  1. The State of Readers’ Advisory →

    Does your library offer a readers’ advisory (RA) service? If so, you’re in good company—and a lot of it! All of the public librarians who answered a survey recently developed by LJ with NoveList and the RUSA/CODES Readers’ Advisory Research and Trends Committee said that they conducted personal RA in-house. Methods varied, however.

    Four points of service emerged: in-person RA takes place 85% of the time at the reference desk and 59% at the circulation desk. Self-directed RA is also highly popular, with 94% of libraries creating book displays, for example, and 75% offering book lists. Book-oriented programs are widespread, too: the survey shows that book clubs (89%) and author visits (86%) are held at most libraries. The fourth point of service was digital: 79% of libraries provide read-alikes or other such tips on their websites, and a little less than half, recommendations via social media.

    (Source: addtoany.com)

  2. harriscountypl:

The January libraryreads list is out now.  The favorite title is The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley and is from one of my favorite series -  The Flavia de Luce mysteries.  Check out the whole list at LibraryReads. 

    harriscountypl:

    The January libraryreads list is out now.  The favorite title is The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley and is from one of my favorite series -  The Flavia de Luce mysteries.  Check out the whole list at LibraryReads

  3. libraryreads:

    Just in time for the holidays, the December Library Reads list is active! This month we have the new Adriana Trigiani, a naked werewolf (aren’t they always naked?), a gothic mystery, and drinking! Enjoy.

    And this afternoon Library Journal will release its top ten books of 2013 in the 11/14 issue of LJReviews. Stay tuned!

  4. Pop Culture Advisory: Welcome to Night Vale →

    Welcome to Night Vale is a hugely popular, twice-monthly podcast that’s best described as what you’d get if Prairie Home Companion was reported by Shirley Jackson. It’s a community radio show, yes, but reports abound of glowing clouds and faceless old women, feral dogs and strange happenings at the PTA meeting in the small desert town of Night Vale.

    Looking for books, television, and movies to suggest for Night Vale fans yields an embarrassment of riches; “Small Town Weird” is an exceedingly rich category to mine.

    Are you and your patrons Night Vale fans? Media Editor Stephanie Klose offers an array of readalikes, watchalikes, and listenalikes as well as some programming suggestions. Listening party, anyone?

    image

    (Source: addtoany.com)

  5. theantidote:


Bowie’s 100 Must-Reads
The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby (2008)The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz (2007)The Coast of Utopia (trilogy), Tom Stoppard (2007) Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage (2007)Fingersmith, Sarah Waters (2002)The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens (2001)Mr Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler (1997)A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890-1924, Orlando Figes (1997)The Insult, Rupert Thomson (1996)Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon (1995)The Bird Artist, Howard Norman (1994)Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir, Anatole Broyard (1993)Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, Arthur C Danto (1992)Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia (1990)David Bomberg, Richard Cork (1988)Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Peter Guralnick (1986)The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin (1986)Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd (1985)Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music, Gerri Hirshey (1984)Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter (1984)Money, Martin Amis (1984)White Noise, Don DeLillo (1984)Flaubert’s Parrot, Julian Barnes (1984)The Life and Times of Little Richard, Charles White (1984)A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn (1980)A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole (1980)Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester (1980)Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (1980)Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess (1980)Raw, a “graphix magazine” (1980-91)Viz, magazine (1979 –)The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels (1979)Metropolitan Life, Fran Lebowitz (1978)In Between the Sheets, Ian McEwan (1978)Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, ed Malcolm Cowley (1977)The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes (1976)Tales of Beatnik Glory, Ed Saunders (1975)Mystery Train, Greil Marcus (1975)Selected Poems, Frank O’Hara (1974)Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, Otto Friedrich (1972)n Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of Culture, George Steiner (1971) Octobriana and the Russian Underground, Peter Sadecky (1971)The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, Charlie Gillett(1970)The Quest for Christa T, Christa Wolf (1968)Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn (1968)The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)Journey into the Whirlwind, Eugenia Ginzburg (1967)Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr (1966)In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965)City of Night, John Rechy (1965)Herzog, Saul Bellow (1964)Puckoon, Spike Milligan (1963)The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford (1963)The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea, Yukio Mishima (1963)The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin (1963)A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1962)Inside the Whale and Other Essays, George Orwell (1962)The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark (1961)Private Eye, magazine (1961)On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, Douglas Harding (1961)Silence: Lectures and Writing, John Cage (1961)Strange People, Frank Edwards (1961)The Divided Self, RD Laing (1960)All the Emperor’s Horses, David Kidd (1960)Billy Liar, Keith Waterhouse (1959)The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1958)On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard (1957)Room at the Top, John Braine (1957)A Grave for a Dolphin, Alberto Denti di Pirajno (1956)The Outsider, Colin Wilson (1956)Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)The Street, Ann Petry (1946)Black Boy, Richard Wright (1945)

(via kateoplis:)

Tumblarians, I see another great book display in your future!

    theantidote:

    Bowie’s 100 Must-Reads

    The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby (2008)
    The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz (2007)
    The Coast of Utopia (trilogy), Tom Stoppard (2007) 
    Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage (2007)
    Fingersmith, Sarah Waters (2002)
    The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens (2001)
    Mr Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler (1997)
    A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890-1924, Orlando Figes (1997)
    The Insult, Rupert Thomson (1996)
    Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon (1995)
    The Bird Artist, Howard Norman (1994)
    Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir, Anatole Broyard (1993)
    Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, Arthur C Danto (1992)
    Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia (1990)
    David Bomberg, Richard Cork (1988)
    Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Peter Guralnick (1986)
    The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin (1986)
    Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd (1985)
    Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music, Gerri Hirshey (1984)
    Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter (1984)
    Money, Martin Amis (1984)
    White Noise, Don DeLillo (1984)
    Flaubert’s Parrot, Julian Barnes (1984)
    The Life and Times of Little Richard, Charles White (1984)
    A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn (1980)
    A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole (1980)
    Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester (1980)
    Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (1980)
    Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess (1980)
    Raw, a “graphix magazine” (1980-91)
    Viz, magazine (1979 –)
    The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels (1979)
    Metropolitan Life, Fran Lebowitz (1978)
    In Between the Sheets, Ian McEwan (1978)
    Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, ed Malcolm Cowley (1977)
    The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes (1976)
    Tales of Beatnik Glory, Ed Saunders (1975)
    Mystery Train, Greil Marcus (1975)
    Selected Poems, Frank O’Hara (1974)
    Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, Otto Friedrich (1972)
    n Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of Culture, George Steiner (1971) Octobriana and the Russian Underground, Peter Sadecky (1971)
    The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, Charlie Gillett(1970)
    The Quest for Christa T, Christa Wolf (1968)
    Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn (1968)
    The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
    Journey into the Whirlwind, Eugenia Ginzburg (1967)
    Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr (1966)
    In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965)
    City of Night, John Rechy (1965)
    Herzog, Saul Bellow (1964)
    Puckoon, Spike Milligan (1963)
    The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford (1963)
    The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea, Yukio Mishima (1963)
    The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin (1963)
    A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1962)
    Inside the Whale and Other Essays, George Orwell (1962)
    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark (1961)
    Private Eye, magazine (1961)
    On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, Douglas Harding (1961)
    Silence: Lectures and Writing, John Cage (1961)
    Strange People, Frank Edwards (1961)
    The Divided Self, RD Laing (1960)
    All the Emperor’s Horses, David Kidd (1960)
    Billy Liar, Keith Waterhouse (1959)
    The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1958)
    On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)
    The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard (1957)
    Room at the Top, John Braine (1957)
    A Grave for a Dolphin, Alberto Denti di Pirajno (1956)
    The Outsider, Colin Wilson (1956)
    Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
    Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
    The Street, Ann Petry (1946)
    Black Boy, Richard Wright (1945)

    (via kateoplis:)

    Tumblarians, I see another great book display in your future!

  6. YA Crossover Tops Inaugural LibraryReads List →

    The inaugural LibraryReads lists ten newly published and forthcoming titles nominated as “favorites” by librarians from around the country. The surprise is the first pick—a YA crossover described by School Library Journal as a “charming coming-of-age novel tells the story of a painfully shy teen who prefers the fantasy world of fanfiction to reality.”

    The monthly list will be publicized and promoted by librarians in library branches as well as in patron newsletters, websites, etc., and will appear in Library Journal alongside an author interview. (See LJ 9/15/13 for the Q&A with Jamie Ford).

    OH YES!!!!

    (Source: addtoany.com)

  7. Bookavore: More great graphic novels for seniors →

    bookavore:

    A few weeks ago I suggested five great graphic novels for seniors and asked for more suggestions, which I got, and thank you! Here are some that look particularly great (for seniors, but also for me—I haven’t read about half of these but I am adding all of them to the list). Keep suggesting, please:

  8. As Lewis Carroll’s Alice so aptly points out, “What is the use of a book…without pictures or conversations?” Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge, and whole-collection reader’s advisory service goes where it may. In this column, Robert Langdon and Dante lead me down a winding path.

    — 

    Dan Brown’s Inferno | RA Crossroads

    LJ's readers advisory expert Neal Wyatt takes on what to read after Inferno.

  9. rachelfershleiser:

I may not have won a Kobo, but I did win some smart booksellers!

GPOLJ.

    rachelfershleiser:

    I may not have won a Kobo, but I did win some smart booksellers!

    GPOLJ.

  10. bookavore:

Readers’ advisory practice

So cool.

    bookavore:

    Readers’ advisory practice

    So cool.

  11. Our latest edition of The Reader&#8217;s Shelf (LJ's readers' advisory column) features letters from poets:


Selected by editor Emily Fragos, LETTERS: EMILY DICKINSON (Everyman’s Library. 2011. ISBN 9780307597045. $13.50) offers significant glimpses into the poet’s engagement with the natural world. Arranged by topic and then chronological order, the slim volume (part of the “Pocket Poets” series) traces Dickinson’s occupations and time line. These lyrically written, sometimes elliptical letters to her family and friends are vividly descriptive, include snippets of poetry, and depict Dickinson’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The collection serves as a basic introduction to Dickinson’s life from her school days in 1845 to the last four words sent to her cousins just before her death in May 1886.

    Our latest edition of The Reader’s Shelf (LJ's readers' advisory column) features letters from poets:

    Selected by editor Emily Fragos, LETTERS: EMILY DICKINSON (Everyman’s Library. 2011. ISBN 9780307597045. $13.50) offers significant glimpses into the poet’s engagement with the natural world. Arranged by topic and then chronological order, the slim volume (part of the “Pocket Poets” series) traces Dickinson’s occupations and time line. These lyrically written, sometimes elliptical letters to her family and friends are vividly descriptive, include snippets of poetry, and depict Dickinson’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The collection serves as a basic introduction to Dickinson’s life from her school days in 1845 to the last four words sent to her cousins just before her death in May 1886.

  12. queerbookclub:

    This is the second of four recommended reading lists of queer and queer-ish books, organized by Hogwarts houses! Gryffindor can be found here. ENJOY.

    Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
    This collection of short works on identity, community and authenticity covers a lot of territory - “passing” as related to gender, race, disability, work, nationality, sexuality, and more. Pick it up if you’re itching for more complex perspectives on social justice.

    Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
    Besides being an absolute masterpiece of the comics format, Bechdel’s memoir about her cold and inscrutable father earns major Ravenclaw appeal with its highbrow literary allusions. If psychology is more your thing, try her other memoir, Are You My Mother?

    Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
    This book tells the story of two Mexican-American teens - Ari, an angry loner, and Dante, a quirky intellectual - who form a transformative bond and ponder over poetry, philosophy and life’s many mysteries. I haven’t gotten my hands on this one yet, but I’ve been told it’s one of those rare transcendent young adult books, emotionally resonant and masterfully crafted.

    Israel/Palestine and the Queer International by Sarah Schulman
    This latest work from the prolific author and longtime activist chronicles her travels through Tel Aviv and the West Bank and her growing consciousness of the occupation of Palestine. Read it for a knowledgeable queer perspective on a divisive topic.

    Adaptation by Malinda Lo
    There’s not much on this list for science aficionados, but hopefully some science fiction will suit you. Did you know Malinda Lo did graduate work on The X-Files? This novel, the first in a forthcoming series, has flavors of the 90s TV show and should delight fans of Mulder and Scully, creepy conspiracies, and queer representation in sci-fi lit.

    Transgender History by Susan Stryker
    For the history buffs - this concise text on transgender people in America between the mid twentieth century and early twenty-first puts trans communities and movements in historical context and offers a compact but comprehensive chronicle of our stories.

    Solid book recommendations, even if you weren’t sorted into Ravenclaw.

  13. LJ’s Neal Wyatt wins RUSA’s Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award

    Library Journal is so, so proud to share that Neal Wyatt, our resident readers’ advisory expert (and the author of our weekly Wyatt’s World column), has been awarded RUSA’s Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award for exceptional contributions to reference librarianship. From the official announcement

    Neal Wyatt, doctoral candidate in the media, art and text program at Virginia Commonwealth University, is the distinguished recipient of the 2013 Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award — the highest honor for significant contributions to the field of reference librarianship presented by the Reference & User Services Association (RUSA).

    The award, which is generously sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, is bestowed annually upon an individual for his or her excellence in reference services. Wyatt was selected for her multiple influences and contributions to the field through her writing, teaching, service to and leadership in RUSA. As a direct result of her work, readers’ advisory services have been re-established as an important component of current reference work.

    Wyatt launched the Readers’ Advisory Research and Trends Forum in 2009 — a recurring conference program that brings together theorists and practitioners from disparate fields to explore the expansion of RA boundaries. Her writing includes the Library Journal series “Reinventing RA,” her influential book The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Nonfiction, (ALA, 2007) and her monthly Library Journal column “Crossroads.” As a teacher and presenter, she demonstrates and passionately shares creative uses of technology for librarians across the RA spectrum. Her efforts have rekindled the passionate fire of RA service, elevating it to a prominent role in the public library setting, as well as other library environments. Wyatt has served as chair of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) and President of RUSA where, as a tireless and effective leader, she left a significant legacy of creativity and inclusivity.

    Congratulations Neal!

  14. librariarian:

For our Popular Literature Collection, I try to advertise the great books we have by posting the New York Times Best Seller List each week and highlighting the books we have in the collection. I really enjoy designing the flyers in Publisher each week and choosing different color schemes. 

    librariarian:

    For our Popular Literature Collection, I try to advertise the great books we have by posting the New York Times Best Seller List each week and highlighting the books we have in the collection. I really enjoy designing the flyers in Publisher each week and choosing different color schemes. 

  15. Character
    Plot
    Setting
    Language
    Genre
    Pacing
    Mood
    Format

    — 

    These are, of course, appeal factors, the means by which readers’ advisory librarians try to figure out why a book appeals to a reader. More proof that this esteemed profession invented discovery. Who else would take the time to create an art/science to further a reader’s storyverse?

    (Yes, this post is for Scott Turow.)
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