Readers’ Advisory: Trends and Directions in RA Education

Stephanie H. Anderson

Abstract


The last two issues of the Readers’ Advisory (RA) column have featured thoughtful, though somewhat different, views of the future of services to readers in public libraries. Duncan Smith and Bill Crowley share an understanding of the value and importance of RA services, if disagreeing on the steps to ensure the continued success of those services. Here, Stephanie Anderson looks at a topic that lays the foundation for the future of RA practice: RA education.—Editor


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References


Library Journal, “Readers’ Advisory Services in Public Libraries: Responses from 694 Public Libraries Surveyed in November 2013,” Library Journal, 2013, http://lj.libraryjournal.com/downloads/2013-readers-advisory-services-in-public-libraries.

Keren Dali, “Readers’ Advisory: Can We Take It to the Next Level?” Library Review 64, no. 4/5 (2015): 386.

Kaite Mediatore Stover, “Working Without a Net: Readers’ Advisory in the Small Public Library,” Reference & User Services Quarterly 45, no. 2 (2005): 122–25.

Bill Crowley, “Differing Mental Models and the Futures of Libraries, Librarians, and Readers’ Advisory,” Reference & User Services Quarterly 55, no. 2 (2015): 94.

For examples, see Karen Pundsack, “Moving Readers’ Advisory Online,” Public Libraries Online, 2014, http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2014/09/moving-readers-advisory-online.

Susan K. Burke and Molly Strothmann, “Adult Readers’ Advisory Services through Public Library Websites,” Reference & User Services Quarterly 55, no. 2 (2015): 141.

Kelly House, “Your Own Personal Librarian: Multnomah County Library Allows Patrons to Pick Professional Book Advisors Online,” Oregon Live, 2014, www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/04/your_own_personal_librarian_mu.html.

Alison Kastner, email message to author, April 7, 2015. See also the presentation at Multnomah County Library, “My Librarian: Personalization and the Future of Reader’s Services,” 2015, https://prezi.com/py7wucy1zs47/my-librarian-personalization-and-the-future-of-readers-ser.

Neal Wyatt, “Redefining RA: Reading Maps Remake RA,” Library Journal, 2006, http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2006/11/ljarchives/lj-series-redefining-ra-reading-maps-remake-ra.

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Wayne A. Wiegand, “Missing the Real Story: Where Library and Information Science Fails the Library Profession,” in The Readers’ Advisor’s Companion, edited by Kenneth D. Shearer and Robert Bergin (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2001): 7–14.

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Duncan Smith, email message to author, March 23, 2015.

Neil Hollands and Jessica E. Moyer, “The Future of Readers’ Advisory,” in Research-Based Readers’ Advisory, edited by Jessica E. Moyer (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2008), 242–60.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.55n3.203

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