When I worked as a teen librarian, I tried my hardest to schedule my readers’ advisory brainstorming during our “quiet” window, which was after storytime and before the kids were let loose from school. But that didn’t always go as planned, especially during those summer months! I frequently turned to NoveList for the newest trends or to get a better understanding of a genre outside my expertise.
I was considerably terrible at recommending titles for teen romance. It was not my cup of tea but as we all know it is VERY popular! But I never had to worry because I had help from NoveList. NoveList has genre guides that make it super easy to dive deeper into a genre. You can also limit which guides to explore by audience. For example, our Romance for Teens genre guide gives you an insight into the genre and its characters, along with popular themes and the reason *why* a reader enjoys this genre. But my favorite part of these guides is the list of key titles and authors that you can easily use to build a book display or even start a book club. Who doesn’t love when all the work is done for you?!
NoveList also helps staff keep up with the latest trends in pop culture, music, movies, tv shows, video games, and more, like our easy-to-use “For Fans of...” lists. Like the genre guides, these Recommended Reads lists are browsable by audience level. One of our newest recommendation lists is for The Last of Us TV show/video game. It’s available for both teen and adult audiences and is filled with post-apocalyptic stories ready for readers to enjoy! You will also find an abundance of other curated lists that include different genres, audiobooks, Best of 2022 and, one of my favorites, Book Club Best Bets — all designed to help you find new and exciting titles to help with programming, collection development, book displays and more.
LibraryAware subscribers can find ready-to-use templates for many of our NoveList lists but also recommended titles that tie in current holidays, themes, programming, and more. Take a look at this fun birding book flyer or the captivating template for The Last of Us, perfect for the upcoming fun-in-the-sun months! With LibraryAware, you can quickly share our reading recommendation templates with your patrons with a push of a button or print them out and add to a display.
Templates #MadeinLibraryAware.
Last but certainly not least, if you are finding yourself in need of a readers’ advisory “tune-up,” NoveList has you covered! Learn with NoveList offers both self-paced and live group sessions that cover a wide variety of reader’s advisory content, from learning the basic foundations of readers’ advisory to gaining a better understanding of genres and story elements. Led by readers’ advisory experts, our professional courses can help you supercharge your staff’s RA and library marketing skills and take them to the next level. Email learnwithnovelist@ebsco.com to learn more!
Maria Fonseca-Gonzalez is a NoveList Consultant. As always, she is currently reading (every night) Peek-a-Boo Moon by Camilla Reid to her daughter.
