This just in! The Birmingham News website, al.com, has thrown down a last minute challenge! The staff of al.com will be helping website readers navigate a five-week, indepth look at Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." For complete details, visit al.com's website post about the Red Clay Readers!
http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/03/red_clay_readers_to_offer_fres.html
About the Roundtable
- RART Librarian
- Jefferson County, Alabama, United States
The Jefferson County Public Library Association (JCPLA) was founded in 1974 for the improvement of librarianship and for the advancement of public libraries in Jefferson County. The public libraries of Jefferson County form our cooperative system, the Jefferson County Library Cooperative (JCLC). Membership in JCPLA provides an organizational structure for staff training countywide.
The Reader's Advisory Roundtable is open to all library workers in the JCLC Community. If you love reader's advisory, need help honing your skills, or are looking for new tools/ideas, please consider joining us. JCPLA and the Roundtables are a great way to share resources, connect with other libraries in the county, network with your colleagues, or just take a break from the daily grind and get some fresh perspective!
Questions? Send an email to jclcraroundtable [at] gmail [dot] com
Monday, March 24, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
reading wildly
I just read (what I considered to be) a great reader's advisory article in the March/April 2014 issue of American Libraries magazine, "Reading Wildly: One library staff's journey toward excellent readers' advisory" by Abby Johnson.
Ms. Johnson is a children's services/outreach manager at New Albany-Floyd County (Ind.) Public Library and you may read more of her writing at www.abbythelibrarian.com.
Her article explores RA work for the non-voracious reader. By that, I don't necessarily mean someone who doesn't like to read (and really, what a profession to pick if you don't like to read), but more along the lines of having to do RA work in a genre/department in which you don't feel comfortable. For my part, this is YA. I do like the YA that I read, but I haven't explored widely OR deeply since my YA lit class in library school and the kids who benefited from my experience then are seniors in college now. It's embarrassing.
She does point out that this "reading wildly" approach works particularly well in children's departments, or just younger readers in general. Here is a small excerpt from the article:
In January 2013, I developed the Reading Wildly program to inspire my staff to read different genres and improve their reader's advisory skills. Each month we discuss a genre or subject, based on patron demand, and each staff member is required to read one book in that genre and booktalk it to the group at our meeting. They may use work time to read only if date-sensitive projects are completed. We meet once a month, separate from our monthly department meeting , to share these books with one another. (You can find our book review form and monthly reading lists at www.abbythelibrarian.com)
She mentions more ideas, and just generally has some good things to say about RA work, in the rest of the article, which you may find on the American Libraries website in an online version on page 58.
Ms. Johnson is a children's services/outreach manager at New Albany-Floyd County (Ind.) Public Library and you may read more of her writing at www.abbythelibrarian.com.
Her article explores RA work for the non-voracious reader. By that, I don't necessarily mean someone who doesn't like to read (and really, what a profession to pick if you don't like to read), but more along the lines of having to do RA work in a genre/department in which you don't feel comfortable. For my part, this is YA. I do like the YA that I read, but I haven't explored widely OR deeply since my YA lit class in library school and the kids who benefited from my experience then are seniors in college now. It's embarrassing.
She does point out that this "reading wildly" approach works particularly well in children's departments, or just younger readers in general. Here is a small excerpt from the article:
In January 2013, I developed the Reading Wildly program to inspire my staff to read different genres and improve their reader's advisory skills. Each month we discuss a genre or subject, based on patron demand, and each staff member is required to read one book in that genre and booktalk it to the group at our meeting. They may use work time to read only if date-sensitive projects are completed. We meet once a month, separate from our monthly department meeting , to share these books with one another. (You can find our book review form and monthly reading lists at www.abbythelibrarian.com)
She mentions more ideas, and just generally has some good things to say about RA work, in the rest of the article, which you may find on the American Libraries website in an online version on page 58.
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