Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library (Ala Editions)

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful resource
Review: An expanded and updated version of her 1989 title, this book describes the past and present philosophy of readers' advisory service in public libraries. Sarick offers many training ideas for librarians interested in learning how to perform the service. She gives guidelines on how to conduct the readers' advisory interview, which she describes as a conversation about books between a patron and the librarian. One goal of the readers' advisory interview is to demonstrate that the conversation should be viewed to be as important a library service as is answering reference questions. I found that one of the most interesting chapters was on defining the book's appeal to the reader, the basic elements of which are pacing, characterization, story line and setting. The author devotes an entire chapter in this version on how to articulate those elements, to get the reader to describe what it is about that book that makes them want to find a similar one.

Part of the staff at the Downer's Grove Public Library, Sarick helped to create their readers' advisory service in 1983. The author achieves her goal in this book of introducing the materials, skills and philosophy of readers' advisory service.

This book will be a very useful training tool for libraries and librarians interested in learning how to provide readers' advisory service in their libraries. Many specific examples of authors, titles and genres are described within the text, and a list of popular authors within each genre is included.