Champaign Public Library

About two years ago, Champaign Public Library formed a readers’ advisory working group. They meet once a month, and anyone who works at the library can attend, no matter what department they work in. Champaign Public Library understands that books are the core of everything they do. 

“Readers' advisory is everyone's business, no matter where you are or what you're doing in the library,” says Nanette. “We invite everybody to attend these meetings where we discuss ways to improve readers' advisory service, ways to market our readers' advisory service, and readers' advisory training.”

“One of the things that we have done with our Learn with NoveList subscription is take the classes together as a group. We have asynchronous chats going on in our Readers' Advisory Working Group Team chat where we can discuss what we're learning and see if there's anything that we think is particularly interesting that we want to implement. We've also used some of the webinars as training opportunities, where we will book a conference room and watch a live webinar together and then spend half an hour discussing afterwards.”

With a subscription to Learn with NoveList Plus, library staff get quality, expert training in readers’ advisory and library promotions. These are the focused professional development courses library staff need to connect with their readers and community.

“Several of us have taken the course, Be Genre Confident: How to Recommend Books in the Eight Most Challenging Genres,” explains Nanette. “I think genres are one of the things that intimidate people about readers' advisory the most. Staff might think, “I don't read that type of book. That's not something that I enjoy or that I'm drawn to.’”

“We want to make sure that staff know what the appeal factors are for a variety of different genres, that they feel confident if somebody comes up to them and asks for suggestions in a genre they don’t read. What are the right questions to ask to get the person the type of book that they're looking for?” 

The staff at Champaign Public Library isn’t limited to the courses they take as part of the readers’ advisory working group. They have access to a full catalog of dozens of courses, amounting to hours of training in working with readers and promoting their library. The courses vary in format: Self-paced, live events, and webinars with bonus resources. 

“We've been really pleased with Learn with NoveList,” exclaims Nanette. “The variety and scope of classes that are included means there's a little something for everyone, regardless of what age group you're working with, regardless of where your skill level is. There are courses for absolute beginners, and there are courses for folks who have been at this for a while.”

“They like the video-based components. They also like the live sessions a lot because they allow staff to interact with the instructors and to interact with folks from other libraries.”

“The course, Strategic Reader Services: A Complete Plan, included a ton of handouts that are really great. That allowed me to really work through and figure out the direction we needed to go for this. I'm really excited that that's available to all staff, because I'd like to have some of the folks who attend the working group regularly take that so we can really start thinking about how to continue improving our services to readers.” 

Staff at the Champaign Public Library know that the value of their Learn with NoveList subscription keeps growing, as they get ongoing access to new courses available only to Learn with NoveList Plus subscribers.

“There's always fresh content,” explains Nanette. “It’s great value for the money.”

“If you take these classes one by one, it gets really pricey. It’s an investment in staff, and I think that we're all looking for professional development experiences and opportunities that are a good value and that are accessible to staff across a variety of different levels.”

“Staff appreciate the investment in their professional development and training. Just to have all these courses available for people whenever they feel drawn to learn something new in the readers' advisory arena is just a really great benefit for staff, and it's a fantastic investment in their professional development."

"We have so many staff members now who are participating and helping come up with book matches when we get a new request. They're feeling more confident because they've done training, and because they feel they feel like they understand what readers' advisory is, how to provide good readers' advisory, and what questions to ask.”

The self-paced courses in the Learn with NoveList Plus catalog come in a variety of formats and lengths. Some take 30 minutes or less to complete. Others provide a deeper dive into topics that require several hours to complete. But no matter the length, Learn with NoveList Plus breaks concepts into chunks, with activities and fun elements to reinforce learning.

“One of the things that I like about Learn with NoveList is that the classes are broken up into little bite-sized pieces,” says Nanette. “So, if you only work 20 hours a week, and 16 of those hours are spent on a service desk, when you've got 15 minutes to spare, you can pop in to Learn with NoveList. You can watch a module or part of a module and learn something new.”