Public Librarians discussion
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Alexis
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 11:24AM)
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Jun 27, 2007 06:35AM
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Do you have a commute to work? Lots of teen books are on audio. I get a lot of my teen and j fiction "reading" done in the car. I really think it's important to get familiar with the books that the teens in your library like. I'm reading a lot more "urban fiction" now, because that's what my teens like. My last library had a lot of Christian fiction, chick lit, and long epic fantasy books.
I hope it's okay if an adult services librarian chimes in, but this initial positing made me think of a question. Do librarians have to read most of the books they suggest to provide good service or reader's advisory? I noticed a difference in the group that a librarian serves. Most Adult Librarians read some of the best sellers, but do not attempt them all, while the YA and Children's librarians read a ton of their selections.I think if a librarian is writing reviews for work or other resources they have to read the book in question. That also applies for if a librarian is doing a bookclub they have to read the book for the event. But, on a daily basis, at least as an Adult librarian, the queries very so much from genre to genre I think it would be very hard to be up on everything. But with all the resources availible in print and online, I think one can put the right book in the hand of a customer. In library school they said reader advisory should be based on the customer tastes not the librarian. At the same time when I do it giving a customer 3 to 6 suggested books, they usually take they one i said I read.
So I think reader's advisory is a talent with multiple ways to go about doing it with success.
I'd recommend Twilight and any of the sequels.
I really try to buy books based on reviews, so I feel like I can at least direct people in the right direction. However, today I had someone request a "good story without any sex or violence." Um, that eliminated most of my personal reading :) It's hard to NOT recommend books I personally like, which is why I try so hard to know the jist of the review, at least. I do read the books for my bookgroup, but it really takes the pleasure out of reading for me and feels like an assignment. I had post-its all over the place for my last one.
I'm trying to perfect the art of the 15 or 30-minute "read." I start the book, skim through the middle, and read the end. Often I grab books off the processing cart and run through them at lunch.I'm sure this is sacrilege to many, but what else can you do? There's a lot of stuff that I'll never get to read, and I get tired of having nothing in my brain about them but what I read in a review. For me it's better to have at least a small understanding of the author's style and book's content than none at all.
And I'll admit, this works esp well for books that I don't find personally appealing, like horror.
There are so many books that I'd like to read, and I play catch-up a lot since I'm relatively new librarian. I generally read what appeals to me and try to keep up on what's new as well as the main award winners. I rely on my co-workers and NoveList to get the inside scoop on retrospective lit, as well as bibs that we have created. A really cool thing that we do at work is that we have a cart of new books that have been processed by tech that we can peruse at the desk. It's really helpful to see the new titles and get an idea of what's popular (the cart also consists of a 'hot' shelf of holds that we speed thru in order to get to the patron ASAP.)
