by Sarah Statz Cords
Has anyone else been following all the recent hullabaloo about “the Biblioracle” at The Morning News website?
The gist of the idea was this: readers of The Morning News (a great online journal, by the way, of culture and book news; they’re also the people who bring you the annual Tournament of Books) were invited to send lists of the last five books they had read to TMN contributing writer John Warner (a.k.a. “the Biblioracle”), and he would write back to them with several suggestions for further reading they might enjoy.
As discussed in Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn’s New Yorker blog post*, demand far outstripped supply, and Warner received so many requests that the service had to be shut down early (although the website promises that the oracle will return later this summer). As of today, the number of comments attached to the article announcing the service is 1045–that’s right–more than a THOUSAND comments.
Friends and librarian neighbors, what are we doing wrong?** We have been here all along just begging to suggest further reading; we are the original biblioracles. Why don’t people ask us these sort of book suggestion questions at our libraries? Clearly there IS an audience for RA services–and I know everyone who’s working a service desk these days is probably overtaxed and doesn’t want a thousand questions about book recommendations–but how can we structure our libraries, services, and websites to try and give the Biblioracle a run for his money? Do we need to start our own library literary and online journals to reach out to where all the readers are?
*Thanks to Patty Franz, of the Pamunkey Regional Library (VA), for posting this link on Fiction-L in early June 2010.
**Bless her heart, at least one commenter did suggest that if people missed the oracle’s window, they could always go talk to a librarian.
Laurie,
I think you’re probably right about the anonymity; also about the access (with people working longer hours and library hours being curtailed, it’s harder to get in and talk to a librarian all the time!). To me it seems like you’ve described a two-pronged problem: 1. how do we set up similarly anonymous services, if that’s what people really want, and advertise them, and 2. how can we address our RA conversations to make them less intimidating for people, and can we address that in our RA training? It seems to me like people don’t have any problems talking to booksellers or other readers–so do we appear more threatening than booksellers? Maybe something as simple as training RAs to add a short statement (kindly and sincerely said) like “If these aren’t for you, just let me know and we’ll try again. Sometimes reading is really personal and it’s hard to get suggestions just right!” (Or something like that, anyway.)
Venta,
Yeah, I got a charge out of that too. Get over yourself, guy, was my exact thought, I believe.
I think starting with addressing marketing and signage is a great idea. (And EVERY library web site should have a reading help or reading suggestions page, I don’t care how understaffed we are.) But I also wonder how we can go find more hardcore readers than we’re serving. How can we get a reading following like The Morning News obviously has? Can we host our own tournament of books? Etc.
I would guess you’re right about recommended book lists leading to higher circs for those titles–that’s the theory behind book displays anyway. Let’s face it–there’s lots of books and no one has any extra time, who wouldn’t like a list to start narrowing down their choices? (I’m personally shopping for a new home computer, and I’ll tell you this–I’d KILL for a list of “dependable basic small business laptops” from which to choose, rather than having to do all the research myself!!)
Thanks for pointing out the Biblioracle. I had missed that whole thing.
As a public librarian fiction reader’s advisor, I think the main attraction of the online version is the anonymity and simplicity. Reading tastes are so personal that people hesitate to discuss them. Maybe out of fear of being thought a lowbrow or a snob, or maybe because it can be difficult to articulate what you like. With an actual librarian, you have to first believe that the librarian will be able to suggest a book or two you might like and then allow for the possibility of a mistaken suggestion or two and come back and tell the librarian what you did or didn’t like. I think people are afraid of hurting my feelings if they didn’t enjoy a suggested book or else they just figure I’m not a good person to ask anymore. The people who come back and give me another chance are almost always the ones who liked the suggestions. But online interactions are low-pressure and anonymous. If the Biblioracle blows it with his suggestions, you’re not going to see him the day you sneak them all back to the library unread!
First, I like how he said he thought of this idea first!!
Maybe libraries have to market reader’s advisory more. Could we put up posters that read, “Ask the librarian what to read next.” On web sites next to “recommended reading” could we have an email link to “Ask a librarian what to read next.”
My library doesn’t have a “recommended reading” page, but I wonder if anyone has looked to see if those books do get checked out more. I know when I look at recommended lists and see an interesting book, most, if not all the copies are checked out.