if you weren't part of the first invitation go-round, please read this because it is important

[karen, future RA queen]

this was deemed too long for the stingy group-description field.

I am setting up a readers’ advisory group on goodreads.com. Readers’ advisory is a service that librarians and some booksellers provide to help people find (mostly) fiction leisure reading based on an individual’s stated preferences. It is like science, for books. The plan is to teach, in a limited fashion, how to be both an efficient RA provider and recipient; to better articulate your needs to an information professional and how to help other people find a readalike or a book that will interest them. My hope is that this group will become one more tool in the RA arsenal: more free than subscription databases, more dynamic than an RA reference book, more community- and discussion-based than a listserv (with more follow-ups). I hope the group will quickly expand into other useful offshoots of RA work like booktalks, displays, lists, but for now, I just want to stick to manageable basics and see where it goes.
However.
This is also part of a school project for me, and because this is grad school, there will be formalities. Just right now, not once the group takes off. Although this is a group I am setting up to be both fun and useful, I will be using the information in an ongoing university research project. You all are not “subjects” so much as “participants”, but since you are “human subjects” by someone’s definition, I need your “informed consent” so there are no misunderstandings. Understand that accepting this group invitation means that your comments and involvement may find their way into a paper, using whatever name or pseudonym you use on here. You are free to leave anytime; this is a no-pressure situation. The group is meant to be fun and useful; this initial formality is just part of the process.
Now I am supposed to tell you about risks.
RISKS: I do not foresee any risks to you, the participants. Sometimes on goodreads.com, people take advantage of the relative anonymity of the internet to be mean. I am going to try to see that this doesn’t happen. It is a public group, but I do have blocking-power if someone starts getting consistently nasty.
BENEFITS: my hope is to 1) teach some basic RA skills, 2) make some people happy by helping them find books they will enjoy, 3) provide an archive of readalikes that can be accessed by people out there in the field, and 4) determine the sustainability of a group like this, which will hopefully remain useful and not devolve into chatter and socializing. WE HAVE LOFTY IDEALS!!

PERSON TO CONTACT WITH CONCERNS: please contact me via PM if you have any problems in the group and I will address them immediately.
RIGHT TO CONFIDENTIALITY: Well, you are on the Internet, after all. This is the official goodreads.com privacy policy: http://www.goodreads.com/about/privacy . As for me, if I am going to use any direct quotes, I will alert you first, as a courtesy, but my goal is to make a qualitative assessment of the group’s usefulness, not to make anyone look stupid. So, if I do use something of yours, it is the equivalent of a gold star.
One final note: Authors. I understand this is a ripe and juicy place for you to plug your book. Resist it. Seriously. Unless your book is exactly what someone is describing (and it probably isn’t, if you are being honest), please exercise discretion and don’t use this as a free advertising group. I really appreciate it.
Does this sound like something you would like to be a part of?? Helping people find the perfect book for them and in turn, being helped?? Access to lists of books with similar themes and moods?? A sub-community within a larger booknerd community where books will be discussed in terms of structure and in somewhat more clinical terms than “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it?” Try it out – see if you like it, you can leave anytime, but I would really like some serious-minded people to clamber aboard for some good bookwork. Thank you for reading this overlong caveat.

[Dave]

That's a lot of capitalization. Who wrote it?

[karen, future RA queen]

ppbblltt. this is serious business! it exhausted me.

[Marissa]

Your 709 project will be made of win!

P.S: The way your wrote your informed consent for this has been extremely helpful for me! I'm currently working on mine and this is a great/simple guide (mine's like 3 pages -_-)

So glad I can be a part of this!

[karen, future RA queen]

yeah, i am just starting this now - i don't have 709 until fall, but i am doing this as an independent study to get started.

[Marissa]

Oh wow! That's great (and very impressive!)^_^

[karen, future RA queen]

fingers crossed. i have a lot to learn about the interwebz for the lit review. this is the fun part here!

[Kathrina]

This is very exciting! Thanks for including me! (Maybe I can steal good ideas for my school...)

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

I love this! ceridwen has invited me, and I'm honoured to join. Karen, you and I are not official friends yet -- mostly because you intimidate with with your wit and wisdom. But I am sending you a FR now, as it seems only fitting.

[Michelle]

Karen, thank you for inviting me to the group. You have made book recommendations to me in the past, and I have enjoyed everything you suggested.

[Kathrina]

Aagh. This is working too well. My to-read list is suddenly ridiculously long.

[carriedaway]

Excellent explanation and caveats Karen!

I guess I'm going to have to come up with better description than "interesting".

[Rebecca]

Hi Karen, Thanks for the invite - I'm honored! Your group and your project sound very interesting and I'd like to hang around for awhile and see what it's like. Who knows, I might even have something to contribute :)

[CR]

You had me at "booknerd."

This is very exciting for someone who long ago thought she should be a librarian for real.

[Dawn]

Thanks for the invite to RA, Karen! I love to help readers find a particular read as others have helped me. And don't worry, I won't be a brat...I don't like to say bad things about books, I simply highlight the good points because it is simply my opinion. Possibly a slightly educated opinion!

[Lizzie]

Thanks for the invite. I"m somebody else who long ago thought she should be a library, so this sounds like fun.

[Stephen]

Thank you for the invitation, Karen. I appreciate it.

[Lori]

Thanks for the invite, Karen!

[Melissa]

Thanks for the invite, Karen! Also, I'm more than happy to be a participant (as someone who works in clinical hospital epidemiology, I can honestly say "I've been there" with IRB and consent documents).

[Susan]

Thank you for the invitation Karen, and good luck with your project.

[Jenny]

Long time since I've participated in any school project :) Good luck. Have fun.

[Tally]

Hey girl love to helo a fellow grad student! Just about to start the last half of my develoment research project...I also grappled with the informed consent letter. If you need me to do anything speficic for data gathering purposes just let me know! I will be as active as I can :)

[karen, future RA queen]

thanks!! for now i just need people to have fun and be bookish!!

[K.D.]

Thanks for the invite, Karen!

[K.F.]

Thanks for inviting me. Sounds like a bit of fun Karen and a great project.

[Milly]

Thanks for the invite K. This is very helpful. I love learning even if my main purpose for reading lately has been of leisure and stress relief. Here's to being a smarter reader!

[Scott]

Thanks for the invite. I look forward to learning more about RA and meeting others readers in the group.

[Anne]

Thanks for the invite--sounds like fun!

[Linda]

Thank you for the invite! So glad to be a part of this!

[Kaethe]

thanks for the invite. I hope this will prove to be a really helpful tool.

[Anne]

I'm not sure how this works exactly but happy to be in on it. Let me know how I can assist?

[karen, future RA queen]

it's easy! if you have a kind of book you are looking for, post a query in the "so ask already" folder, or see if you can help anyone else looking for a book. or feel free to PM me if you have any further questions!

[Anne]

Thanks Karen. I'll take some time to explore it a bit in August, after my novel is turned in--now, it's crunch time!

[karen, future RA queen]

good luck!

[Anne]

Thanks--I'll need it :)

[Jenn]

I like booknerd clubs. Thanks for the invite! Time to take some of my "lunchtime" at work and scope out the posts.

[peg]

Okay,Karen,count me in! This sounds like a great idea. I'm looking forward to these recommendations :-)

[Beth]

What library school do you go to? I went to OU - mainly because I live in Oklahoma and live in Norman, so it was convenient. Not convinced I had the most educating experience, though...

[karen, future RA queen]

queens college - woot! there aren't a lot of options for library school here

[Mij]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Unfortunately, I do not know what "PM" means. That is how I am supposed to contact you. All I want to do is edit my membership in this group regarding a daily or weekly email update.

Can anyone help? The "edit membership" thing is supposed to be on the right hand side of the Reader Advisory page. Cannot locate it.

[Mij]

Oops. Nevermind. Just found what I was looking for, but it's on the left side of the page now.

[karen, future RA queen]

(it just means "private message" - inter-goodreads email)

[Collene]

karen wrote: "queens college - woot! there aren't a lot of options for library school here"

I attended some conferences lead by a woman who use to teach Readers Advisory at Queens College. She was awesome.

[karen, future RA queen]

was it dr chelton? because if so, you are correct. she is awesome.

[Denise]

Thanks for the invite! Just to let you know, I probably will break the rule on self-promotion. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to read my book? But I promise I will not be shameful unless somebody specifically asks for an upmarket novel with a strong lesbian character, a blue-collar family man, and a Bulgarian Holocaust survivor in it. Deal?

[karen, future RA queen]

clever girl.

[Suna]

Dear Karen,

Thank you for inviting me to this group even though I am shamefully tardy in joining, pretty much after the fact of you being successful in your project. Nice one.

I still did join however, because I think it's a brilliant initiative in general and I am hoping this group's bookshelf will consist of worlds yet to discover for me personally.
I have set off in my little boat with no map.

[karen, future RA queen]

welcome!!!

[karen, future RA queen]

it is readers' advisory. just the process of assisting a reader in finding the perfect book through tested methods. it works!

[karen, future RA queen]

here, start a topic in this folder,

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

so people will see it. explain in detail what you are looking for, so people can make accurate suggestions. if you have any questions, there is a sort-of-tutorial to help you in formatting your question for best results.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...