Covering everything from getting to know a library’s materials to marketing and promoting RA, this practical handbook will help you expand services immediately without adding costs or training time.

This book is designed to assist librarians in making connections between all the different media in library collections and advising patrons. Each chapter is organized around a genre, with sections on integrated advisory, characters, plots, themes, and making connections across genres. Each chapter also provides a variety of lists that will help both staff and patrons find materials based on genre interests--P. [4] of cover.

Beginning in the early 1980s, readers' advisory services were a widely discussed topic in North American public libraries. By 2005, almost every public library in the United States and Canada offered some form of readers' advisory service. The services offered have changed significantly, in ways perhaps disadvantageous to adult North American library patrons. This book provides a critical history of readers' advisory philosophy and offers a new perspective on the evolution of the service. The book analyzes the debate that shaped readers' advisory and discusses how the service has assumed its present form. The study follows readers' advisory through its three prominent stages of development, beginning with the period 1870 to 1916, when the service was still a subject of much crucial debate about its meaning and purpose. During the second phase (1917 to 1962), readers' advisory systematically committed itself to meaningful adult education through serious and purposeful reading. The book argues, however, that during the most recent phase of readers' advisory, from 1963 until the present, contemporary public libraries have turned their backs on the rich heritage of readers' advisory services by valorizing the reading of entertainment-oriented and commodified genre titles and bestsellers. Historical analysis, case studies and statistical charts augment the book's central argument.

Contains twelve essays that provide critical reviews of existing research on readers' advisory services in the library as they apply to different library materials and types of patrons, each followed by comments by a practicing librarian and readers' advisor.

Readers' advisory, a library service where library workers connect patrons with their next read, has historically been considered a core responsibility of public library workers. Competing and increasing priorities, along with a long-held preference for reference work, has resulted in many library workers feeling less confident and engaged with readers' advisory work. This critical research study sought to better understand how, if at all, public library staff engaged with readers' advisory services and how, if at all, library leadership could support front-line staff provide this service. Additionally, this study sought to better understand the relationship between library administration and the professional development needs of front-line staff through a networked care (Barnes, 2015) lens. In this two-phase qualitative action research study, participants at a multi-location public library system in Northeast Ohio were surveyed and interviewed about their confidence and engagement with readers' advisory. Findings indicated that few library workers utilized established, purchased readers' advisory resources (such as journals and databases) and instead relied on crowd-sourcing and peer assistance. Findings also indicated an ambiguity with readers' advisory best practices and professional development in general. Support in the form of time, money, and staffing aligned in the interviews with prior research. A multiple phase professional development intervention plan was designed and outlined in the final chapter of this work. The professional development plan focused on shoring up the skills of existing library staff while providing an outline for onboarding new employees to this work. Using a combination of organization created resources, database purchased resources, and a subject matter expert, this intervention approach could be used in other organizations.

A guide to help readers' advisors serve teens. Offers techniques to connect with teens on their own terms, provides tips on creating a positive advisory experience, and includes "sure bets" lists, thematic reading lists, and sources of reviews.