by Shonna Froebel

This informative session started with with 3 pieces from a documentary in progress by Western Oregon University professor Shawn Huston. The as-yet-unnamed documentary is on Portland’s comics culture and includes information on the history of the city as well as interviews with different Portland personalities involved in this culture.

This was followed by a lively panel of six librarians. Traci Glass from Eugene Public Library talked about her favorite resources for selection with an emphasis on YA and Children’s. She was followed by Laurel Winter from Multnomah County Library who talked about her system’s experiences, specifically covering how they did programming on this format for staff and how they added public programming to promote the collection.

Bob Renfo, the lead cataloguer from Multnomah County Library, related the system’s experience with cataloguing this format. They do a fair amount of local editing to the copy cataloguing they receive, adding things like original publication notes, changing written volume numbers to numerical so a series displays in volume order, and adding additional subjects, genres, and summary notes. For zines, they often do original cataloguing.

Katie Anderson from Oregon State Library touched on the issue of intellectual freedom and challenges, revealing that graphic novels aren’t actually challenged to the extent one would expect, accounting for only about 3% of challenges reported.
Cathy Camper from Multnomah County Library, a member of the Zine Librarians Group, talked about the zine format and the specific challenges that that format offers.

Jessica Lorentz-Smith, teacher-librarian from Bend High School, ended this panel session with her experiences working with teen readers and her involvement in the ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens Committee. She discussed ways of marketing this format to teens and how to include the format in book lists for teachers.

Participants were then invited to sit in small groups with one of the panel members to further discuss the issues brought up and share their own stories. I found this one of the most useful portions of this workshop, getting some great ideas I will be using in my own library to promote this format.”

Shonna Froebel is the Manager of Adult Information Services at the Barrie Public Library in Barrie, Ontario. She is the Vice Chair of the OPLA (Ontario Public Library Association) Readers’ Advisory Committee.

by Rick Roche

“Readers’ advisory service in public libraries should not be the duty of only a few designated librarians, according to the consensus of attendees of the PLA conference table talk ‘Building a Readers’ Advisory Team.’ Thursday morning’s message was that involvement of as much of the library staff from shelvers to the administrator helps build strong publicly-recognized services.

Neil Hollands and Barry Trott, both from the Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia, led the discussion with a larger than anticipated crowd. With many willing voices, they asked only two of the preprinted questions on the back of their handout, but most of the ten questions were addressed naturally in the lively forum on involving staff from across departments in either synchronous or asynchronous readers’ services. Opportunities abound and the culture of reading service is strengthened by the widespread participation.

Ideas that I thought worth keeping and apply include the following:

• The library may be branded a ’story place.’ Many of the items in the collection deliver stories, even self-help books and videos. Market that emotional appeal as we market services. Help clients write their own story.
• Repurpose every bit of work that is done for readers’ advisory. An annotation for a list can be reprinted on a card on a display and turned into a posting on a readers’ advisory blog. Never use anything just once.
• Online services, such as BookLetters and Good Reads, may be used to collect and distribute reading suggestions from across the staff.
• If possible, kick off an effort to involve staff from across departments at a staff development day. Use an outside speaker with experience in the field to persuade the reluctant.
• Let staff know up front that they will be lightly edited, emphasizing that it is assisting them with their message, not correcting them. Give them training and guidelines from the beginning.
• Suggest materials rather than recommend materials. Suggesting gives clients more involvement in a dialogue aimed at getting them materials they will enjoy. It is harder to decline a recommendation.
• Let staff communicate ‘what I am reading right now.’ It could be a little sign on a desk or even on a nametag. There could be a whiteboard with a current reading list.
• Some more involved staff could even have their own pages on the library reading blog. The blog should be tagged so readers can find reviews written by their favorite reviewers.
• Offer in-depth services, such as creating individual suggestion lists. Make creating a reading plan or just talking about books a specified option for Book-a-Librarian services.

There were plenty of great ideas shared in this lively meeting. The opportunities to broaden the service by involving other staff seem endless. Doing so does require much thought and effort, but it is a feasible expansion of service that requires no or little additional funding, making it appealing in these hard economic times.”

Rick Roche is a reference librarian at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library, Western Springs (IL). He is the author of the nonfiction readers’ guide Real Lives Revealed: A Guide to Reading Interests in Biography, and blogs at RickLibrarian.

by Sally Bissell

“I can’t think of a better way to begin a conference day than listening to the queens of RA: Neal Wyatt, Georgine Olson, and the inimitable Joyce Saricks! These women have been writing and speaking about readers’ advisory service for years and have embraced the changes and opportunities that new technologies have brought to the library world.

The hall was almost full, which was remarkable when one considers the lineup at Starbucks. First up was Neal whose main theme, I thought, was ‘be ahead of the curve – anticipate rather than react.’ Both she (and the audience, during the Q and A), advocated for librarians being more vocal about getting the changes we need from our technology to enable us to do a better job linking RA tools to the catalog.

Another famous librarian, David Wright, was in the audience and he posited that we should be able to come up with a way to all meet in cyberspace, talk about innovations that we might be implementing in our libraries, and share ideas so that we can stop reinventing the wheel. What works in South Dakota may not work in Florida but might be modified. It sounds so simple but still, someone has to begin the process. We’ll see what happens.

I love Joyce Saricks! She’s such a passionate spokesperson for Readers’ Advisory and this morning she came out of the closet as an audiobook addict. Many of us in the audience joined in the confession. She spoke to us about using her appeal characteristics as they apply to narrator and narration in audiobook format, about how important the right fit between narrator and material is to the appreciation of audiobooks, and she’s oh, so right!

As an audio fanatic myself, I can tell you and share with our customers that the wrong narrator will spoil the experience and turn folks off to audio reading. The right narrator, with an intuitive understanding of the author’s words, the sense of tone, mood and language that the author is trying to convey, can create an incomparable reading experience.

Georgine spoke last about a new (at least to me) tool in the kit. She calls it ’sliders.’ It’s a great term she uses to describe the gentle action of moving a reader to a new genre or format when they’ve exhausted everything in your collection in their preferred genre. I can see that this will become more and more necessary as budget cuts go deeper and librarians are forced to curtail purchases.

The beauty of ’sliders’ is that the customer does not have to wait for the result of an interlibrary loan but is leaving the library with a title in hand that has possibility for them, the potential to unlock an entirely new reading opportunity. The kind of RA interaction that involves sliders is a bit more personal and hands-on than some may be used to but, as Georgine says, the reward is as great for the librarian’s soul as it is for the patron’s.

In an attempt to have a green conference in a fabulous green convention center here in Portland, the presenters of workshops do not have pages and pages of handouts in the back of the room and that’s great. The majority of the handouts are freely available at the PLA Conference website.”

Sally Bissell is an adult services/reference librarian from Southwest Florida. She blogs about books and life at:
http://www.readaroundtheworld-sallyb.blogspot.com.

by Jenny LaPerriere

Today we have a real treat: a conference report from a session’s presenter. (Hearing the presenter’s point of view always gives conference reports a different twist, I think). Our post today is from Jenny LaPerriere, who presented the session “Merchandising Ease: Tracking Displays and Merchandising with a MDD” on Thursday morning.

“While passionate about merchandising and displays, I’ve been nervous about being a first time PLA presenter. Would the audience be receptive? Would they share my enthusiasm for displays? Would there be a heckler? The following is my preflight checklist, a precusor to my first PLA presentation:

• Presentation saved on two memory sticks, a cd, file copy sent to my email, and mounted on the web – check;
• Bags packed – check;
• typo on 300 color copies of my handout – check;
• and the realization that it is too late to reprint – check;
• oh, and the Denver blizzard that could delay the flight – check.

Happily, we did land without much delay and the session began at 8:30a.m. sharp. By announcing up front that there were prizes for those that found the typo, we pre-empted the risk of it coming up during the Q & A. There were no technical glitches aside from the turtle-slow Internet connection. The crowd was very receptive and even laughed in all the right places.

I’m not sure if my wild enthusiasm for displays came through my bundle of nerves, but there were several folks afterwards who had more questions and praise. Gotta love the kudos. Gotta love those merchandising converts that really “get it.”

For those of you in the blogosphere that missed the show, our book Merchandising Made Simple (Libraries Unlimited) is still available online and hopefully, at your local library!”

Jenny LaPerriere is the co-author of ‘”Merchandising Made Simple,” is a senior librarian at the Schlessman Family Branch of the Denver Public Library, and has been merchanding there for 9 years. Prior to that she has been a catalog librarian at the Rhode Island State Library, Head of Technical Services at the East Providence Public Library, and Director of the libraries in Foster, RI. We reviewed her book a few weeks ago. Thanks, Jenny!

by Cindy Orr

The presenters at this preconference were Jane Jorgensen of Madison Public Library, Wisconsin, and Barry Trott of Williamsburg Regional Library, Virginia, and moderator Kaite Mediatore Stover of Kansas City Public Library. Jessamyn West of Metafilter.com was scheduled as well, but lightning struck her plane (luckily she wasn’t on it), and she wasn’t able to make it to Portland in time.

Barry opened the presentation with some thoughts on the history of technology and RA:
Since at least the 1980s librarians have been using technologies, but readers’ advisory work is not covered much in library literature. (If you have an idea for an article, see or contact Barry, who edits RUSQ and is actively looking for RA articles.) In 2001, Roberta Johnson listed good uses for the Internet for RA: 1) answer challenging RA questions, 2) as a source for information on authors and their work, and 3) for collection development information. These were Web 1.0 applications.

In the mid-2000s, Tim O’Reilly began talking about Web 2.0: 1) trust users as co-developers, 2) harness collective intelligence, and 3) leverage the long tail. These tenets are very applicable to RA work.

Williamsburg Regional Library has used a form-based reading suggestion service since about 2004. They have a 75,000 person service area and have responded to about 700 forms so far (creating annotations as they go–2000 so far). They have tracked some of the demographics and found that 85% of the users of the form are female; their average and mean age is somewhere in the mid-30s. The most popular genres are mysteries, historical fiction, classics, thrillers, series, then fantasy. Most of the users read about 7 1/2 books a month; 99.9% like the service and would recommend it to friends.

Blogs:
The Williamsburg Regional Library staff has written a blog Blogging for a Good Book, since 2007. They post 5 reviews a week and a list on Saturdays, have 15,000 visitors a month, and use 18 regular bloggers on their staff. They use WordPress as their software, and they find that blogging reinforces the culture of RA in the whole library, crosses division lines, and gets staff talking to each other about books.

Barry’s 5 “F”s of a successful blog include:

• Focus (theirs is a review blog)
• Frequency (regular posts keep readers coming back)
• Fortitude (plan ahead and spread out the work)
• Flavor (develop a voice, and link to your catalog)
• Flexibility (assign editors and think about goals)

Incorporating Web 2.0 Technology in Your Catalog:
When you talk to users about the library website, it’s clear from their answers that they are using your catalog. Use its popularity and make your catalog 2.0! Allow reader reviews. (Chili Fresh is one way to do this if your ILS doesn’t.) Incorporate third party information like Library Thing for Libraries, NoveList Select; try to connect to social networks that already exist.

More notes will be available soon on the PLA Session Handouts Site soon.

Jane Jorgenson then covered “Social Media.”
Jane suggested terms like “proactive” and “reactive” RA (rather than “indirect” or “passive,” or “direct” or “active”). She shared a CNN article about people wanting information from friends rather than search engines; the high usage of Facebook, and Google getting into social networking with Google Buzz.

She also shared findings of a 2007 OCLC report, 2007: Those who use social media sites read more than people who don’t. 28% use the social web while 20% use the library catalog–we should be on the social web!

Jane’s words of advice:
Pick one or two things to start with, then add. Madison began by using Bookletters (although they modified some content), and THEN started their blog MadReads.

Jane’s 4 “C”s of Blogging:

• Content – get ahead
• Contributors – get help
• Commitment – keep it going
• Comments – do allow.

A review of the book Twilight had over 100 comments, while other books (As Simple As Snow) encourage deep discussion. They do post negative reviews, but only of big bestsellers.

After the blog, they added “Book-Alikes” by cooperating with libraries in a seven county region. This is a form-based recommendation service. They use gmail to organize the responses because it stores the same thread together. Their form is online, and they use Base Camp software to save annotations in a database. (Jane suggests looking at using Good Reads as a way to save content instead.) They give 5 – 10 suggestions.

Next up for Madison PL: Facebook and Twitter. Your library website is only found by people looking for it, while Facebook reaches out to users. It’s immediate and interactive. They also have a YouTube channel, and next they will work with a teen volunteer to do vlogcasts and podcasts. Videos by Gerard Saylor on YouTube are an example of a clear “voice.”

Don’t worry about “The Big Silence”…you post something or return a form with suggestions and hear nothing back. Remember, people are lurking out there and they’re paying attention. Think of yourself…how many times do you bother to comment? Consider other ways to measure effectiveness–she watches hold lists to see how many people request books they blog about.

Jessamyn’s slides for the program she was going to give are available on her website.

From the Preliminary Program of the PLA Conference March 23-27 in Portland:

Preconference #10 l Tuesday, March 23, 8:30 a.m. to noon – Readers’ Advisory 2.0: the Next Dimension

Preconference #6 l Tuesday, March 23, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Librarians Get Graphic

Luncheon noon to 1:45 p.m. – Speaker to be announced

Preconference #8 l Tuesday, March 23, 2 to 5:30 p.m. – Opening Doors, Opening Books: Providing Effective Readers’ Advisory Service

Preconference #3 l Wednesday, March 24, 8:30 a.m. to Noon – Booktalking Bootcamp

Wednesday 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. – Nancy Pearl Presents “Book Buzz”

Wednesday 2:30 – Opening General Session with Nicholas Kristof

Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. – 2010 PLA Authors Breakfast – Doubletree Hotel, Holladay Room, 1000 NE Multnomah Street, Portland, OR 97232 – Lisa Grunwald, Leila Meacham, Mary Roach, Mahbod Seraji, Phillip Margolin, Kristin Hannah, Mary Alice Monroe

Thursday 8:30 – Merchandising Ease: Tracking Displays & Merchandising with an MDD

Thursday 8:30 – Readers’ Advisory Tool Kit IV: Multimedia Readers’ Advisory

Thursday 10:30 – What’s New in Fantasy, Paranormal, and Science Fiction for Teens and Adults

Thursday noon to 1:45 p.m. – Young Adult Author Luncheon Speaker to be announced

Thursday noon to 1:45 p.m. – Adult Author Luncheon with Scott Turow

Thursday 2:00 p.m. – Crossover Advisory: Adult Books for Teens and Teen Books for Adults

Thursday 4:00 p.m. – What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Thursday 4:00 p.m. – Author Events Made Easy

Thursday 4:00 p.m. – You’re Invited: A Feast of New Literature for Teens

Thursday 6 to 8:30 p.m. – Audio Publishers Dinner – Chelsea Cain, Sue Grafton and Judy Kaye, Marcia Muller

Friday 8:30 a.m. – Thrilling Tales and Selected Shorts: An Adult Storytime @ your library

Friday 8:30 a.m. – Two-Minute Reviews of Recent Works by Northwest Authors

Friday 10:30 a.m. – Reader’s Advisory for Dummies: Yes,You CAN Judge a Book by Its Cover!

Friday 10:30 a.m. – The Top 5 of the Top 5

Friday 10:30 a.m. – What Teens Are Really Reading: Quick and Popular Titles to Entice Teens

Friday 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – The Best in Mystery Authors Revealed - Oregon Convention Center, Portland Ballroom #253-254 – Karin Slaughter, Ted Dekker, Cara Black, Meg Gardiner, Dana Haynes, Jo Nesbo.

Friday noon to 1:45 p.m. – Adult Author Luncheon – Speaker to be announced

Friday noon to 1:45 p.m. – Children’s Author Luncheon with Kadir Nelson

Friday 4:00 p.m. – More than Martinis and Manolos: Chick Lit and Women’s Fiction

Saturday 10:15 – Dewey or Don’t We?

Saturday 10:15 – Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory: Titles, Tips, and Techniques

Saturday 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Closing Session with Sarah Vowell

If we’ve missed a program, please let us know. It’s great to see so many RA programs on the schedule this time! And if you’re lucky enough to be attending one of the above programs and wouldn’t mind sharing with those left at home, please let us know. We’ll publish reports on the conference programs here. Drop us a note at rablog@lu.com.

The Public Library Association Conference will be in Portland March 23-26, 2010. Here are the Readers’ Advisory Programs we’ve found so far. Please let us know if we missed some. This conference has more RA programs than any in recent memory…and unlike other in the past, they’re not all offered at the same time. Way to go, Portland!

Tuesday 8:30 – 5:30 – Preconference – “Librarians Get Graphic”

Tuesday 8:30 – noon – Preconference – “Readers’ Advisory 2.0, the Next Dimension”

Tuesday 2:00 – 5:30 – Preconference – “Opening Doors, Opening Books: Providing Effective Readers’ Advisory Service” – Nancy Pearl

Wednesday 8:30 – noon – Preconference – Booktalking Boot Camp

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 10:30am – noon
Nancy Pearl Presents “Book Buzz”
Join PLA favorite Nancy Pearl and assorted friends from the world of publishing as they talk about some of the best upcoming books. This program is open to all registered conference attendees. Pearl recommends books regularly on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” as well as local public radio stations in Milwaukee, Seattle, and Tulsa. Her books include Book Crush: For Kids and Teens: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest and Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, all published by Sasquatch Books. Nancy’s talks are always a crowd favorite, so be sure to arrive early for prime seating!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Nicholas D. Kristof to Keynote PLA Conference Opening Session
For over twenty years, New York Times journalist Nicholas D. Kristof has been at the forefront of world issues, from his coverage of the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square to his recent reportage of the genocide in Darfur. His recent book (which he co-wrote with wife Sheryl WuDunn) Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide charts the oppression of women in developing countries and serves a s a call to action to combat these issues. Please join us for what is sure to be an inspiring and moving Opening Session! More information about Kristof can be found at his blog, YouTube channel, and the Half the Sky Movement website.

Thursday 8:30 – “Merchandising Ease: Tracking Displays & Merchandising with an MDD”

Thursday 8:30 – “Readers’ Advisory Tool Kit IV: Multimedia Readers’ Advisory”

Thursday 10:30 – “What’s New in Fantasy, Paranormal, and Science Fiction for Teens and
Adults”

Thursday, March 25, 2010 Noon – 1:45 p.m.
Thursday’s Adult Author Luncheon to feature Scott Turow
Scott Turow made a huge splash in the book world with his debut novel Presumed Innocent and has continued his streak of acclaimed best-selling books ever since. He has won a number of literary awards, including the Heartland Prize in 2003 for Reversible Errors and Time Magazine’s Best Work of Fiction 1999 for Personal Injuries. His latest novel, Innocent, will be published in Mary 2010. This event will require an additional fee.

Thursday, March 25, 2010 Noon – 1:45 p.m.
Thursday’s Young Adult Author Luncheon to feature Virginia Euwer Wolff
Acclaimed author Virginia Euwer Wolff has made an indelible impression on the YA landscape over the past twenty years, all the more notable considering she spent the first half of her career as an English teacher. Her books include the Make Lemonade trilogy, Bat 6, Probably Still Nick Swansen, and The Mozart Season. Each of her books has been named either an ALA Notable Book or ALA Best Book, and she received the National Book Award for True Believer. This event will require an additional fee.

Thursday 2:00 – “Crossover Advisory: Adult Books for Teens and Teen Books for Adults”

Thursday 4:00 – “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”

Thursday 4:00 – “Author Events Made Easy”

Thursday 4:00 – “You’re Invited: A Feast of New Literature for Teens”

Thursday, March 25th, 2010 6 – 8:30 p.m.
Audio Publisher’s Dinner
Join us for what is sure to be an entertaining evening, as we celebrate some of the best mystery authors writing today. This year’s speakers include Chelsea Cain, who has gained prominence with her taut Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell series; Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Milhone mysteries; Tony Award-winning actress Judy Kaye, who voices Kinsey Milhone on the audiobooks; and Marcia Muller, recently named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. This event will require an additional fee.

Friday 8:30 – “Thrilling Tales and Selected Shorts: An Adult Storytime @ your library”

Friday 8:30 – “Two-Minute Reviews of Recent Works by Northwest Authors”

Friday 10:30 – “Reader’s Advisory for Dummies: Yes,You CAN Judge a Book by Its Cover!”

Friday 10:30 – “The Top 5 of the Top 5″

Friday 10:30 – “What Teens Are Really Reading: Quick and Popular Titles to Entice Teens”

Friday, March 26, 2010 Noon – 1:45 p.m.
Friday’s Adult Author Luncheon to feature Luis Urrea
Author, poet, and essayist Luis Alberto Urrea was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist and was recently inducted into the Latino Literature Hall of Fame. Powerful and evocative, Urrea’s writing has concentrated largely on the Tijuana border culture and sheds light on a too-often forgotten people. He has written eleven books including The Devil’s Highway, The Hummingbird’s Daughter (based on the life of his great-aunt Teresita, often labeled “The Mexican Joan of Arc”), and, most recently, Into the Beautiful North. This event will require an additional fee.

Friday, March 26, 2010 Noon – 1:45 p.m.
Children’s Author Luncheon to feature Kadir Nelson
Kadir Nelson began his career as an award-winning illustrator of many children’s books, including Thunder Rose and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. His authorial debut, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, was a New York Times bestseller and won the Silbert Medal among many other awards. He has recently created a book called Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit about the historic election of Barack Obama. This event will require an additional fee.

Friday 4:00 – “More than Martinis and Manolos: Chick Lit and Women’s Fiction”

Saturday 8:30 – 11:30 – “Dewey or Don’t We?”

Saturday 10:15 – “Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory: Titles, Tips, and Techniques”

Saturday, March 27, 2010 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Sarah Vowell to Keynote Closing Session
Sarah Vowell is the acclaimed author of four bestselling books and has been a contributing editor for public radio’s “This American Life” since 1996. Vowell’s Assassination Vacation is a hilarious and haunting road trip to tourist sites devoted to the murders of presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Her latest book, The Wordy Shipmates, a history of American Puritans, was published in 2008 and she is currently at work on a history of 19th century Hawaii. Vowell’s candor and cutting wit will be the perfect way to conclude another successful PLA Conference. Don’t miss it!

Check the Preliminary Program for more information. Hope to see you in Portland.

Things that Go Bump in the Stacks: Whole Collection Advisory for Paranormal Fiction
Sponsored by RUSA CODES
by Jane Jorgensen

One of the first things I did when I realized I was attending ALA was to look for RA programs. Imagine the thrill of realizing that long-time favorite Charlaine Harris was going to be participating on a panel about paranormal fiction. And to find that the panel was moderated by Neil Hollands and included Marjorie Liu and Charlie Huston – it really doesn’t get better then that.

Neil started things off with intros (after we got to listen to Bad Things by Jace Everett, yay True Blood). Marjorie Liu hit big in 2005 with the first of her Dirk and Steele series, Tiger Eye. Since then she has been going strong with more of the D & S books and the start of the new Hunter Kiss series. Charlie Huston is “looking for the socially alienated, disaffected young men” who like to read his Joe Pitt books. These are noir crossed with vampires and “if someone looks maladjusted, that’s my (sic) core readership”. And Charlaine Harris who sees herself as a “romantic hard-boiled person” really needed no introduction. After years of toiling in the midlist (I like to think I discovered her when I read A Secret Rage back in the day) Charlaine has hit the bestseller world in a big way. I think you can guess why.

After the introductions Neil gave us a bit of perspective about the history of the paranormal and urban fantasy genres which blend a contemporary world with alternate, paranormal elements. Some seminal works in the timeline: Emma Bull’s War for the Oak’s and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. Parnormals used to be almost exclusively part of the horror genre and the vampires, werewolves, ghosts and other beasties were the villains, not the heroes.

Neil’s elements of appeal:
• magic in the real world
• genre crossover
• paranormal creatures
• strong female heroes
• humor, sexuality and fast-paced action
• real world issues

Once he suggested we try to be aware of trends to better prepare our collections, Neil started with some questions. First up was about what the authors have learned about their readers since they began. What it boiled down to for all three authors was in how Charlaine summed it up – after telling us about the 16-year-old who wrote and asked that she not have a heart attack and die because then we’d never find out who Sookie would choose! Though we all laughed at the self-centeredness of that teen (and maybe oh so secretly agreed) Charlaine’s point that readers’ views of the books have everything to do with who the reader is is a good one.

Next up were some specific questions for each of the authors: Bon Temps as the new murder capital of the world, how has Charlaine dealt with that? It was not the intention, the series and Sookie have evolved. How has Marjorie’s own experiences contributed to her international settings? She finds she sees things more vividly in new and strange places and that helps with the writing. Joe Pitt is a character driven by obsession and anger and yet somehow still sympathetic, how does Charlie manage that? Charlie doesn’t think he does. He’s surprised when anyone finds Joe Pitt worthy of sympathy because the guy’s a sociopath.

While I loved the questions about the how of what they do, I was happiest when Neil began to talk about the RA aspects and who they’d suggest to their readers if they put on a librarian cap for a moment. Charlie thinks his books would most closely appeal to readers of James Ellroy, Raymond Chandler and Charles Bukowski. Marjorie says there has been some difficulty for her because her Dirk and Steele books are romantic fantasy and her new series is fantasy with some romantic elements. If advising her readers she’d suggest Caitlyn Kittredge for those looking for paranormal fantasy and Sherrilyn Kenyon and Nalini Singh for a romance reader. And Charlaine most often suggests Kim Harrison and Patricia Briggs. This tied into a question asked about covers later in the program. The authors agreed that cover art and labeling has an impact on how the book is initially viewed by a reader and much of that is beyond their control though they think that librarians can have an impact as well when they make the choice about where to shelve the books.

Highlights from the questions from the audience: Marjorie was once asked to change the race of her hero because it would be too hard to have an asian guy on the cover. Charlaine was happy to hand Sookie and company over to Alan Ball because, well he’s Alan Ball. And Neil’s final question, which author/character would they like to see one more time in a book? Charlie would kill to be able to read another by Charles Bukowski, Charlaine wishes for another Jane Austen and Marjorie wants more Jane Stratton Porter (to cheers from the audience) and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Fun and informative, a perfect panel event.

Thanks to Neal Wyatt, RUSA President for sharing the book suggestions from many RAs that she featured in her President’s Forum on RA. And here they are….

Books suggested for the RUSA President’s Program 2009
The Readers’ Advisory Forum: Interdisciplinary RA, From Books and Beyond

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Suggested by: Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director

Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch
Suggested by: Rebecca Vnuk, Adult Services Director, Glen Ellyn Public Library

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein
Suggested by: Ina Stern, Associate Publisher Algonquin Books

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
Suggested by: Abby Blachly, LibraryThing

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan
Suggested by: Mary K. Chelton, Professor at Queens College/CUNY GSLIS

Dead Men’s Boots by Mike Carey
Suggested by: Ann Theis, Overbooked

Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference Edited by Margaret E. Wagner, Gary W. Gallagher, and Paul Finkelman
Suggested by: Rosemary L. Meszaros, MARS Chair

Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
Suggested by: Brian Kenney, Editorial Director, Publishing Group, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Emmanuel Guibert and Frederic Lemercier
Suggested by: Nancy Pearl, author of BookLust

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Suggested by: Susan Beck, RUSA Vice President

South of Broad by Pat Conroy
Suggested by: Cindy Orr, Consultant and Editor of the Readers Advisor Online Blog

Once on a Moonless Night by Sijie Dai
Suggested by: Barbara Hoffert, Editor, Library Journal Book Review

Blame by Michelle Huneven
Suggested by: Talia Sherer, Director of Library Marketing, Adult Trade, Macmillan

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Suggested by: Susan Hornung, RUSA Executive Director

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
Suggested by: Jim Rettig, ALA President

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
Suggested by: Roberta Stevens, incoming ALA Vice-President

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Suggested by: Jen Childs, Random House

Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat by Gwen Cooper
Suggested by: Marci Purcell, Random House

Darling Jim by Christian Moerk
Suggested by: Kaite Stover, He Reads/She Reads, Booklist

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Suggested by: Michael Levine-Clark, CODES Chair

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
Suggested by: Robin Nesbitt, Technical Services Director, Columbus Metropolitan Library

Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar, Inc.: A Journey Toward Sustaining Your Business, Brand, People, Community, and the Planet by Gary Erickson and Lois A.
Suggested by: Liz Markel, RUSA Marketing Specialist

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
Suggested by: David Lincove, History Section Chair

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Suggested by: Cathleen Towey, RUSA Awards Chair

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
Suggested by: Ike Pulver, Director, Saratoga Springs Public Library

The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno
Suggested by: Christopher Platt, Head, Materials Acquisitions, The New York Public Library

Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell
Suggested by: Jennifer Baker, The Reading List

Writing in an Age of Silence by Sara Paretsky
Suggested by: Mary Ghikas, ALA’s Sr. Associate Executive Director

In the Kitchen by Monica Ali
Suggested by: Jackie Sasaki, The Reading List

The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone
Suggested by: Dodie Ownes, Editor, SLJTeen

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson
Suggested by: Connie Van Fleet, Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
Suggested by: Sharron Smith, The Reading List

Serena by Ron Rash
Suggested by: Duncan Smith, Product Manager, NoveList, NextReads, Book Index with Reviews

A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by R. Dwayne Betts
Suggested by: Alan Walker, Penguin

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Suggested by: Neal Wyatt, RUSA President

The Librarian’s Book of Quotes by Tatyana Eckstrand
Suggested by: J. Michael Jeffers, Editorial Director ALA Editions

The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
Suggested by: Alan Ziebarth, Branch Manager West Lawn Branch, The Chicago Public Library

The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich
Suggested by: Rita W. Moss, BRASS Chair

City of Thieves by David Benioff
Suggested by: Megan McArdle, Manager, Collection Development/Technical Services Berkeley Public Library

All Other Nights by Dara Horn
Suggested by: Bill Ott, Booklist Editor & Publisher

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard
Suggested by: Virginia Stanley, Director, Library Marketing, HarperCollins Publishers

Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
Suggested by: Patricia Martin, author of RenGen: Renaissance Generation

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Suggested by: Stephanie Atkins, STARS Chair

Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion by Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee
Suggested by: Camila Alire, ALA President-Elect

Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing: Stories by Lydia Peelle
Suggested by: Miriam Tuliao, Assistant Director, Central Collection Development, Collections Strategy, New York Public Library

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
Suggested by: Joyce Saricks, author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction

Fidelity: Five Stories by Wendell Berry
Suggested by: Barry Trott, Adult Services Director, Williamsburg Regional Library

Cold Light of Mourning: A Mystery by Elizabeth J. Duncan
Suggested by: Judy Solberg, RSS Chair

Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
Suggested by: Tapley Trudell, The Reading List

Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck
Suggested by: Golda Rademacher, W.W. Norton

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Suggested by: Barbara Ittner, Libraries Unlimited

Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Suggested by: Heather McCormack, Library Journal/BookSmack!

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Suggested by: Francine Fialkoff, Editor-in-Chief, Library Journal

Mating Rituals of the North American WASP by Lauren Lipton
Suggested by: Corinne Hill, Dallas Public Library

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Suggested by: Margaret Monsour, Project Director, Smart Investing@ your library

In My Father’s Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles by Chris Welles Feder
Suggested by: Michael Rockliff, Director, Library Sales and Marketing, Workman Publishing Company

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System by Nick Montfort
and Ian Bogost
Suggested by: Nathan Altice, Musician

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Suggested by: David Wright, The Seattle Public Library

Great list! Thanks to all.