Readers Advisory in a Digital World

Thanks to PLA for inviting me to blog a few sessions here at the ALA conference in Chicago. As a former staffer at both PLA and RUSA, the ALA division focused on reference, I thought a good place for me to start at conference was PLA’s program, “What Do I Watch, Listen to, Play or Download Next?” Presenter Helen Stewart from Schaumburg Public Library (IL) started the session off with lots of great information about RA for movies. (Note that the ppt presentation all speakers used will be available from the PLA web page. )

Stewart reminded the group of challenges facing librarians who work with multi-media. Circulation is going through the roof for DVD’s, audiobooks, playaways; formats are always changing and the popularity of titles means that the librarian needs to have lots of titles at the ready for recommendation. Stewart highlighted the importance of design display–think retail when displaying DVD’s and change displays often to increase interest and excitement. Group movies by genre for grab and go. Be prepared to do reference interviews for movies–what type of movies has the patron enjoyed in the past, who are the favorite directors/actors, what about the rating of the film-are R-rated films ok? Good resources for movies: reel.com; Amazon listmania; and Rotten Tomatoes and to be sure a movie is “kid-safe,” try Kids in Mind.

Next up, Amy Peterson, also from Schaumburg, discussed audiobook advisory. She asked librarians helping patrons select audiobooks to remember narrator preferences. Narration is so important and patrons may has strong preferences, crossing genres in order to listen to their favorites or avoiding a book they might otherwise like because they dislike the narrator. Consider whether the audiobook is a single narrator or has multiple or full cast narration, this makes a difference too. Most audiobook buyers buy unabridgeded but sometimes abridged versions are preferred. Be sure and check with your patron. Other considerations: production quality and format. Peterson is a big fan of Audiofile magazine as a resource. Other selection tools are the APA, Booklist and audio discussion lists.

Steve Gianni, Northbrook Public Library (IL) rounded out the program with his presentation on music collections. Before he started in on library stuff, he reminded the out-of-towners and the locals that if they didn’t have plans, tonight there is tons of free music beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Grant Park, Michigan Ave. and Balbo and at the Pritzker Pavilion, just further north past beautiful Buckingham Fountain along Michigan.

Returning to the topic at hand, Gianni’s library has reviewed the circ nos. and as of 2008, CD’s come out on top over the fiction collection. He uses those numbers to justify funding for his department. To develop the best collection, he recommends asking staff who may have interests in music that go beyond your own to build the collection. He advocates arranging materials like retail stores do and create displays based on what is going on in the music world locally and nationally. Make the collection accessible and be ready to answer questions. Resources Gianni recommends include: Billboard, New Music Express, and award lists from the Grammy and Tony awards. For classical music, he says the “NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection” is topnotch. For kid-safe music for tweens, he recommends checking out Radio Disney. among others.

Thanks to all three presenters for a great session. Now, on to the ALA Opening General Session!