Wrap-Up Class

Tonight I had my "wrap-up class." This is the last lecture of the semester in which I try to summarize everything we have learned in the past few months and tie up any loose ends.

We have a few exercises, but we also discuss the entire semester's worth of discussions happening on the listserv for Readers' Advisors, Fiction-L.

New for this semester, I have created a handout of the the 10 things you cannot leave leave this class without knowing. It is modified from a new 60-75 minute talk I have been giving at libraries focusing on how all staff can provide basic RA service, or as I like to call it RA for All. Catchy, no?

Anyway, here are Becky's Ten Rules of Basic RA Service:

1.) Betty Rosenberg: “Never apologize for your reading tastes.”

2.) Suggest don’t Recommend.

3.) Everyone reads a different version of the same book.

4.) Write down adjectives about what you read; plot you can find.

5.) Read widely (at least speed read widely).

6.) Read about books (RSS feeds).

7.) Share what you read- with staff and patrons.

8.) Never let a patron leave unsatisfied.

9.) Get out from behind the desk.

10.)Get involved in creating displays.

I also provided a list of the 5 RA resources you cannot live without. Here is the text from the handout:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com

Plot summaries, possible read alikes, but most importantly, customer comments! 5 star and 1 star reviews are the most helpful.

NoveList: EBSCO Database

Most helpful quickly-- Left Hand Menu: Recommended Reads; Right Hand Menu: Genre Outlines. Enter author or title and look for “Author Read Alike” or “Feature Articles” tabs.

Kent District Public Library’s What’s Next Database: http://ww2.kdl.org/libcat/WhatsNextNEW.asp

Easy to retrieve and print lists of books in series order. Makes patrons happy. Brings them back!

Gnooks: http://www.gnooks.com/

When you are desperate…distract them.

RA for ALL: http://raforall.blogspot.com

My blog which talks about all things Readers’ Advisory.

So this is the super quick version of what we have spent all semester talking about. I also go out to libraries and teach this extremely basic "RA for All" class, so contact me if you are interested in having me come to you.