Readers’ Advisory: The Who, the How, and the Why
Abstract
In this issue, we are fortunate to welcome a pioneer in readers’ advisory. Duncan Smith has helped shape how we think of readers’ services and how we help our readers find their next good book. But, more than that, he has a passion for RA that shines through his presentations, work, and writing. With other pioneers such as Joyce Saricks, Nancy Pearl, and Nancy Brown, we have shaped our RA practices around appeals, the reference interview model and implicit knowledge. In Bill Crowley’s 2014 article “Time to Rethink Readers’ Advisory Education?,” Crowley questions our current practices and provides thoughtful reflection on a new direction for growing RA. This article, written by Duncan Smith, is a response to Crowley’s thoughts. Addressing some of Crowley’s ideas directly, but also reflecting on what it is to be a professional, Smith presents ideas that should start a dialogue within our profession about how we view RA services, who can be a readers’ advisor, and how we push our services into the future.
References
Bill Crowley, “Time to Rethink Readers’ Advisory Education?” Public Libraries 53, no 4 (July/August 2014): 37–43.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston: American Heritage and Houghton-Mifflin, 1969): 1044–45.
Ibid., 1045.
Meredith Schwartz and Henrietta Thornton-Verma, “The State of Readers’ Advisory,” Library Journal 139, no 2 (February 1, 2014): 30–31.
“Readers’ Advisory Survey—Final Report,” Library Journal (2013): 5.
Schwartz and Thornton-Verma, “The State of Readers’ Advisory,” 31.
Kenneth D. Shearer, “The Nature of the Readers’ Advisory Transaction in Adult Reading,” in Guiding the Reader to the Next Book, edited by Kenneth D. Shearer, 1–20 (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1996).
Anne K. May et al., “A Look at Readers’ Advisory Services,” Library Journal 125 (September 15, 2000): 40–43.
Catherine Sheldrick Ross to Duncan Smith, personal communication, May 23, 2014.
Mary K. Chelton, “Mary K.’s Generic Rules for RA,” personal communication to Duncan Smith, April 22, 2014.
May et al., “A Look at Readers’ Advisory Services,” 43.
Katrina Pugh, Sharing Hidden Know-How (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2011).
Donna S. Queeney, “Problems of Content and Delivery in Continuing Professional Education,” in Professional Workers As Learners, edited by E. Stephen Hunt, 35–55 (Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Sept. 1992).
Duncan Smith, “Talking with Readers: A Competency Based Approach to Readers’ Advisory Service,” Reference & User Services Quarterly (Winter 2000): 135–43.
The Secret Language of Books: A Guide to Appeal (Durham, NC: NoveList, EBSCO, 2014).
Neil Hollands and Barry Trott, “Improving the Model for Interactive Readers’ Advisory Service,” Reference & User Services Quarterly (Spring 2006): 205–12.
Donald A. Schon, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action (New York: Basic Books, 1983).
Duncan Smith, “The Greening of Librarianship: Towards a Human Resource Development Ecology,” Journal of Library Administration 17, no. 1 (1992): 37–54.
Peter Hernon and Charles R. McClure, “Unobtrusive Reference Testing: The 55 Percent Rule,” Library Journal 111 (April 15, 1986): 37–41.
Ralph Gers and Lillie J. Seward, “Improving Reference Performance: Results of a Statewide Study,” Library Journal (November 1, 1985): 32–35.
Lillie Seward Dyson, “Improving Reference Services: A Maryland Training Program Bring Positive Results,” Public Libraries 31 (September/October 1992): 284–89.
Laura J. Isenstein, “Get Your Reference Staff on the STAR Track,” Library Journal (April 15, 1992): 34–38.
Esther Jane Carrier, Fiction in Public Libraries: 1876–1900 (New York: Scarecrow, 1965).
Keith Oatley, “The Mind’s Flight Simulator,” The Psychologist 21, no. 12 (December 2008): 1030–32.
Catherine Sheldrick Ross, “Finding without Seeking: What Readers Say about the Role of Pleasure Reading as a Source of Information,” APLIS (June 2000): 72–81.
John Coleman “For Those Who Want to Lead, Read,” Harvard Business Review (online), August 15, 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/08/for-those-who-want-to-lead-rea.
Duncan Smith “Books: An Essential Part of Essential Libraries,” Public Library Quarterly 30, no. 4 (2011): 257–69.
Wallace Stevens, The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens (New York: Knopf, 1976), 250.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.54n4.11
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