Last Chance to Signup for Keeping Up With Books: Year in 2024 Review-- Happening Tomorrow!

Starting the week off here with a reminder that one of the best programs I put together every year is my annual Year in Review program. I have been doing this for various organizations for a decade now. This is my second year presenting this program in collaboration with NoveList and my friend Yaika Sabat. 

I am not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the best programs I put together. While I am always updating my standard programs and am sure to refresh the information and advice every time I give them, this program is special.

Why?

Because it is the only time of year that I dive into the data from all angles. I assess bestsellers, "best" critics picks, and library checkouts all at once. It was a labor of love for many years, but having a partner like Sabat to work with has been invigorating. 

As much as I loved last year's program, this one is even better. We have been looking at lists, data, and think pieces since October. We were including reports until late last week. We look at all of the individual pieces to paint you an overall picture with a focus on the real world applications of it all. Both of us are pros at putting together and presenting training programs, so trust me when I say, this is one of the best we have done. 

Below is the post from a couple of weeks ago when NoveList announced the class and opened registration. I have been assured that you can sign up until right before the event (tomorrow at 2 pm Eastern), but why not click through and do it today so you don't forget. Last count we had over 700 of our closest friends joining us.

But before tomorrow, I need to share some critical information about the actual viewing of this program and the limitations to the FREE version. First, I need to be up front about this. I do not work for NoveList. I am being paid to work with Sabat on this as a freelancer. That being said, I have no say in how this information is decimated beyond only agreeing to do it if the live viewing was going to be free. 

If your library has a subscription to Learn with NoveList, you can ignore everything I am saying below. Those with a subscription have unlimited access to the recording, handouts, slides, even last year's program for comparative purposes.

Everyone else, the following information is very important.  

You much watch the class LIVE in order to be sent the slides and the handout. 

Now, as someone who worked 15 years at a public service desk, I know that for many of you, taking the time to watch this live may not be an option. You have to be on the desk at this time and there is no way around it. Even some of you, reading this today, who think they are all good and have scheduled time to watch this off desk-- someone will call in or something will change tomorrow, and you will find yourself unable to watch. I get this. I have lived this. And I have advocated for you, but I can only do so much as an outsider.

I wish I had more control over your access to a recording, but since I do not here is my advice because even if all you get are the slides and the handout, I promise you, they are worth your time: signup and just make sure you have the program running on a computer (hopefully in front of you) with the sound off. But even if it is running in a back office, as long as a computer is running it through the link you are sent, you will be emailed the slides and handouts.

To combat this inconvenience, I have also posted about many of the things I will be saying during the presentation. Those posts are in the hand out, but they are also here on the blog. 

Reach out to me if you have questions. I hope to "see" you there. Here is the post from January 23rd with more details and the signup link.

As I have mentioned a few times here on the blog, I have been working on the 2024 Year in Review with Yaika Sabat to present for NoveList.

Well the FREE webinar is now up for you to register. We cannot wait to see you there. Details and direct registration link below. There is no need for your library to be subscribed to NoveList to signup. All are welcome.  However, please note, you can only view this live for free. Only those with  a Learn With NoveList subscription will have access to the recording. Anyone can purchase just this class though.

We just did a full run through yesterday and I think it is very good. You will want to join us for sure! Okay, now the details...

Keeping Up with Books: 2024 Year in Review

Do you feel like there are too many books and not enough time to stay up to date? Trying to stay "in the know" is overwhelming with countless books across genres. That's why we're offering the webinar Keeping Up with Books: 2024 Year in Review. If you feel like the year flew by, you barely got a chance to look at everything published, can't get enough of the "Best Of" lists, or want to know how to use these trends to provide better service to your readers, this webinar is for you.

Join Becky Spratford, Readers' Advisory Specialist at RA for All, and Yaika Sabat, Manager of Reader Services at NoveList, as they discuss:

• Library and publishing news and trends
• 2024 bestsellers and "Best Of" lists
• The books and authors library patrons searched for and checked out
• How to use this information to help readers
• What you can expect in 2025 

The webinar takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at 2 p.m. EST.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Where is All the Book Data?

I want to talk about data today. Libraries have gotten very good at using data to help us make decisions and craft our collections. So many of us now rely on it.

It is getting to be so important that systems, like mine, RAILS, have hired entire Data Analysis Teams. You can click here to see what RAILS has done to make data analysis easier for our member libraries. 

I began in public libraries at the start of this century, which means I have watched as the card catalog was replaced by OPAC systems. And I have seen the online catalogs not only take over, but improve, both in terms of the user experience and in how easy they are for us to use to collect and sort data. 

As a trustee I have also seen how useful data can be to communicate with our citizens as well. As organizations funded by public funds, we have been proactive in providing as much open access to our data as possible. In fact, public libraries are going out of our way to get more data out there so that the tax payers can more easily understand what a great deal the public library actually is.

But book publishing, is the exact opposite. As we all expect more access to transparent data, the publishing world has become less open. Even how a "best seller" is calculated has become a trade secret. 

But with libraries leading the way by publicizing their checkout data and with the success of the Panorama Project* which provides data-informed insight on public libraries and their impact on book discovery, author brand development, and sales, the public and professional outcry for more transparent book data is growing. Libraries have been successful at showing our patrons how our checkouts save them money AND at showing publishers how we help make them more money.

And yet, the publishers are digging in for more and more secrecy.

Thankfully, the Post45 Data Collective has stepped up. Click here to read a report from Public Books. Here is a pull out quote that opens the article.

Culture industries increasingly use our data to sell us their products. It’s time to use their data to study them. To that end, we created the Post45 Data Collective, an open access site that peer reviews and publishes literary and cultural data. This a partnership between the Data Collective and Public Books, a series called Hacking the Culture Industries, brings you data-driven essays that change how we understand audiobooks, bestselling books, streaming music, video games, influential literary institutions such as the New York Timesand the New Yorker, and more. Together, they show a new way of understanding how culture is made, and how we can make it better. 

—Laura McGrath and Dan Sinykin

Everyone in the book world needs more accurate, open, and real time book data. In a world where every other industry is getting more transparent, the lack of transparency in publishing is troubling.

I am proud of how libraries have led on this issues [the article even mentions that], but I hope publishers follow our lead.

Please click though and learn more about this issue from the Public Books report. 

*Full disclosure, I was involved with Panorama Project when it first began. Click here for all of my posts about it.

Book Riot Looks At Readers vs Non-Readers And Life Satisfaction

Today I want to give a shoutout to an article Kelly Jensen did for Book Riot earlier this month. From the article itself:

READERS ARE MORE SATISFIED WITH THEIR LIVES THAN NONREADERS, NEW STUDY SUGGESTS

KELLY JENSEN 

11-06-19 

"Studies have shown that readers are more empathetic and that it can improve cognitive function. A new study by SuperSummary, an online resource that provides in-depth study guides, suggests reading has yet another benefit: self-identified readers are more satisfied with their lives than those who don’t identify as readers."

Jensen took the data from this survey and really dug into it, analyzing why the results came out the way they did. I really appreciated the time she took to look at possible causes and effects rather than just spit back out the data at us.

For example, she really looks at the financial side of being a reader. Readers are not inherently happier and healthier because they read, rather readers tend to be more financially stable and thus have an easier time getting access to better food. Again from her article:

"The idea that readers have better eating habits because they hold themselves in higher esteem than nonreaders fails to account for the fact that eating healthy is socially constructed and a privilege to those with time and resources."

This is just one example of what Jensen is bringing to the table. She provides insight into many of the outcomes reported by SuperSummary.

Thank you Jensen for taking the time to really dig into this study and think about it from all angles, not just the reader vs nonreader obvious point of view. We need more thoughtful, holistic looks at the massive amounts of data we currently find at our fingertips. It takes time and effort, but, as I found with Jensen's article, it is totally worth it.

There are a lot of implications for our work with readers-- at all age levels-- here. Please take some time to click through and read the entire piece. There is a zero percent chance that you won't find something to help you help your patrons, and help them immediately.

Library Journal Takes a Deep Dive Into Generational Reading Habits: Part 2

As I wrote about for the first part of this series here:

But now, here comes Library Journal to the rescue. They have begun a series of deep dives into generational reading behavior, with a particular focus on library usage. I am very excited to pass on this first report here and below. I have also started a new tag, "generational reading behavior," in order to make pulling up the entire series easier in the future. 

Yes, knowing out local populations is key to the best public library service, but understanding broader trends and looking at a larger picture is also important. This report is fascinating and the charts are very useful. This is a series that every single one of my readers can and will use.

I will be tagging every post in this series "generational reading behavior" so that you can pull them all up with one click when the series is complete.

Part 2 is up [it has been for a bit, I just forgot to post it] and it is on Gen Z.

Click here or below to read this second installment.

Click here to access the full report

Library Journal Takes A Deep Dive Into Generational Reading Habits: Part 1

We all know our patrons and their habits because we serve them day in and day out. We have anecdotal evidence of how certain segments of our patrons behave and use the library. We even go so far as to gather specific data about our populations, their library usage, and their habits especially when we are doing strategic planning. This information helps us to craft our collections, plan programming, and line up our service priorities.

However, none of us, even me, someone who travels the entire country visiting libraries, have a good sense of what readers are like across the country, especially when we talk about behaviors based on their ages.  We have a little data that was collected by the Pew Foundation, but those specific studies were too long ago at this point to be useful today.

But now, here comes Library Journal to the rescue. They have begun a series of deep dives into generational reading behavior, with a particular focus on library usage. I am very excited to pass on this first report here and below. I have also started a new tag, "generational reading behavior," in order to make pulling up the entire series easier in the future.

Yes, knowing out local populations is key to the best public library service, but understanding broader trends and looking at a larger picture is also important. This report is fascinating and the charts are very useful. This is a series that every single one of my readers can and will use.

It all begins with this report on Millennials.

Click here to access the full report,
includes useful charts

Booklist Webinar Catch Up

This week I am writing an afterword to a book and planning a webinar [more on this specifically on Thursday]. While I am working on my laptop, I am using the desktop to catch up on the webinars I have missed. Since I think they are important enough for me to watch, I figured I should probably also pass them on to you.

But I should warn you, I am pretty far behind. I don’t want to overwhelm you, however, I do have a lot of being in front of my computer time this week and my goal is to get through everything by Friday.

And that’s good advice by the way. When you get behind on webinars, don’t simply get overwhelmed and never watch them. Rather, gather them up in one place [as I have just done for you], and slowly make your way through them as you have time.  I have been known to cook dinner with a webinar running on my laptop. Hey, whatever it takes.

These are the Booklist Online webinars I have to catch up on [full archive is here]. I also know there is 1 live event [all archived here] and an audiobooks webinar that are not not posted yet, but once I catch up on these I can circle back and find more. They are always useful, never too long, and constantly happening, so you can always learn something new.

Let Data Do the Talking (August 9, 2018) When your library has accurate, up-to-date data about who is and isn’t using your library, there’s no limit to the insights you can gather and actions you can take. Join us, and Booklist, on August 9 at 2 p.m. (EST) for a free webinar where panelists will discuss how they have taken actionable steps to target new populations, create new programs, advance their value to the community, allocate resources more efficiently, and measure the results. Whether strategic or day-to-day, Analytics On Demand can help you make more informed decisions and increase ROI by blending demographics with existing data from your library’s ILS and other electronic systems. Start letting data do the talking, and register today for this free 60-minute webcast at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, August 9.

Adult Books on the Horizon: Fall and Winter Announcements (August 7, 2018) Be ready for readers seeking the best of new adult titles as autumn slips in and winter coziness beckons by learning about enticing and varied forthcoming books from Macmillan, Workman, Triumph, HarperCollins, and Inkshares.  Moderated by Adult Books editor Donna Seaman.

Summer Book Club Bash (July 31, 2018) No time like the summer for planning your fall book clubs—and for starting to think about your own next unputdownable read! Do both when you attend this free, hour-long webinar. Here, representatives from Bloomsbury Publishing, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House Adult, Sourcebooks, and W. W. Norton & Company will showcase forthcoming adult titles destined for book group super-stardom. Donna Seaman, adult books editor, Booklist, will moderate.

Exploring New Horizons in SF/Fantasy and Horror (July 17, 2018) Discover what’s hot in sf/fantasy and horror, where fiction is still stranger than the truth. In this free, one-hour webinar, representatives from John Joseph Adams Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Skyhorse Publishing will present fall and winter 2018 titles, perfect for ages 14 through adult. In addition, Booklist’s Susan Maguire will talk to horror author (and Booklist Books for Youth Editor) Daniel Kraus about crossover horror that scares both teens and adults, and to debut science fiction author Abbey Mei Otis (Alien Virus Love Disaster, out in August) about trends in the genre.

Small-Press Speed-Dating Extravaganza! (July 10, 2018) Meet the small press of your dreams during this scintillating hour of succinct presentations by eight exciting indie presses in the U.S., UK, and Canada. Donna Seaman, Booklist’s editor for Adult Books and a big fan of small-press books, will run the show. Here’s the line-up: Dundurn, ECW, F+W, Flame Tree Press, Hippocrene, KiCam, Nimbus, and Plough. Join us and learn about forthcoming titles from dynamic small presses that will bring rich variety and fresh energy to your collections.

NoveList Conversations: Informed Browsing Webinar Archive

Click here to go straight to the webinar

Today, I am simply passing on this webinar which was live yesterday. Every single one of you, whether you use NoveList or not, needs to watch this. Why? Because it is the next step for what we do. It's the Netflix-afication of identifying leisure materials.

You will learn more about proving RA Service in 2017 by watching this today than from anything I could write.

Besides the links to the webinar and slides, there are other resources so please explore. 

Webcast: Informed Browsing: Explore Your Library’s Collection with Metadata

Want to engage your readers -- wherever they are? Need tools to explore the depths of your collection, and to offer that almost-forgotten book to the reader who will love it? Hear about how the Reader Services Department of New York Public Library makes use of readers’ advisory-focused metadata to discover books in exciting new ways, with a few behind-the-scenes stories about the supporting work performed by librarians at NoveList.

This webcast is archived. Click here to watch the recording. 

Resources from the presentation:

• Slides
• Certificate of attendance

References:

• How Netflix reverse engineered Hollywood 
• Every book it’s reader: after the renaissance
• New York Public Library Recommends Website
• New York Public Library Facebook Live
• New York Public Library Recommends on Twitter
• The case for informed browsing
• Browsing with metadata
• NoveList The Secret Language of Books: A Guide to Appeal
• NoveList A Guide to Genres and Book Discovery

Presenters

   

Lynn Lobash is the manager of Readers Services at New York Public Library. She spends her days recommending books to all kinds of readers. She earned her MLIS from Rutgers University in 1999 and has been with the library for 14 years. When she is not reading and recommending books, she is watching her children do something amazing (look mom!) or petting her needy cats.

Victoria Caplinger leads the team of librarians in NoveList’s Book Discovery department, which creates readers’ advisory content in many forms. After finishing a four-year tour of duty on ALA’s Notable Books Council, she is now indulging heavily in genre reading, dividing her time between science fiction and horror, with the odd multi-volume fantasy series thrown in for good measure. Petting needy cats goes without saying.

LJ's Annual Collection Development Survey-- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Participate

I am not going to waste much time introducing this because it is so important. Please be a part of this vital survey so that all of us can get the fullest picture of what our patrons want.

If you are not the person in your organization who is the best one to complete the survey, please forward the link to them.

I am very rarely this adamant about something you HAVE to do, so please know I am serious out this.

Thank you in advance.

Here is the direct link to the press release with all of the live links and details you need:

Dear Collection Development Librarian,

Every year LJ tracks public library purchasing and circulation trends by format, genre and subject and our Prepub Alert editor, Barbara Hoffert, distills the results into a compelling feature. Please help Barbara uncover the latest trends by answering LJ’s 2016 materials survey.

Please click on the link below to download and fill out the survey. As a thank you for participating, we're offering a chance to win your choice of a $300 Apple Store gift card or a $300 American Express gift card! 

http://fluidsurveys.com/s/2016-LJ-materials-survey/ 

Please respond by November 7.

You may estimate spending and circulation percentages, where applicable. If it’s easier for you, fill in the actual numbers, and we will calculate the percentages. Questions about the survey or deadline extension requests can be emailed to Laura Girmscheid at lgirmscheid@mediasourceinc.com.

This survey is recommended for individuals who are involved in the selection of books and/or media for public libraries. If this does not describe you, feel free to forward this invite to someone better able to answer for your library.

Survey results will be published in LJ’s February 15, 2017 Spring Announcements issue. Thank you in advance for taking part in this major research effort!

Sincerely,

Rebecca T. Miller, Editorial Director 

Library Journal

To download a working copy of the survey, please click here. Don’t forget to click on the above survey link when you are ready to record your answers online.

Contest rules

ALA Conference Report: RUSA CODES Research and Trends

Each year the RA Research and Trend Committee of RUSA is charged with keeping up with cutting edge research and trends [hence the name] and they get a spot each year at ALA annual to present what they have been doing so that we can all stay as up to date as possible. They call this presentation the RA Forum.

For a full description of their charge and the committee list, click here.

This year, the presenters representing the committee were Cindy Orr, Barry Trott, and Michael Santangelo. Their talk was entitled, Harnessing Research and Data to Advance Reader’s Advisory Services:

The RA Forum explores the cutting edge of RA practices and services. This year's forum consists of three short presentations on data and research: Barry Trott - "Using Data You Already Have to Analyze Your RA Services," Michael P. Santangelo - "Cutting Edge Research on Reading that RAs Should Know About," and Cindy Orr - "How Big Data Is Changing What We Know About the Literary Landscape."

Thanks to coordination by Cindy, I have all three presenter’s slides available for you here today.

You can use the links I added to the description above to pull up individual presentations, or this link to pull up a folder with all three.

Also, to put it in a little more context, you can click here to read the American Libraries Online article which recapped the main points of their presentations.

Thanks to all three presenters for being willing to share this information with everyone.  Please feel free to contact any of them if you have further questions. Also consider volunteering for one of the many RUSA CODES committees so that you can help shape the future of RA Service. For information on how to get involved, click here.

Data You Can Use: Why People Buy Books

One of the newer topics I have become obsessed with is using data to improve service to readers. In fact, I have started a new blog tag, “data” to track this topic and my feelings about it here on the blog. I am also in the process of creating a few new presentations that incorporate my thoughts on how data can be best used to improve our library service to leisure readers.

While you can look for those thoughts here on the blog in the coming months, today, I want to share what I learned when thanks to today’s  RA Rundown, I was pointed to this article, “8 Reasons Why People Buy Books."

From the article:

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been reporting on observations that Jellybooks has made about readers after collecting data about when, where and how they read. Do readers rant or rave about books? Do they read fast or slow? Do they even finish the books they begin reading? 

One of the more interesting phenomena we observed was that there are books that sell well but are not read, or at least they appear not to be read by many of the people who buy or otherwise acquire them. Our first reaction was to ask, “Can we trust the data?” But we then came to the conclusion that, indeed, we could (more on data integrity, sampling bias and statistical validity in a future post). Having convinced ourselves that the observations were genuine, we started wondering as to the reasons and started thinking in more depth about the question, “What motivations do readers have for buying specific books?” Below, we outline some of our thinking on this topic, which is also a manifesto of sorts for future research. 

1. Entertain Me Now2. Entertain Me in the Future3. Inform Me4. Obligation to Read5. Social Pressure to Read6. Makes Me Look Smart7. Need for a Gift8. Impulse

The article then goes on to look more closely at reach type of reader. Go and read it for yourself and then come back because I have a few thoughts about how to make this article work for you-- the library worker who helps leisure readers:

1.  Ignore the fact that this is about why people BUY books. Look at this list with a wider lens and think about why people read in general. There are some observations, specifically about what readers expect to take away from the reading experience that will help you to better serve your leisure readers.
2. You can turn most of these 8 reasons into actual RA Conversation topics.  For example, think about all of the readers who come into your library to read the book everyone is reading-- aka-- social pressure to read. Is the person you are helping at the library there to get A book or any book? The answer makes a difference in how you will help that person. 
3. We can take data about why people read the books they do and use it to craft better passive RA service such as displays or our online promotions.  This is a topic I am currently developing into a program. I will have more to share in June including concrete examples of how to use data to improved service to readers.
4. We need to be paying a lot more attention to the work Jellybooks is doing for us. The publishers are giving them ebooks that they then turn around and offer to readers for FREE in exchange for the consent to collection data on HOW the readers are reading. This is information we can use in libraries too.
5. The founder of Jellybooks, Andrew Rhomberg has written and will continue to write more articles on the topic of data, readers, and publishing, and I think we should both be reading his past works and keeping an eye out for new information too.

Again, this is an ongoing conversation and one of RA biggest trends right now-- using data to improve service to leisure readers. Think of today’s post as the beginning of our conversation.

My goal is to make the idea of front line, public service desk using data less scary. Goodness knows the idea scared me at first. But data is no longer just for administrators and tech services.  RA for All embraces the idea that every library worker can help leisure readers-- well let’s explained it to data for all! 

PLA 2016 Planning Tips for Readers' Advisors-- Think Outside the Box, Think UX [NOW WITH SLIDE ACCESS 4.11.16]

The Public Library Association 2016 conference is next week and many people are in the process of making their plans on which programs to attend.  While I am not going to PLA this year, I have been (and presented) before, so I know the joy and excitement of being at a Public Librarians Only conference. Everything is relevant to you. It is equal parts exhilarating and overwhelming.

One way to handle it is to use the "Tag" filter in the official list of programs to whittle it all down to just "Readers' Advisory." That alone gives you a full compliment of useful, engaging and varied programs.

However, I would like to argue for you to think a little outside the box this year. Use the tag-line for this year's conference as your inspiration:

I applaud this because I try to live this mantra every day. As I say in my talks, when I co-created the RA Department at the Berwyn Public Library in 2000 our goal from the start was to not only meet but EXCEED the needs and expectations of our community's leisure readers.  

Trying to "Be Extraordinary" is my personal motto which means that it also drives the content here on the blog.  As I have said before, I try to provide my readers with "next level" RA assistance.  Yes I write reviews and discuss the latest book news, but I am not [nor am I trying to be] the go-to place for those things.  Other people do that much better; Early Word for starters.

Here is an example. One of my current "next level" obsessions is taking a wider lens, outside the box look at RA. Yes I need to focus on helping specific readers, but overall RA is about patron engagement. This has led me to explore the world of User Experience or UX for short.

What is UX? Here is a link to a presentation entitled "Why UX in Libraries is a Thing Now." From that slide show:

I am not the only one who thinks that RA and UX are intimately intertwined. Take a look at this program from the PLA 2016 schedule: 

Steal This UX: Improving Your Collection With Content Strategy and User Testing
Saturday, April 9, 2016, 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Colorado Convention Center, Room 405-407 

Content strategy and user testing are buzzwords from the online realm, but these principles can be just as useful for practitioners of old-school collection development. Tear out some pages from the digital librarian’s playbook and learn how user interviews, evaluative research, A/B testing, and other fast, inexpensive UX techniques can revolutionize your approach to collection management. 

At the end of this session, participants will: 

1: Understand the basic principles of content strategy and user research.
2: Be able to identify myriad ways to put these methods into practice at your library.
3: Learn how to apply specific, scalable UX techniques to collection management. 

The session organizer(s) identified this session as appropriate for:Level 1: People with no previous knowledge of the topic. 

This session will have: Low interaction: single speaker/panel with Q&A at the end of the program 

Track: Invent
Tags: Collections/Tech Services, Collection Development, User Experience (UX)

Presenters
Annabelle Mortensen, Collection Development Supervisor
Skokie Public Library, Skokie, IL
Stephanie Anderson, Head of Reader Services [Her title has changed to Assistant Director for Public Services]
Darien Library, Darien, CT 

Becky’s Note: Here is slide access added to this post on 4.11.16

But if you only use the "Readers' Advisory" tag to filter your PLA Programs, you would not know about this program. I asked Stephanie and Annabelle, who both have RA backgrounds, to explain why a library worker who focuses on serving leisure readers would benefit from this program. Here are their responses [edited by me with their permission]:

Annabelle: This program will help folks discover how UX concepts can help staff across the library, not just those who work with technology. Most of the rest of us are often left out of this training—we just don’t go to the meetings or programs where they’re discussed. (I’m just as guilty of this—in the past I’d only go to RA-track events and publisher book buzzes.) But when you look at RA and collection development through this lens, you begin seeing a number of possible applications to displays, booklists, advisory questionnaires, summer-reading planning, patron-driven acquisition, and more. It’s really about developing a user-centered mindset (which is what RA already is based on) and learning about tools that can help you even more with that process.

Stephanie: I think a lot of people working with collections and RA really want to try new things, but find themselves in a position or a department where they get some resistance to those new things. We are hoping our panel gives them the tools, the language, and the confidence to implement a lot of the cool new ideas they’re going to pick up at the conference.

Thanks guys. See, this is stuff you can use.

I am sure there are other programs that could and will be useful to the library worker who focuses on leisure readers. I am sure there are other tags or filtering methods you could use to identify these programs. I am highlighting this one specifically because I personally know these presenters and have worked with both of them in a professional capacity before, so I am confident in advocating for their program.

But I also want you to use this post as your own personal inspiration if you are attending PLA. Think outside the box and "Be Extraordinary" while you are in Denver. If it means going through the entire program guide to find that perfect program for you and your community's needs, then please, take the time. This is our conference. Public Libraries are the stars here. It maybe overwhelming but it is also a wonderful opportunity.

Also, if you learned something exciting at PLA that you want to share with my audience, don't forget that I am holding an open call for guest posts until 4/22.