LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE, PART 1: Readers Advisory 2.0

Social software can be used as a readers advisory tool. You can go where customers are, keep track of what you've read and connect with authors. Try several sites--they are mostly free and easy to drop if they don't work for you.

Hennepin County Library has a Web 2.0-style site called Bookspace. It lets you inform patrons when a book comes out, allows rss feeds & comments and the patron can create a profile. It was created with an in-house Coldfusion script.

Patrons can also create a weekly search in the Aquabrowser catalog.

Facebook can be used to promote the library's catalog and events. Authors have fan pages on Facebook to let readers know about visits & when new books will be coming out.

Libraries can create their own YouTube channel and upload fingerplays & booktalks. YouTube is also a source for author interviews and video tributes by fans to their favorite books.

Ning an easy way to create a group like mystery fans, science fiction, book club, etc.

Librarything is a site for cataloging one's books that is also social. The user can read other's reviews and get "reader's also like" recommendations--even books they would not like! Users create their own tags to identify books. Under the heading of "common knowledge" users add information like character names, movie adaptations and cover artists. Libraries can also publicize reading events there.

Goodreads is another social reading site. It offers book-swapping and quizzes.

Even Twitter can be useful--check out the hashtag #reading.

The Reader's Advisor Online blog is highly recommended by the presenters.

Handouts are available here.

--Andrea, Central

Notes from the workshop Novelist Plus

Five Central staff attended this session at Ridgedale on Tuesday, May 5. The presenter, Duncan Smith is one of Novelist's creators, researchers, and trainers. By the way, the "Plus" after "Novelist" is the addition of nonfiction to the database. Mr. Smith's presentation went beyond simply a "how to use Novelist Plus." He talked about how important the function of "reader's advisory" is to patrons.

According to Mr. Smith, fiction readers usually have about five favorite authors in mind when they come to the library looking for a book. Their hopes are that we have purchased the current or new books by their favorite authors and that there will be an available copy on the shelf. If not, they tend to drift, check the book carts for recently returned materials (it must be good if someone else checked it out - right?), or they will ask the librarian to recommend a good book.

Reader's advisory begins by a librarian asking the patron what their favorite books are. In a sense, we are asking the patron to tell us a story. They may tell us about their favorite characters, plot, setting, theme, subjects, or the effect the book had on them.

On our part, we should not push against a reader's taste but we should listen carefully and re-state or paraphrase to make sure we heard the story correctly and to acknowledge that we heard and understood what they were trying to convey. It's particularly important to listen for any part of the story that is re-stated or re-emphasized because that means it has important meaning for the reader. Acknowledging the reader's experience lets them know that we are celebrating that experience along with them. Remember, it is the quality of the interaction with the reader, not the frequency that matters. Mr. Smith reminded us that readers are engaged and creative as they read.

Duncan Smith remarked that readers are "escapists" and he asks, "What are they escaping from?" According to him, readers are escaping from a limited and narrow view. Readers want to live fully and reading helps "recover potentialities that our everyday lives take away." Now there's something to ponder.

The second half of the workshop was all about the functions of Novelist Plus and its many wonderful features. I did pay close attention but did not take many notes. Maybe my colleagues that were also in attendance can add to this blog. I noted that the juvenile nonfiction part of the database is curriculum based to help students with assignments. The database even has lexile ranges to assist us in finding materials suitable to young readers. Novelist Plus will put together series with short list capabilities to print out for the patron. Print lists are also available to help with displays. Finally, there are many, many subject keywords to assist us in our searches. I learned that the "xy" in a search field means "keyword" (I didn't know that). Should you want me to show you a function about Novelist Plus, please ask and I will be happy to demonstrate! I really do like Novelist Plus and have found it very user friendly. I also recommend this workshop if its offered again - it was excellent!

-Deb K.

FILEDBYAUTHOR

From Shelf Awareness

FiledBy, Inc., has launched the Beta version of filedbyauthor, a website that offers a "large-scale author-centric promotional platform to provide every author that has been published in the U.S. or Canada a free, hosted, e-commerce enabled web page ready to be claimed and enhanced." The company, based in Nashville, Tenn., was co-founded by Peter Clifton, a former Ingram executive, and Mike Shatzkin, head of the Idea Logical Co. and publishing industry strategist extraordinaire.

"All authors, regardless of publishing category are encouraged to visit the site, claim their page, make corrections, and enrich them in a variety of ways," Clifton, president and CEO, said in a statement. "We hope to level the web marketing playing field for all authors, eliminate some of the challenges authors face when designing their online presence, and help every author become more easily discoverable through a highly optimized site."

http://www.filedby.com/

Melissa @ Central

NIFTY MYSTERY WEB SITE

Hi everyone,

A regular member of the Minnesota Crime Wave book chat group mentioned an excellent website for mystery fans and those who are answering reference questions in this genre. Please check out:

http://stopyourekillingme.com/


--Barbara M.

NoveList Plus and NoveList K-8 Plus

NoveList Plus is a readers' advisory resource for fiction and nonfiction. Read more about it ...

NoveList K-8 Plus focuses on nonfiction reading materials that support the school curriculum, as well as the recreational reading interests of children and students from preschool through middle school. Read more about it ...

Try them out and tell us what you think!