Special Topics Paper

Readers' Advisory and Social Media         

            When it comes to helping a patron find a new book to read, librarians think in professional readers’ advisory terms.  However, library patrons do not think in terms of readers’ advisory, they just want to know whether or not a book is good.  The internet has opened up a whole new world of book discussion and amateur reader’s advisory.  Leading the charge into this new world are (free) social media sites like Goodreads, Shelfari, and LibraryThing, which are the three most popular.  Now, we could sit around and whine about how these sites are making librarian guided readers’ advisory obsolete or we could embrace these sites as new opportunities to connect with our patrons.  As Neal Wyatt, readers’ adviser librarian and writer for Library Journal, points out how the Internet “expands the RA discussion and connects the collection and readers to each other in original, flexible, and idiosyncratic ways…it makes greater use of librarian expertise…offering another way to interact and offer suggestions” (Wyatt).

            The idea behind all of these sites is they are a place for readers to connect with other readers.  The sites pretty much like any other social media site, like Facebook or Google+, but for book lovers.  They are places for book lovers to give their opinions and connect with people who love the same books that they do.  These sites were made by book lovers for book lovers.

              While being essentially the same, each of these sites brings something unique to the table.  LibraryThing allows readers to tag specific topics that the book is about.  It also has a Zeitgeist page which is statistics and lists of the top rated books, the top tags, least favored authors, among many other things.  Goodreads allows users to make lists of books that they consider the best or the worst and it offers a lot of social activities, like book clubs.  Shelfari allows “APIs for blogs and other websites as well as the import and export of book lists” (Stover).

            One of the cool and unique things that LibraryThing has to offer is LibraryThing for Libraries.  It allows the tags used on LibraryThing to be integrated into a library’s catalog.  It also allows patrons to look up a book in the catalog and then it is gives the patron a list of similar books.  The patrons can also rate and review books directly in the catalog.

            By taking an active role in using these sites, librarians are making connections that they could never have before.  The sites are allowing librarians to “reach new and different patrons” and to improve “their own knowledge of books read, heard of, and glanced at, and it is all in one place” (Stover).  Creating accounts on any of these sites is a good way to show how knowledge the staff at the library is.  The more that the staff posts, the more that patrons will see that the staff cares about offering good suggestions of books to the patrons.  It also gives patrons who are too shy to ask for suggestions in person an opportunity to ask their questions online.  By using these sites for readers' advisory also shows how adaptable libraries can be in this new technology age.

            These sites can also be used to help benefit those patrons who do not have computers or accounts.  Librarians can create genre lists and read-a-like lists for popular series and titles that can be made into fliers to be distributed to patrons.  Seeing what  GoodRead, LibraryThing, and Shelfari have to offer, might encourage more patrons to create an account.  

            Another perk of these user generated sites is that the information is extremely up to date.  The books that people are reading are always changing.  It is not like a list that someone creates and then does not update.   New books are always being added.  They are also a good place for librarians to see what their patrons are reading.  There could be books that the library does not have, but are popular with the patrons on Goodreads or LibraryThing.

            Librarians are also rubbing off on their patrons by using these social media sites.  Kate Stover, head of Readers’ Services at the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Library, points out how “these bibliosocial networking sites are getting the vocabulary of appeal out there to readers…it would appear through osmosis, [they] are picking up the lingo of readers’ advisors and using it in their own descriptors of what they are reading” (Stover).  It is just another way that libraries are helping people learn something new.  It also makes it easier for librarians to ask patrons questions about what kinds of books they are looking for.

            There are some risks to getting advice from online reviews alone, especially since it has recently come to light that reviews on sites like Amazon.com could be false, hired out by authors in order to make their books look good.  You do not know whether or not the reviews are real.  Bing Liu, a data-mining expert at the University of Illinois, Chicago, estimates “that about one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake.  Yet it is impossible to tell when reviews were written by the marketers or retailers, by customers or by a hired third-party service” (Streitfeld).  But with these sites, it is a network that was created by regular people.  Amanda Close, runner of a digital marketplace development for Random House, pointed out “because Goodreads is not a publisher or retailer, people feel that the information is not getting manipulated…People trust them because they are so crowd-sourced and their members are fanatics.  You can’t buy a five-star review there” (Kaufman).    

            Just because more and more people are turning to sites like Goodreads and LibraryThing for readers’ advisory, does not mean that librarians have to start freaking out.  Like pretty much all aspects of the library, readers’ advisory has changed over the years.  Librarians just need to adapt and find ways to connect with their patrons on these sites.  Readers’ advisory is not going anywhere, it just looks a little different. These sites provide an opportunity to connect to patrons that might not have the courage to ask their question face to face.  The websites hold new opportunities for readers’ advisory.  It is also teaching patrons a little more about readers’ advisory.  It is important to remember that just because a patron finds a book to read on these sites, does not mean they will never use the library again.  They will have to come to library to check out the book!

Sources

Kaufman, Leslie.  (2013, February 12).  Read any good web sites lately?  Book lovers talk online.  The New York Times,     http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/books/goodreadscomis-growing-as-a-popular-book-site.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

Sheehan, Kate.  (2007).  LibraryThing for libraries.  Library Journal (1976) Net Connect   Supplement, 3.

Stover, Katie Mediatore.  (2009).  Stalking the wild appeal factors: Readers’ advisory and social  networking sites.  Reference & User Services Quarterly 48(3), 243-246.          

Streitfeld, David.  (2012, August 25).  The best book reviews money can buy.  The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-ademand-for-online-raves.html?pagewanted=all

Trott, Barry and Yesha Naik.  (2012).  Finding good reads on Goodreads.  Reference & User       Services Quarterly, 51(4), 319-323.

Wyatt, Neal.  (2007).  2.0 for readers.  Library Journal (1976), 132(1), 30-33.

Science Fiction Annotation

Author: Frank Herbert

Title: Dune

Genre: Science Fiction

Publication Date:  1965

Number of Pages: 535

Geographical Setting: The Planet Arrakis

Time Period: The Future

Series: Book 1 of the Dune Series

Plot Summary:

Paul Atreides, the son of a Duke, goes with his father as he takes over ruling the desert planet, Arrakis.  However, the Emperor and the Harkonnen family, a rival of the Atreides Family, plot against Duke Atreides to destroy him and his family.  Paul and his mother Jessica are forced to flee and live among the Fremen, the indigenous people of the planet.  While living among them Paul becomes powerful and starts a war against the Harkonnens to avenge his father’s death and liberate Arrakis from Harkonnen rule.

Subject Headings:

• Revolution
• Psychic Ability
• Dukes and Duchesses
• Rulers

Appeal:

• Dramatic Tone
• Descriptive
• World-Building
• Character-Driven
• Strong Sense of Place

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors (From NoveList):

These titles are similar to Dune, because of subject headings, appeal factors, and genres.

• Metal Swarm: Kevin J. Anderson
• Fortress of Ice: C.J. Cherryh
•  CryoBurn: Lois McMaster Bujold

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

• Desert Ecology: John B. Sowell
• An Introduction to Zen Buddhism: D.T. Suzuki
• The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read and Write It: Nicholas Awde and Putros Samano

Mystery Book Annotation

Author: Christopher Fowler

Title: The Water Room

Genre: Mystery

Publication Date:  2004

Number of Pages: 356

Geographical Setting: London, England

Time Period: The Present

Series: Book 2 of the Bryant and May Mysteries Series

Plot Summary:

John May and Arthur Bryant have been partners for over 50 years.  They run the Peculiar Crimes Unit, which deals with the cases that are too weird for the regular police.  Bryant is called to examine the body of an old friend’s sister, who was found fully dressed for going out, even though she never left the house, and completely dry with river water in her throat.  The coroner found that her heart just stopped, but Bryant is convinced that there was something more too her death.  As the body count and the damp from the endless pouring rains starts to rise, Bryant and May must deal with an old academic friend of May’s who has gotten into some shady business involving London’s forgotten underground rivers, the elusive, local homeless man who seems to know something about what is going on, and a neighborhood street full of people keeping secrets.  Everything keeps leading back to water (the rain, the rivers, the sewers) and they must figure out the connection before the killer strikes again.

Subject Headings:

• Detectives
• Police
• Drowning Victims
• Rivers

Appeal:

• Extremely Detailed
• Humorous
• Dialogue Heavy

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors (From NoveList):

These titles are similar to The Water Room, because of subject headings, appeal factors, and genres.

• Gallows Theif: Bernard Cornwell
• A Conspiracy of Paper: David Liss
• Cruel as the Grave: Sharon Kay Penman

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

• London: The Biography: Peter Ackroyd
• London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets: Peter Ackroyd
• Mystery Reader’s Walking Guide: Alzina Dale

Horror Book Annotation

Author: Max Brooks

Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Genre: Horror

Publication Date: 2006

Number of Pages: 342

Geographical Setting: China, South Africa, Canada, Colorado, Greenland, Russia, Barbados, Kansas, India, Tennessee, Montana, Antarctica, Finland, Virginia, Israel, Brazil, Ireland, Greece, Tibet, Washington, Vermont, New Mexico, Ukraine, California, Australia, Japan, Cuba, Chile, and South Korea

Time Period: The Near Future

Series: N/A

Plot Summary:

The war against the zombies is over and every country in the world is trying to rebuild.  The novel is a series of eye-witness accounts from people all over the world who came face to face with the zombies and lived to tell their stories.  Accounts come from the doctor in rural China who found “Patient Zero,” military men and women from many different countries who were on the “front lines”, a blind Japanese man who survived on his own in the mountains of Japan, an Australian astronaut who saw the whole war from the International Space Station, and many more normal, ordinary people who adapted to new lives during the zombie apocalypse and survived.

Subject Headings:

• War
• Zombies
• Epidemics

 Appeal:

• Fast-paced
• Descriptive
• Gruesome and Bleak Tone
• Multiple Points of View

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors (From Novelist):

• The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse: Steven C. Schlozman
• Describes the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse in the form of journal entries
• The Passage: Justin Cronin
• Variety of character perspectives of consequences of an outbreak of zombies
•  I am Legend: Richard Mateson
• One man's efforts to survive a plague that has created hordes of the undead

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors (From WorldCat and Amazon.com):

•           Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus: Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
•           Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture: Stephanie Boluk and Wylie Lenz
•           Theories of International Politics and Zombies: Danial Drezner

Kirkus Style Review

The Big Over Easy: Jasper Fforde

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall...

It was not a simple accident, but cold-blooded murder.  However, the only person who believes it was murder is DI (Detective Inspector) Jack Spratt, head of the Nursery Crime Division.  It is up to Spratt, his new partner Sergeant Mary Mary, and his rag-tag NCD crew (an alien, a severe hypochondriac, an eager young constable, and a leggy, blonde European heiress/forensic accountant) to prove that there was foul-play and find Humpty’s killer.  Spratt must dodge looming budget cuts and NCD closure, his former, only in it for the glory and fame, partner Friedland Chymes, who is waiting to steal the case out from under Spratt’s nose, and his wife who insists he should apply for membership in the Most Worshipful Guild of Detectives.  Spratt, Mary, and the rest of the NCD find the case leading them deep into the world of Reading’s elite, delving into a few of Spratt’s more famous and noteworthy past cases and into Humpty's slightly seedy past.

Jasper Fforde weaves characters from Nursery Rhymes, Classical Mythology, and Literature into a modern-day England setting with hilarious success.  Those who like Fforde’s Thursday Next Series will enjoy Jack Spratt, who reads a little like a male Thursday Next.  The madcap criminal investigation with its twists and turns will keep readers guessing.