Booklist did a survey about RA Tools early in 2026 and they just released the raw data. They got 592 respondents! Thank you to everyone who did the survey. The results are fascinating. Below I have the introduction and link to it all.
Please click here or on the link below, but I was so excited to see what the results were. Of course, even more exciting is the analysis to come, but in the mean time, this raw data holds a lot of information.
And before I send you there, toward the bottom there is someone who left a comment which said that they don't use resources for RA, and you my dear colleague, I am giving you so much side eye that my face hurts. (This is also vague to make you scroll through and read everything to find it)
One of my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service is literally to USE RESOURCES. You are not the RA superstar you think you are anonymous person. And I am sure you don't read this blog because-- IT IS A RESOURCE.
Anyway, I will be spending a lot of time looking through this raw data in the next few weeks for sure.
Okay here is the link and the introduction below.
What Makes a Readers’ Advisory Tool Useful? The Results of Our RA Survey.
By Susan Maguire.
FEATURE. First published May 14, 2026 (Booklist Online).In early 2026, Booklist sent out a readers’ advisory (RA) survey to our readers, users, and readers’-advisory library staff across the country.
The purpose of this survey was to find out what makes a RA tool useful to those who practice the craft. To that end, and to save respondents’ time, we asked closed-end questions that we hoped would illustrate readers’ advisors’ behavior and illuminate their needs and wants when helping patrons.
We were aiming for around 300 respondents and got nearly twice that (592 people answered the survey call). Below is a breakdown of the results of the survey by question. Look for analysis of the results in a future issue of Corner Shelf.
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