Helen Hall Public Library

The library just finished the strategic planning process. One of the library’s main goals is to excel in customer service by connecting readers to books they want, when they want them.

“We did a lot of community conversations, mini town halls, and a survey,” says Meredith. “We got a lot of excellent feedback from the community. One thing that I think will not be a surprise to anyone is that books are still our brand, and people really identified early literacy, literacy, and lifelong learning as their top priorities for the library. It would be remiss if those were not the key parts of any service, really making sure that we are providing unique and fulfilling reading experiences and lifelong learning experiences for everyone in the community.”

The library has an entire “Books & More” section on its website. Staff are especially proud of their specialized, bespoke readers’ advisory service called “Made-to-Order.” They also have a book box service for teens and adults. And they use NoveList Plus to connect readers with their individual reading interests.

“You know, you get a form, and it's a teen, and they only want to read Amish romances,” explains Meredith. “Novelist Plus is a perfect tool for those kinds of very specific wants and needs.” 

Meredith’s team can’t read all the books and know everything about every genre and subgenre... no one can! She says NoveList Plus is invaluable for providing recommendations for books of every kind.

“You don’t have to wait for your coworkers to come back from lunch to help the person because you don't know anything about romance,” states Meredith. “You can help them then and there by using all the tools that NoveList Plus offers.”

“And I think that’s one of the things I find most impactful. People will talk about using a variety of readers’ advisory tools, but those tools are not going to tell you why you should recommend a specific title to somebody.” 

Meredith’s staff knows that a magical connection with readers can happen in many places in the library. They have NoveList Plus ready to help them with all their readers’ advisory tasks.

“Everyone in our library uses NoveList Plus,” says Meredith. “Whether they're directly helping somebody at a service desk, they're creating tools that our customers can use online, through the catalog, a bookmark with reading suggestions, or in-shelf recommendations. We're all using it for a variety of purposes.”

“One of my very favorite things to do is to go into the Advanced Search and find a genre or topical term, and then I only want to see things that have starred reviews, or I only want to see award winners, and I only want to see them for the past five years. The Advanced Search feature is just amazing.”

The staff at Helen Hall Library have made certain their readers can find their next great read anytime. They make it a point to show readers how to use NoveList Plus to search for books.

"Through our website, we try to place NoveList Plus really front and center,” explains Meredith. “We try to make it easy for patrons to find. If a customer is looking for a title, NoveList Plus enables any one of us to say, ‘I can put you on hold for that. But I also have a tool for you. We can be able to find you something that is checked in that can tide you over, even if that's not your genre, even if it's not something that you typically read.’”

“We help them get to know the experience and walk them through. Once they see the power, they understand that it's a really amazing, amazing tool. It's one of the most highly used databases we have.” Meredith says her library depends on NoveList Plus as a trusted resource that all staff can use to find quality recommendations quickly.