I needed help finding a horror book for our annotations, as
horror is one of the genre’s I chose that I was not as familiar with as
others. I approached the gentleman
manning the desk in the popular materials section of the library and told him I was
looking for a good book that met the following requirements: adult, horror,
fiction. I told him it needed to be a novel for a school assignment so an
anthology would not work. He conducted a basic search that lead us mainly to
anthologies with horror in the name or description. He then suggested a Stephen
King book, this made sense to me as he is the biggest name in horror fiction.
After checking out the selection of Stephen King books available I advised him
they were too long for what I was wanting. So, we went back to the computer and
did a more advanced search and was able to find a title that met the
requirements I had provided. It was a successful visit, but it showed me just
how much we rely on computers to fill the gap in what we don’t know. I felt the
conversation move organically and less like an interview but still a little
awkward. It may have gone better if I had gone in with a title I had just
finished and was searching for something similar but having done that before I
know the librarian would have most likely pulled the book up in their online
catalog and found what titles it suggested to go with the one I had just
completed. (I have done this before at a different branch in this system and
this was the result)
I do not think that my approach to this was a major
detriment however because we will have patrons that come in and say “I want a
good scary book.” With minimal information on what else they want I knew I
wanted a shorter book and I chose the title I did because it was gothic as well
which is one of my areas of interest.
It looks like your experience went well. You went in with a book in mind and left with what you wanted. Granted you did have to go back a few times and it took a bit of searching, but that's what RA's are supposed to do for patrons, right.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how we were able to find anything so specific in the library before the Internet with just a librarian and a card catalog. Just imagine how much information they had to know before the Internet.
Hi Christa, we had the same idea to go in and ask for a book for a genre we weren't familiar with. I agree that it is hard to imagine how much harder readers advisory was before the internet. I was tempted to think of ways that I might have improved the experience from my end, but ultimately this exercise was a good reminder that patrons aren't thinking about ways they can make the readers advisory experience better, they're just coming to us with a need and it will be our job to solve the riddle, in a way. Just gotta push through the awkward...thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Christa! It sounded like you had a decent experience. It is interesting how much we rely on computers to help with our daily lives. Our readings for this week talked about how librarians should appear as if they have read their collections, even if they haven't really. Do you feel like the librarian was well-versed in his collection of horror books, or did he rely on the computer? Either way, it sounded like he was able to get the job done and find you a good book to read for your assignment!
ReplyDeleteChrista,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds honestly like a good experience, because it sounds like your librarian was responsive, and willing to roll with the punches. I would argue that even though it took a while to find a good book, it demonstrates that he was dedicated to working with you.
I agree that we can become reliant on computers, and I think that while it makes things easier to a degree, it can also make us really dependent on technology. Happy reading!
Great summary!
ReplyDelete