Winter 2007/2008

Genre Boot Camp: Shaping Up Those Readers’ Advisory Skills
The ARRT Genre Boot Camp provided basic training about genres from science fiction to romance as well as about nonfiction.

Participants chose three breakout sessions from various fiction categories: gentle reads, historical fiction, literary fiction, mystery, romance, science fiction/fantasy, suspense/thrillers, and women’s fiction. During the breakout sessions, presenters described the characteristics, subgenres, top authors, and trends for the various genres. Handouts outlining all the above elements were available for the genres listed above plus 6 additional genres.

Participants also received a copy of the third edition of The ARRT Popular Fiction List, and ARRT chairperson Karen Kleckner described how best to use this resource as a training tool. Library staffs can gauge their familiarity with a genre by looking at a list of representative authors in that genre and noting whether they have read a particular author, have read about the author, have heard of the author, or have never heard of the author. By noting areas of strength and weakness, a readers’ advisor can decide which genres she or he may wish to investigate further. The lists of authors in each genre are not read-a-likes lists, but rather, they are lists of authors who represent various facets of that genre.

Award-winning and best-selling romance author Susan Elizabeth Phillips gave an entertaining talk about her writing. She says her books are about "women who win" -- her female characters are strong, smart women. Ms. Phillips described the process of writing her books, which sometimes begins with a character’s name or title. She said she gathers ideas from everywhere. Once, for example, her husband suggested a costume for a character in the opening scene of a book, and she used that as the inspiration to start the story.

Ms. Phillips spoke about working through the fear as she begins each book. She said she used to worry that readers would hate the book. She found that once she read some negative reviews on Amazon about one of her books, it liberated her from this fear – because she realized that no matter what she wrote, some people would love it and some people would hate it.

When asked what books she enjoys reading, Ms. Phillips said she reads women’s fiction and particularly likes the authors Patricia Gaffney and Kristin Hannah. Other books she’s enjoyed recently include Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews and Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Ms. Phillips also distributed a handout she co-wrote with Jayne Ann Krentz, entitled "Romancing the Author and Her Publicist: 12 Steps to Staging a Successful Author Event in Your Library."

ARRT Steering Committee members Joyce Saricks and Roberta Johnson, current co-leaders of the ARRT nonfiction genre study, rounded out the day with a presentation about nonfiction reader’s advisory. The session began with Book Bingo, during which participants identified others who read various types of nonfiction in order to fill out their bingo card. This exercise demonstrated that we each already know more than we thought we knew about nonfiction.

They talked about the clues offered by nonfiction book covers. Often, helpfully, nonfiction books carry a blurb or a review excerpt on their cover. The cover art also offers an indication of the book’s content and style. In addition, nonfiction subtitles (which can be lengthy) are often enormously informative.

They also described how to "read a book in five minutes," by looking for diagrams, maps, and charts; checking to see if the book cites primary sources – and if so, by whom; and by checking to see if the book includes footnotes.

Recently, there has been a great deal of character-driven nonfiction, even beyond the usual biographies and histories often enjoyed by fiction readers who read for character. This opens up more possibilities for fiction readers to cross over into nonfiction. Joyce and Roberta distributed a handout that lists Nonfiction Sure Bets, which emerged from the ARRT nonfiction genre study.

For librarians who are doing nonfiction readers’ advisory, some key sources include The Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests by Sarah Statz Cords (Libraries Unlimited, 2006) and The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Nonfiction by Neal Wyatt (ALA, 2007). Book reviews offer great information, as well. While reading reviews, watch for mentions of appeal characteristics such as tone, character, and style. Roberta’s and Joyce’s handout, "Beyond Subject Headings: Considering a Book’s Appeal – Nonfiction" describes how the appeal characteristics relate to nonfiction.

After a full day of boot camp, participants left with new ideas, tools, and strategies for providing readers’ advisory service to readers of a wide range of genres.
Stacey Cisneros

Genre Study
The genre study is a 2 year program with 11 meetings plus a wrap-up meeting. Genre Study participants MUST be ARRT members in good standing. The Genre Study will continue the study of Non-Fiction for 2 more years. For more information, please contact Roberta Johnson at Des Plaines PL <rjohnson@dppl.org> or Joyce Saricks saricksj@juno.com. Or, visit www.arrtreads.org and go to the Genre Study page.

Common Problems, Uncommon Solutions
Your director and/or department head does not seem to appreciate the worth of readers’ advisory work nor wants to support it. How can you change their attitude?
Statistics play a key role here. Record every RA question the staff is asked. Keep a log that tracks every interaction – whether it is over the phone or in person. Tell your success stories to everyone in your library. Promote reading programs. Use book discussions as opportunities to do/promote readers’ advisory. Invite board members to participate in those book discussions. Encourage the patrons to let the director know that they appreciate the personal service they are receiving from the staff. The patrons also may want to let the local paper know the same.

Getting the Most From Your Readers’ Advisory Department
The White Eagle Banquet Hall in Niles was the setting for the July presentation by Barry Trott. Barry, the Director of Adult Services at Williamsburg (Va) Public Library, author, and columnist, was informative and delightful.

Barry is the 2007 recipient of the ALA Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award and the PLA Allie Beth Martin Award. He is the co-Author of Partnering with Purpose: A Guide to Strategic Partnership Development for Libraries and Other Organizations and author of the upcoming Read On…Crime Fiction: Reading Lists for Every Taste (December 30, 2007 Libraries Unlimited). He also is Chair of the RUSA CODES Readers' Advisory Committee, edits the RA column for RUSQ, and develops read-alike lists for NoveList.

Barry has been at Williamsburg Public Library since graduating with his MLS in 1997. He now supervises a staff of 14 of which 6 are Readers’ Advisors.

Barry talked about hiring good people as a critical element of a successful Readers’ Advisory Department. Most important is to hire readers! And, to hire readers who can write about books. Make sure that Intellectual Freedom and Professional Ethics are part of the training process. Train your staff to listen for appeal factors while talking to patrons about books. Give them time to read at work and encourage them to write about what they are reading. As their supervisor, empower your staff to try new things – it is better to have to rein them in than to push them to try something.

Barry suggested many ways of how to promote Readers’ Advisory service in the library including author visits, book blogs, and using reader profiles. An example of Williamsburg Regional Library’s Reader Profile form is at http://www.wrl.org/bookweb/RA/. Forms like this are an excellent way of collecting appeal elements and reading preferences of your patrons.

He also suggested some ways to get Administrative support for the service. One way is to emphasize that readers’ advisory service provides a "human touch" in an increasingly virtual world.

There are challenges to providing Readers’ Advisory services including how to quantify service to get support, how to do RA for non-English speakers, and how to incorporate technology yet retain the "human touch" element of service.

Barry is a font of knowledge about all things Readers’ Advisory and we were very fortunate to hear him speak on developing a quality Readers’ Advisory Department – something he definitely has accomplished!
Barb Kruser

ARRT Steering Committee Welcomes 3 New Members
At the November ARRT Steering Committee meeting, we welcomed 3 new members to the committee: Tuki Sathaye from Itasca Public Library, Greta Ulrich from Niles Public Library, and Nancy McCully from Schaumburg Township District Library.

Upcoming Programs from Adult Reading Round Table
Hot on the heels of our successful Genre Boot Camp, we'll be offering an abbreviated version for those of you who couldn't make it, or, couldn't get enough of it!  We'll cover some of the genres from the original day-long workshop at the Oak Lawn library in late April, and are considering a second location.