RA FOR ALL...THE ROAD SHOW!

I can come to your library, book club meeting, or conference to talk about how to help your readers find their next good read. Click here for more information including RA for All's EDI Statement.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

ARRT Program Today: Whole Collection RA

Although I cannot make it to the Deerfield Public Library today, ARRT is hosting a conversation between 3 great Illinois librarians:


Adult Reading Round Table Presents Whole Collection Readers' Advisory

Thursday, August 22
2-4 pm 

Deerfield Public Library

Panel Discussion with: Rick Roche of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library, Nanette Donohue of the Champaign Public Library and Joyce Saricks, author of Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library

If you are like me and can't make it, Rick has already posted his presentation entitled, The Birders Kit: A Display for Integrated Advisory Service. The concept from Rick's post:
To illustrate how a librarian could help a client with a specific interest get a variety of items in various forms, I have created a slideshow called The Birder's Kit. The aspect ratios for a couple images are a bit distorted, but you can see the slideshow via Google Drive.
Click through and check it out. Rick's list is the perfect example of the power of thinking "whole collection" as we help our patrons.  You can apply his method to any patron's interest.

It is easy for us to get stuck in a rut of offering the same few choices to patrons. We need to remember to think about the breadth of offerings we have at our finger tips.  We are the experts.  We delight and surprise our patrons when we offer whole collection options. They come expecting a book from the immediate are in which you are stationed, so when instead you offer items from everywhere (all areas of the building, online, digital, other libraries, etc...) you become a superhero in their eyes.

If you are new to whole collection thinking, I would suggest beginning by assessing your own interests. Is there a topic or area that you are interested in personally? Start there and make your own list of all of the things you have read and watched in relation to that interest. I bet you will find that when it comes to yourself, you are already thinking whole collection.

See you can do it. Now try it on someone else. And head over to Deerfield this afternoon if you have time (cost: $15).

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