from one town to another, the types of books, their settings, genres, and topics that are most popular will differ. This is why it is nice to see library blogs from other parts of the country. We can all see what people are reading and talking about somewhere else, and maybe it will spark us to suggest something totally different for our patrons.

So go on over and check out the Brockton Public Library's blog; maybe it will inspire you to start one of your own. And, feel free to contact me and pass on your book blogs. If I get enough responses, I will compile a permanent archive of library book blogs.