Readers' Advisory

Week 12 Prompt Book:  Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter 1    .        Where is the book on the narrative continuum?                 A mix (combines highly narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose) 2    .        What is the subject of the book?           Subject is about the life of a girl growing up in foster care in Florida and her yearning for a family. 3    .        What type of book is it? a.        It is a personalized memoir. 4    .        Articulate appeal a.        What is the pacing of the book? The pacing is leisurely, but engaging. b.       Describe the characters of the book. The main character is Ashley Rhodes-Courter- the main point of view is from her perspective. We also meet her younger brother, Luke, their mother, and a series of foster parents and social workers and other foster children. Towards the middle and end of the book we meet Ashley’s adoptive parents, Gay and Phil Courter. c.        How does the story feel? The

In terms of appeal factors for ebooks and audiobooks, it can definitely change the way a reader responds to the book. With audiobooks, if the narrator is not appealing, reads in an irritating way (to the reader), or has troublesome background music, it can make the reader put the audiobook down and be weary to pick up the ebook or physical book. I think the same could be said for ebooks. With ebooks readers have to read from technology whether that is a computer, tablet, phone, or reading device. This day in age when almost every person has to use a computer, cell phone, or tablet to do their job, they will most likely not want to read a book on the same technology they just used for 8 hours that day. Also, for some, reading and using technology contributes to eye strain, headaches, and even back and hand pain. If a person often gets headaches from reading with technology, they will likely not use technology to read ebooks. Many readers say they like being able to come home from work

I observed a book club for college students. Many of the book club participants met and were friends from a local church and college and made up entirely of women members (which was unfortunate) in their early 20s. DeNel Sedo who wrote “Predictions of Life After Oprah: A Glimpse at the Power of Book Club Readers,” found that many times for book club members, “education levels are the only constant similarity” outside of the shared love for reading (15). This is not true for this book club, each of the club members are close in age, religious affiliation, and have similar education levels in addition to their love of reading. While they do not all have the same job- some work in food industry, others in libraries, nonprofits, ministry, etc. Each member has a common link to each other besides their love of reading. The book the club just finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I had read the book alongside them and so I was excited to discuss the book with the other members.

My special topics paper focused on the importance of training library staff to understand and be able to perform a readers' advisory with library patrons. Readers' advisory is an important aspect of the library and many library patrons expect librarians and library workers to be able to help them find their next great book. The issue with readers' advisory is that many library workers are not trained and many times do not feel comfortable performing a readers' advisory because if the library patron does not enjoy the book they may not return or ask for help in the future. Some library workers believe that only librarians can perform readers' advisory, but the truth is that any library staff member can complete a successful RA if they know the proper terminology and process to completing it.    There is a lot of literature and discussion in the library world that stresses the issue to train library staff to conduct well informed reader’s advisory with their librar