Abstract: As noted in this column in RUSQ 48(2) (Building on a Firm Foundation: Readers' Advisory Over the Next Twenty Five Years), one of the challenges facing readers' advisors in the coming years will be format-based advisory. Our audience needs to expand beyond just the reader to include viewers and listeners, and we need to be alert to both the similarities and the differences between working with these users and working with those interested in print materials. the following column, Tara Bannon Williamson begins the conversation, looking at how we can best work with the reader, viewer, and listener and listing some of the tools that are available to advisors. Williamson, librarian at the Schlessman Family Branch Library, the busiest of Denver Public Library's branches, chaired the Colorado Association of Libraries readers' advisory special interest group, founded Denver Public Library's current readers' advisory group, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver's Library and Information Science Program, where she taught the readers' advisory course offered spring quarter 2010. She also will be teaching this course summer 2011. Williamson also is a frequent contributor to NoveList.--Editor The library continues to dynamically evolve into a thriving destination, alive with sound and rich in Steadily, the library world has seen and embraced new formats, from the original books on tape and VHS to the new formats of playaways and downloadable electronic media. Library customers drive this change with their eager acceptance of and hunger for these and other types of audiovisual material. As film rental stores suffer through bankruptcies, libraries must seize their opportunity. People seeking traditional brick-and-mortar video rental can enjoy our physical space, while Netflix and Amazon customers who expect recommendations while browsing also can have their needs met through readers' advisory. How then does a readers' advisor adapt to the growing demand for nonprint materials? A new terminology is required. Rather than develop different skills and terms for viewers' advisory, listeners' advisory, and readers' advisory, an all-encompassing term should be created to reflect the universal and modern nature of our skills. Materials matchmaking implies the level of personal preference that informs each interaction while keeping the result set broad and unlimited by Without realizing it, many customers already expect a recommendation model not limited by format, much like that provided by Amazon. Those without expectation are educated on library scope when offered multiple formats when they simply provided a title. A customer interested in Marley and Me may be delighted to learn of the availability of not only the book by John Grogan, but also the film starring Owen Wilson, the audiobook narrated by Johnny Heller, or the kids' books by various authors. Offering multiformat materials advisory to library customers is not significantly different from offering traditional library services, it simply requires a broader filter when creating connections between customers and library materials. Ascertaining whether or not the customer is looking for a specific suggestion, an answer to a question, or requesting a barrage of possibilities is the first step. Providing materials matchmaking for nonreaders will guarantee the sustainability of the library by showing relevance to all members of the community and by providing a possible bridge to more traditional library services, including requesting print material. Customers who start by requesting informational videos can be enriched by considering the print collection and vice versa. Pitman states, In fact, there are all kinds of questions that we answer by automatically pointing patrons toward the book stacks that we could just as easily (if not better) handle with video format. (1) When working with readers, we use the elements of appeal to make connections to new books and authors. …
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-03-22
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 3
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