Readers' Advisory with Christina

  The Astronaut Wives Club  by Lily Koppel 1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum? _ Highly narrative (reads like fiction) X A mix (combines highly narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose) _ Highly fact based (has few or no narrative moments) 2. What is the subject of the book? This book is about the wives of the first astronauts and how their husbands’ jobs affected their lives. 3. What type of book is it? Biography 4. Articulate appeal What is the pacing of the book? The book travels through events quickly. At times it reads slowly because of all the information packed in each paragraph, but because of how quickly it skims over information, for the most part it is a quick read.   Describe the characters of the book. It is character focused and tells the stories of many women. New characters are added in throughout the book and because so many of the wives are talked about, the reader gets to know some of them more than others and ...

  Author: Alisa Vitti Title: WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source Genre: Non-Fiction Publication Date: 2013 Number of Pages: 336 Time Period: Present Series: Standalone   Plot Summary Alisa Vitta was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome and went on a journey to cure herself, despite being told there was no cure. Frustrated by the lack of science surrounding women’s health, she dedicated herself to finding out how women can best support their bodies. WomanCode is full of information and gives guidance on lifestyle changes women can make to heal their bodies. Irregular periods, fertility issues, and depression are some of the symptoms that she discusses. Rather than put a band-aid on these, she looks for the root cause.   Subject Headings: Non-Fiction, Health, Women’s Health, Science   Appeal Pacing In non-fiction, the pace is set by the amount and type ...

  The ability to download multiple books on one device and essentially carry around all those books at once is a huge appeal of ebooks. Although there is something nostalgic and comforting about holding a physical book and turning the pages, a lot of people are content to give that up for the benefits of ebooks. In an age where convince is a priority, ebooks are appealing because they can be downloaded any day, at any time, and you don’t need to leave your house to get them. Although ebooks show the percentage you have read, it can be difficult to visualize how much of the book you have read and have left. One time I had a patron ask to see a book at the library so he could grasp visually how far he was in that same book, which he was reading on an e-reader. I think when it comes to most appeal factors, like pacing, tone and storyline, I have always been under the impression that ebooks have very few differences from print fiction books and a few more differences from print non-f...

Author:  Melanie Benjamin Title:  The Aviator's Wife Genre:  Historical Fiction Publication Date:  2013 Number of Pages:  416 Time Period:  1920s – 1970s Series:  Standalone   Plot Summary The Aviator’s Wife  tells the story of Anne Marrow, who married famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. The book brings us back and forth in time as it explores their relationship and their family. Anne was a shy girl who always stood in the shadow of her older sister. Her entire world is changed when Charles Lindbergh took notice of her, rather than her sister, on a trip to Mexico. When they get married, she is suddenly thrown into the spotlight of the public eye. In an effort to shield her from the public, Charles effectively brings her back into the shadows. Anne appeared to be quietly standing behind the scenes, but in reality, she was one of the first women to fly and was a writer and poet. Despite her own achievements, she was once again i...

The book club I observed discusses adult fiction books. They meet once a month a have a group of regulars that have become friends through the book club. Pre-covid they would often go out for lunch together before the book club. There were eleven people, all retirement age. The library is able to purchase book club kits that have both regular and large print copies of the book they are reading. One librarian puts these together for the entire system. She picks popular books to use and librarians who host book clubs are able to request that she uses specific books. The kits are available for patrons to check out for their own book clubs outside the library as well. When the library is using a kit for one of their book club discussions, patrons can come to the library to get a book from the kit up to a month before the meeting. Patrons did mention during the meeting that they would like the library to get more eBook copies of the books they discuss. The kits come with a list of questio...

Librarians are as important a service to patrons as services we pay for, such as Overdrive and Hoopla. We can know all the best reader’s advisory resources and have great services in place, but they don’t do our patron much good if they don’t know about them. In order to best market your services, you must know your audience, ensure your service is meeting their needs, and promote your service. Audience analysis is something a lot of people skip when marketing their services. A key part of marketing is examining your current and potential audience and understanding their perspective.  The Weymouth Public Library found that their patrons really responded to the personalized aspect of their reader’s advisory service, so they rebranded their service to emphasize the personal nature of it (Novelist, 2020). Taking the time to know your audience is important. Understanding your patrons can help you match them with services that are useful to them. Your service should also meet your p...

  Image Text (I don't know why my image is so blurry. I made it 8.5" x 11" in Canva. If anyone knows how many pixels / what size it should be to avoid this, I'd appreciate the help!): Author: Emily St. John Mandel Title: Station Eleven Genre: Science Fiction Publication Date: 2014 Number of Pages: 333 Geographical Setting: Toronto, Ontario (Canada), Michigan (United States) Time Period: Future Series: Standalone   Plot Summary Station Eleven is set during a post-apocalyptic world where most of the population has died from a flu pandemic. The story jumps around in time, alternating between the early days of the pandemic and 15-20 years later when there are few survivors roaming the earth. The book follows the lives of several survivors, tracing how their lives connect through a troupe of traveling musicians and actors. Throughout the book we find out how a famous Hollywood actor, who died in the first chapter, is the thread that connects the...