Often people will come to us with the question, “Can you find me a good book to read?” Of course, the answer is always yes. This aspect of our jobs is called readers’ advisory and for many of us who love books, it is the best part of our day. What could be better than matching someone up with their perfect book love?
The staff of the First Floor has recently started a new readers’ advisory project. One that allows us to guide you to books that we have personally selected, without you actually having to talk to that particular staff member. We understand that your favorite librarian isn’t always available or sometimes we are busy at the desk with other customers. We also understand that not everyone feels comfortable asking us that readers’ advisory question.
Look at all the colors! Each one is a staff person waiting to recommend books to you!
Each of us on the First Floor has been given a color. We have strips of paper in our color that say, “Name’s Pick” at the top. If you find that you like a book recommended by a certain person, all you have to do is look around for more of those slips of paper sticking out of other books in that person’s assigned hue. We will be putting these colored bookmarks in books in all areas of the First Floor, in our fiction and cookbooks in the stacks, and in the audio books on the second floor in the Film & Audio Dept. We hope to be expanding soon to include non-fiction in the stacks.
Here’s a sampling of the picks by each staff person:
Bonnie — First Blood by David Morrell
Connie –The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Holly – The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston
Jane – Don’t Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk
Joanne – The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman
John – Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan
Jude – Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates
Karen – The Thing About Jane Spring by Sharon Krum
Melissa – Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Miguel – Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi
Rick – American Splendor: Another Day by Harvey Pekar
Shelia – Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
Terry – Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
As you can see, we have quite a variety here, from teen to mystery to graphic novels. And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of reading interests each of us has. I guarantee that you’ll find someone with similar reading tastes to yours and then our collection becomes your personalized jar of candy just waiting for you to pick your favorite flavor. (Or color as the case may be!)
Happy Hunting!
-Melissa M.
P.S. If you have any feedback for us about this new project, please tell one of the people on the First Floor. We’d love to hear what’s working for you and what we could be doing better. Thanks!
P.P.S. One staff person didn’t make the list above because she’s been on vacation. But most of our users already know that Georgia is a reader’s advisor extraordinaire, so be sure to look for her picks too!
Eleventh Stack 