We’ve all been there. You’re working on the reference desk, and that enthusiastic science fiction fan shows up when your sci-fi genre expert colleague is on their lunch break. Or you’re a dedicated children’s book reader, and a parent asks for a recommendation for their book club. Or the worst (and most common!) scenario: a nice patron comes up and asks for a book suggestion, and your mind goes totally blank. It’s as if you’ve never read any books. Ever.
Never fear, this happens to every single person who works with books, which is why I am so thrilled to announce our newest self-paced course: The Art and Practice of Providing Outstanding Reading Recommendations.
From answering the question “Can you suggest a good book?” to working with readers who don’t seem to know exactly what they want to offering diverse reading suggestions, The Art and Practice of Providing Outstanding Reading Recommendations gives you the tools and resources you need to feel confident in many of the readers’ advisory situations you’re likely to come across.
The course features the expertise of nearly a dozen readers’ advisory experts who have been in the exact situations you face and have plenty of advice and practical tips to share. There are also learning activities and opportunities to stop and make sure you will retain the information in the course.
Finally, this course covers how to track and measure your readers’ advisory activities to be sure that what you’re doing is having the impact you want, and we discuss advocating for readers’ advisory services in your library.
Want to learn more? Check out the course description and sign-up for the course here. And make sure to let us know if there are any courses you would like to see from Learn with NoveList!
Halle Carlson is a Content Development Manager at NoveList. She is currently reading The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas.
