RA for All: Readers Advisory belongs in every library, no matter its budget. The implementation of this vital service is the responsibility of every staff member-- from pages to directors, from those behind the scenes to the ones on the front lines. This program will remove the mystery behind providing great RA service. Using her “Ten Rules of Basic RA Service” as a guide, Becky Spratford will use your own love of your favorite books to show you how to help any patron find their next great read. It's not as hard as you think. But more importantly, you will learn why a staff that can harness the power of sharing a great read will become a stronger team and improve service to all patrons, especially the hardest to reach ones.
OR if you prefer soundbites....
Flip Your Focus and Think Like A ReaderHere are the three statements that set the stage.....
Becky's Ten Rules of Basic RA Service
- Strike "Guilty Pleasures" from you vocabulary
- Longer post about books you "should" read
- Set a better example of the first rule of RA
2. Suggest don’t Recommend
- Library anxiety is real; including your own TBR Anxiety
- This means you can talk about anything, even things you have not read!
- This rule comes with an explanatory example used in the training program
- Why you like the book NOT what happens
- Work to get down to "three words"
5. Read ABOUT books widely, so you can suggest widely
- Reading ABOUT books is MORE important than reading a book.
- Becky’s newsletters of choice: LJ, PW, Shelf Awareness, Book Riot
- Make sure you are reading with an equity, diversity, and inclusion lens as well as a diversity of genres
6. Prioritize Sharing
- RA Service is about CONVERSATIONS not transactions
- And conversation require that you ask AND listen
- Beginner: Use the words of others
- Intermediate: Conversation Starters
- Model the behavior you want to see; don’t wait for them to ask
- Always: prioritize sharing items people would not find without your help (especially by marginalized voices)
7. Use resources
- Think of your job as “leisure reading reference."
- Using awards lists as a RA Tool
- For my list of my favorite genre specific resources, click here
- See below for my 5 resources you cannot live without
8. Working together is your MOST valuable resource
- Goodreads is easiest [post with example]
- Stock Your RA Pantry”
- Working together across the entire library
- Champaign [IL] Public Library’s Stellar Example
9. Bridge the physical-virtual divide
- Opposite sides of the same coin
- Readers do not see the difference anymore; neither should we
- Build bridges with QR codes
- Make all of your displays interactive
10. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
- Reading Glasses podcast and "wheelhouses"
- Real readers, real questions, real suggestions
- Lurk or targeted search
- Longer post by me about this
- Reader profile exercise
Ten Rules in 5 Words: Read, Reflect, Record, Share, Repeat
The 5 Resources You Cannot Live Without
GoodReads: Plot summaries [don’t waste your time recording plot; it is right there for you], author pages, possible readalikes, but more importantly, customer comments! 5 star and 2 star reviews are the most helpful. 2 star reviews in particular will tip you off to limiters and glaring appeal issues. [FYI- 1 star reviews are generally too mean and petty to be useful]. Treat customer reviews as patrons. Post your 3 words for each book to preserve the major appeal factors. Also use as a platform to practice writing reviews and/or helping anonymous patrons.
- Here is a post [by me] about how to use Goodreads during the RA Conversation to get more individualized results
Book Riot: Categories for major genres/formats, lots of lists, trending genres covered, very responsive to changes in the tastes and media, required to have a certain percentage of “diverse” voices, conversational style that can be used to share titles with patrons immediately
Author Recommendations of Other Authors: least “professional” of my general RA resources, is also one of the most effective, pointing a patron to the authors and titles that their own favorite authors love. Patrons find great joy reading these books, even those in a genre outside their normal comfort zone. Stephen King is the perfect example of this phenomenon. King, the best known horror novelist in the world, is famous for turning previously unknown books into bestsellers just by mentioning his affection for said book. But where do you find this information? A few places, including, the author’s Twitter feed, front or back covers of a book, or Fantastic Fiction where at the bottom of each author record there is a section which gathers an author’s “recommendations.” Click here for a longer post about this including links to examples where I have talked about this. Including this post about using the same editor as a similar readalike option.
Gnooks: When you are desperate…distract them.
*If your library does not subscribe to NoveList, I suggest Fantastic Fiction as a replacement [although, talk to me about getting a free NoveList trial because it really is the best.]
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