We all have our favorite resources to find reading lists for a variety of readers and because they work for our needs (as suggestions, conversation starters, or display ideas), we often stick with the same tried and true resources. While it is great to have go-to resources that we can count on to serve our RA needs, we need to remember to get out of our own comfort zones. When you refresh the resources you consult, you refresh the RA Service you provide.
This is exactly why as part of my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service I always remind you to ask your readers what their favorite resources are to find their own good reads (besides the library). I wrote about all of the reasons to ask this question in this post from a few years ago, but today I want to focus on the fact that asking others -- our readers and fellow staff-- where they find their reading suggestions opens us up to new or forgotten resources.
And reading lists are one of our most effective tools because they are centered on a topic and then give a few suggestions- normally with an annotation as to why they are on the list in the first place. This gives the readers choices within a list that catches their attention.
But you need to not always use the same resources to find your lists if you want your list topics, authors of said lists, and resulting suggestions to be fresh.
So, to inspire you to shake up what resources you consult for these lists, I will give you a few of the ones I use but don't post about often enough.
- Reading Lists via Electric Lit-- all written by different people, eclectic.
- I write about The Lineup because I write for them, but they publish many lists that cover a variety of genres. A Love So True; The Archive; Murder & Mayhem; The Portalist
- Esquire's Book Coverage-- very list heavy
- People's Book Coverage-- same
- Book Browse index of reading lists: some (but not all) require logging in
- LongReads reading lists archive
- Five Books
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