While I was getting my degree in library and information science, I took a number of what you might call “typical” library science classes: reference services (how to answer reference questions), cataloging (how to catalog library materials), collection development (how to select materials to add to the library’s collection), and public relations (how to appropriately market the library and its services to the public). I enjoyed all of these classes and learned quite a bit about the inner workings of the library as an organization. One of my favorite classes, however, dealt with a subject matter that you might be surprised to hear has an academic study devoted to it: readers’ advisory.
You can think of readers’ advisory as the science of book recommending. When you come up to the desk at the library and ask one of the librarians for a book suggestion, that librarian is engaging in a readers’ advisory interaction with you. As librarians, it is impossible for us to read or become familiar with all the materials our library makes available to readers. If you count each individual item, that’s around 60,000 materials. We have certain tools available to use to intelligently determine which book might be a good fit for each reader.
If you’ve read a lot of books, you know that no two books are the same. Reasons you enjoyed one book make not apply to why enjoyed another. Readers’ advisory focuses on what makes a book appealing to you. What you find appealing in a book can be split into what are called “appeal factors.” Here are some of the most common: writing style, setting, tone, pace, characterization, frame, genre, storyline, subject, and reading level.
When you come up to the desk and ask for a recommendation, the librarian will most likely ask you a few questions to narrow down your personal appeal factors. Do you enjoy a fast-paced read? If you do, someone might suggest a thriller like “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson or “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown. If you want to further narrow your choices, you might add that you would like a story set in Europe with a lot of character development. This will help the librarian find exactly what you are looking for. If you’ve narrowed it down too much, someone will tell you that we don’t have any thrillers that fit those criteria, but we do have a cozy mystery that might strike your fancy.
I just finished reading “Dark Places” by Gillian Flynn. This is how I would classify it based on some of the above appeal factors. I would characterize Flynn’s writing style as complex in that it is both very descriptive but also straight to the point with no flowery poetic moments. The setting is an easy appeal factor to identify for any book; Dark Places takes place in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. This novel has a strikingly dark tone. It contains moments of violence, crime, profanity, and quite a bit of dysfunction. Though it is overwhelmingly dark (as the title would suggest), there are moments of redemption. I would consider this to be a face-paced story. I listened to it in my car, and found myself thoroughly engrossed with my mind wandering very little – a hallmark of good pacing for me. The book’s characterization is detailed and life-like. There are three main characters, and each has a distinctive voice.
When reading each character’s chapter, I learn more about him/her and his/her accompanying motivations. The novel has what I would call a multiple plot line storyline. You could also characterize it as episodic, complex, and twisting. This is one of the reasons I found Dark Places so compelling.
The Sweetwater County Library also offers access to a great readers’ advisory database called NoveList Plus. I urge you to check it out. The database will help you determine the appeal factors of your favorite books. Once you know more about what makes a book appealing to you, your readers’ advisory conversation with a librarian will easily yield very fruitful results.
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