best reads of 2013

some of my best reads of 2013

I've read some great books this year; some recommended to me, others were random picks off the shelf. I've nearly reached my projected target of 50 books for the year, and am grateful for the tracking widget on Goodreads. 

There's a mix of short stories, memoirs, and fiction. Two of those pictured are from our reading maps programs. I met one of the authors (Fiona McIntosh) and I saw Anh Do's show at the theatre. One of the authors grew up in a place I used to live.

Last Drinks was the fourth book I read about the Fitzgerald Inquiry years in Queensland; two fiction and two nonfiction from different perspectives (journalist, honest cop, protester, crooked cop). I read them just after I'd stayed in a hotel in inner-Brisbane in an area represented in the books. Fabulous insight into recent history!

We're launching our library's Goodreads site with Great Summer Reads - featuring staff picks of 2013.
I would like to grow the program into a biannual showcase of staff recommendations for our community, perhaps in the future complementing the online presentation with a booktalk.

The best story came to us at the QPLA conference recently. A great librarian told us that she had implemented a program she'd read about on our project blog about staff recommendation displays, and that she had 100% staff involvement. The librarian who had guest blogged her program was also at the conference so we got the two together.
We're very keen on program sharing state-wide and nationally, and to see this in action was amazing. The two librarians work in libraries nearly 2000kms apart. You can re-read Chris' post  here  .
Chris has great statistics - Using this method we have loaned over 11,000 ‘staff picks’ in the last 12 months.

#mynextread

A recent #mynextread conversation including
feedback from a recommended author.

Following my earlier post on form-based readers advisory services and the great two day CODES Conversation which raised the use of social media in readers advisory service, I'm pleased to introduce Mary Barnett and Cathy Royal from Chattanooga Public Library as guest bloggers.

Mary and Cathy run #mynextread on Twitter and Facebook. This is their story.

We decided to launch the #mynextread social media promotion after hearing about Michigan’s Capital Area District Library’s BookSleuth idea.

The idea is fairly simply and really fun. We ask our patrons on Facebook and Twitter to tell us the titles of the last three books they’ve read so the #mynextread librarian can recommend the next book they might enjoy based on those previous selections.

We tweet and post the results back to each patron along with some info about the book or author and a link to the material in our catalog. The patron can then simply log on to their online library account with their library card, place the recommended title on hold and have it delivered to their nearest branch.

It’s alot of fun to read the responses to some of the suggested material. Most everyone is intrigued if not outright excited. Overall they seem really pleased to have a brand new book to look forward to, in most cases something they had not considered before the #mynextread librarian’s suggestion.

The “mynextread” librarian is actually Cathy Royal who works fulltime in tech services at the Chattanooga Public Library as the Popular Material Specialist. She is responsible for purchasing most of the material for the collection.

Prior to joining the library staff in 2001, Cathy worked in bookstores for 10 years and has decades of additional professional experience working in books, video rental and other assorted media. She was also a former contestant on Jeopardy!

Cathy says she loves the challenge of trying to find a title that seems to fit with what the reader has already read. She says she often relies on intuition.

“...and although my connections may look tenuous, I have occasionally minded my personal collection for ideas, I always double check to be sure our library owns what I have in mind.”

So far we have tried the promotion during the lunch hours of 11-1 on Fridays and Thursdays. We’re open to playing with time of day and day of week on this to fit the online habits of our audience. We’ve had anywhere from a dozen or more submissions, which keeps Cathy very busy, to just two or three. You have to be flexible when you try new things so you can adjust to how the public is or isn’t participating.

The best part is having an enthusiastic secret well-informed ‘weapon’ like Cathy Royal as the #mynextread librarian. She is an avid reader and book connoisseur and is totally into public engagement.

“I think #mynextread is like a mental obstacle course, or literary speed-Jeopardy, with something more important that money involved. Although I’m anonymous for now, my reputation and that of the Chattanooga Public Library is involved, and I want as many patrons as possible to enjoy this as much as I do.”
....

Mary Barnett, CPL Narrative Specialist / Content Marketing

Cathy Royal, CPL Popular Material Specialist

Form-based readers advisory service

Join the CODES RA Committee on 24 and 25 September for the discussion on form-based readers advisory service. Subscribe to the free, moderated discussion here. 

This CODES Conversation will cover 'all aspects of form-based RA, from practicalities such would form-based RA work well at your library, how long should forms be, and how to put together a team to respond, to more general questions focused on talking with readers and making suggestions that surprise and delight.'
Prep with the resource guide here 

Me Before You: recommended
to me this week by Jodie
after our conversation ranged
from The Lavender Keeper >
The Girl You Left Behind >
Me Before You.

Also, there's an ALA eCourse running over six weeks: Rethinking Readers Advisory - an Interactive Approach here.

What books have people recommended for you and did you enjoy them?

How does your library service recommend for people?

What training do staff have to offer this service?

How would reader services training benefit your library team?

Beyond The Lavender Keeper Reading Map

We did it! Jo and I continually advocate for (intra and interlibrary) collaboration and staff development in reader services as a result of our research project. To support Fiona McIntosh as touring author for Get Reading! to three Queensland libraries, five of us got together to create the Beyond The Lavender Keeper Reading Map. It's available online now through our libraries and on our blogs. View it online or download the pdf to print.
I think the Get Reading! guide online should have a link to Trove like we have the catalogue links so that people could see if their libraries have each book. 
You can download the first chapter of The Lavender Keeper to read via GR! 

Thanks so much Sally Pewhairangi (Waimakariri Libraries), Jo Beazley (Toowoomba Regional Libraries), Louise Pieper (Gold Coast Libraries) and Tina Cavanough (Moreton Bay Region Libraries). I enjoyed working with you all, and I hope your communities love the reading map!

We collaborated on Googledrive and email.

 I've also added the books to our library's GoodReads account so there is another way to  discover the titles. 

My favourite story so far was Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper. The quote I used perfectly encapsulated the story and the theme of betrayal for me: 'The pair of them huddled together and Dolly listened as Vivien said, 'Go to the railway station and buy yourself a ticket. Get on that train and ride it all the way to the end of the line. Don't look back.' '

I love these comments about our previous reading map:

(Cath Sheard) Wow! I love what you and Alison have created. It’s informative and visually exciting. 

(Paul Brown) ..There is even a Trans-Tasman partnership happening at the moment between a New Zealand and an Australian librarian in the construction of a highly visual and engaging Reading Map.

Are you one of the many who have enjoyed The Lavender Keeper and its sequel The French Promise? Are you inspired to go beyond these with our map? Happy reading!

September - Get Reading! Australian

I love the anticipation leading up to September when we launch the national Get Reading! program!
The GR! team makes it very easy for us; they create the guide and send print copies to registered libraries and bookstores which will be snapped up quickly by keen readers. There is so much online http://www.getreading.com.au/ including

• the guide, 
• a newsletter, 
• first chapter downloads, and 
• an app (find your nearest bookstore and library)
• the hasthtag #getreadingAU at @getreadingAU

The list of Australian books that make the guide is released to the public on 1 September and not before. But as a registered library, our library recognises that to best promote the books to our community, we need staff to know what the titles are, and what the books are about. That's just good reader services practice. We:

• distributed the books to staff rooms with a comment sheet. We encourage staff to read the books or dip into them and share their thoughts. Some people have already read some of the books. Others will discover them for the first time. 
• registered for the GR! author touring program and have booked an author whose book was one of the most enjoyed books of 2012 
• have worked with four other librarians across Queensland and New Zealand to create a reading map that begins with the guest author's book. 
• include Get Reading! as a series heading in our catalogue to help people searching for the books (and have included a website link to the catalogue too).

To kick of this month of reading Australian stories, I've recently read Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper, and Josephine Rowe's Tarcutta Wake (review coming soon). I recommend both.

I'd like to see Get Reading! and Love2Read merge to become an almighty force for reading in this country. What does your library or bookstore do to get staff ready for Get Reading! month? I'm planning an article around this topic so all responses welcomed.

eBooks change everything

Woman using public wifi
to read outdoors
Image source: Brisbane Times

eBooks change everything. What are we doing to capture this massive market? I've thought for some time that we should be marketing in airports, at train stations, in public places. With ubiquitous free wifi we can get out of the library building and into the spaces where people are. If we say that eBooks are great for travellers, then we should place our product at their point of need. 

Stuck at the airport waiting for a flight? Download an eBook. 

Well over your 24kg bag limit and had to leave your novels at home? Download an eBook (or eMagazine).

Read this and be inspired to take action : Airport  libraries to the rescue.

Link to our project blog where we discussed doing bookclubs differently, including on a train ('Commuter bookclubs: a community on the train'). And while SLWA provides print books in laundries, we could do the same with eBooks and eMagazines for the people who are sitting there waiting for their whites to go into the final spin.

If any public libraries are getting their eBook marketing out there in innovative ways, I would love to hear your ideas.

Which book?

A lot of readers' advisory practice is geared toward the person-who-is-already-a-reader coming in to the library. Our role has been to respond to readers' questions of 'What do I read next?’. What is more challenging is to proactively strive toward achieving the goals set by National Year of Reading - addressing Australia's low literacy levels, and raising the status and visibility of reading.
Do we want people to be reading from our collections, or do we want them to be reading?
If RA is about finding the right book for your reader, then is it much narrower than reader services which is about achieving those NYR goals? Do we respond to media hype or do we build relationships with people in our communities?
Check out the links at the end to Auckland Libraries' programs.

An article on BookRiot today prompted me into this consideration of reader services being wider and deeper than I had originally thought.

'Not all people who read books are book people' by Sarah Rettger. 

What if we looked at our communities - not as members and non-members or potential members but as many different groups of people who we can reach in different ways. Yes, there was a rush on libraries and bookstores when Fifty Shades of Grey was published and promoted in the news. But then there was a lot of talk that the series got people 'back into reading'. So libraries ordered in dozens of copies and if they were quick enough librarians compiled read-alike lists to help those readers discover authors who wrote like E.L. James.
Did anyone ask the Fifty Shades readers what they wanted next?

Like Sarah Rettger said, 'Book people are making a mistake if we expect everyone to think about books the way we do. Those Category B customers? They don’t want to read a book. They want to read that book.'

Note - I too am using Fifty Shades as a generalisation for the purpose of illustration. 

Was any market research or evaluation done in libraries to see if the acquisition of twenty copies of this title led to a sustained increase in loans of similar titles? Or led to these borrowers increasing their borrowing? Maybe, rather than getting them 'back into reading', they're already readers of different formats and their focus was not the reading but the social side of the phenomenon. The London Fire Department could tell you.

Libraries that bought dozens of copies in the hope of somehow satisfying reader demand in that initial flashpoint period will still have missed the masses of people who bought the book at ever-decreasing prices at the bookstore or online. Instead of thinking that Category Bs are potential Category As, we need to raise the status of reading by recognising it as something that all people do to varying degrees. We need to find ways to reach people with reading in a way that is right for them. 

Two shining examples of libraries reaching people with reading come from Auckland Libraries.
For adults - Dark Night, also here  where Tosca Waera talks about one aim of the festival being to develop the libraries' relationship with its users.

For children - Mangere East's My Library Rules Bake Off Challenge. Brilliant stuff!

How do you connect people in your community with reading?