Secret Shopping
I went to my local library, after leaving the not-so-local library where I work. I approached the counter and spoke to a woman that was seated there. I told her that I was looking for a book recommendation.
She asked, "What kind of book are you looking for?"
I responded that I was looking for a good romance novel to sit down with, specifically something contemporary but especially something that was not written by Colleen Hoover (I cannot stand the woman, and that is too much to go into here).
At this point, she asked me if I was familiar with NoveList. To which I responded, that I was.
This all but ended the conversation because she admitted that she was not familiar with romance novels and that she would just be recommending something from a search on there.
I said that it was okay and thanked her for her time and left.
I don't typically ask people for recommendations (not even my friends, as they are more often thrust upon me), so I didn't have a lot of expectations for this interaction. I left the interaction feeling as if there was something to be desired (a book recommendation namely). As I didn't approach people for recommendations, I will continue not to do so.
That does not sound like a good readers advisory experience at all. I've always thought as librarians we don't need to know all the answers, but we do need to know where to start looking for the answers. In your case, the librarian obviously had the tools needed to make some solid book recommendations, but then chose not to. It makes me wonder if the other librarians at this library are similarly lacking in readers advisory or if it's just this particular staff member.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure. Once she new that I knew how to use NoveList that was enough for her. I'm glad that people have the tools, but I was looking for an interaction that just didn't seem to happen.
DeleteDanyelle,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you didn't have a good experience. I feel like even if the staff member wasn't an actual librarian, she could've done even a simple Google search to see what romance novels are trending. She also could've asked about a book you've enjoyed in the past and used Novelist read-alikes. I usually don't ask for recommendations either but mostly because I already have too many books on my "to-read" list.
Danyelle,
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry to hear that you did not have a good experience. May I ask how you linked your good reads to your blog, I would like to do that on my blog.
To put your GoodReads in your profile you'll need to go to the widgets section in account settings and copy the code that they provide (you are able to change up the widget a little if you need to). Once you have the widget code you will go to layout and add a gadget to your sidebar, choose 'html/javascript', and then paste your code.
DeleteGreat write up!
ReplyDelete