Excellent Service, Exceptional Readers:

Challenging Libraries to Reach All Avenues of User Ability
(this really long post was a paper for my Reader's Advisory class at IUPUI)

A few recent instances pulled together the theme for this paper. I just read a compact treatise titled Expect More: Demanding Better Libraries for Today’s Complex World. It challenges library users to expand their expectations to a library relevant to and engaged with their community. I thought about this and how we deliver reader advisory—are there areas where we can pump RA up to meet today’s users? I had a couple of experiential situations that we just might have room to expand or improve our interaction with readers and raise our perceived value as keepers of book knowledge and a place for growth.

I also work in the downtown library of a county-wide metropolitan library system. I’m a page and a Library Science student. I believe that it helps overall customer service if we pages at least acknowledge the patrons we pass and ask if they need any help finding anything, especially if we see them looking lost. I don’t pretend to be a librarian with skills, I’m still in the lightly armed and unpredictably dangerous mode called “student.” I do want my library’s patrons to succeed in finding their treasures. Within a library system that boasts 4 million items, it can be a bit of a treasure hunt for the information seekers wandering our aisles.

Some of my examples of under-served readers come from my own experience, and some were inspired by articles relating experiences of active librarians. Of particular interest to me, are ways to reach these people that either go beyond the standard RA interview or bridge an accessibility gap. I’m going to focus on three groups of readers. The first group consists of generally younger adults of all ethnicities who seek “street” or “urban” fiction. The second are the 55 and over “seniors” that may need more accessible formats or be looking for social contact with peers or cross-generational interest groups. The third are newer immigrants, ESL and bilingual patrons desiring materials in their native language or materials to bridge them into reading more English.

Zombies and Vampires and Werewolves Don’t Scare Me
Since librarians and paraprofessionals at my library rotate through the various information desks, I’ve noticed that one very popular genre which I find mystifying is also not an easy area for many of them. It’s a fear factor thing for some, a hatred of some of the scantily clad cover subjects for others. Our readers can be as hesitant to ask for help as we are afraid we won’t be familiar enough to help them. Barry Trott (2009) describes the concerns of “reference librarians” dealing with fiction questions as “grouped in four areas:

• “I don’t read fiction so how can I do readers’ advisory work?
• “I don’t like genre X (be it horror, romance, mystery) so I cannot help someone find a book in that area.
• “I don’t know how to talk about books with a reader.
• “Readers’ advisory does not have any real answer; unlike a reference question, there are too many possibilities.”

As with any anxiety creating communication: the best response is a good offense. Not that we need to read all the styles of fiction books ourselves but we do need to get familiar with some of the language they may use and the appeals found in different genres so we can avoid the “deer in the headlights” look and hook the reader into continuing the conversation. We need to value them as fellow readers first. Readers’ Advisory is one of those areas where practice and familiarity with the tools of the trade are can improve our ability to serve the public. It never hurts to have bookmarks to a few genre related websites in easy reach, also.

One particular genre is called “street fiction” or “urban fiction.” It has gritty, course, street toughened characters. Situations often surround stories with drug use or dealing, prostitution, money laundering. Most is written from an African American or Latino perspective. It’s hugely popular with adults in their 20s to 30s. Popular to the point we ask patrons to put hold requests on the books so that we might be able order more copies of the most popular authors. There are many online resources to help librarians satisfy the reading interests of this group. Further complicating the genre: urban fantasy is the paranormal/horror/evil stepbrother of urban fiction so there are appeals within the subgenre which may or may not suit the taste of the main genre fans and vice versa. It’s highly unlikely that the same person would be a fan of Jim Butcher’s Wizard for hire, Harry Dresden, and Kiki Swinson’s “wifey” heroine, Kira, for instance. Part of delivering personalized service to this audience could entail keeping an annotated cheat sheet of appeal factors for various common authors or titles at the fiction desk or some bookmarked pages in GoodReads or NoveList.

Older Adults and the Impact of Health and Mobility Decline
While many of our traditional reader’s advisory methods serve adults over 55 well, it is when age begins to rob some eyesight or mobility that we may need to establish other methods to support their reading appetites. Ellen Forsyth did a literature survey prior to commencing her own study and found, “that much readers’ advisory work, other than some targeting of children and young adults, does not target specific age groups or agilities.” (2009: 128) She also found that while 75% of the libraries she surveyed offer book groups, not many offer intergenerational groups which she thought would strengthen the community and improve trust between age groups. Forsyth’s survey also found that there were not many age-targeted groups offered for fit over 65 year olds- More than 80% of libraries who completed her survey didn’t intentionally offer book discussion groups directed toward this group.

Service to older adults will need to focus on two types of patrons: those with sufficient mobility to come to the library and those who need home access to resources. The homebound will likely use a mix of physically delivered and electronically downloaded materials. As more baby boomers age into this group they bring with them computer, internet and mobile device skills which we can capitalize on in several ways to better serve our elder patrons. Making these booklists available through web browsers and mobile web browsers is a simple way to improve access for this age group. Simple fixes such as changing the font size to a larger type version can make a printed book list more accessible to anyone with age-caused vision impairments. Using personal interviews and large type format reading preferences forms can help both in-library and homebound patrons. Keeping abreast of what our patrons with eyesight limitations would like to have in audio, eBook and large type formats can help our collection and resource sharing remain relevant to our community. We also need to keep in mind any senior centers and assisted living or care centers as potential areas for outreach and offsite lending libraries.

There were several opportunities which Forsyth thought libraries could answer with creative use of newer technologies. As our population ages, the numbers of frail community members will rise and there will be a greater emphasis on distance service and utilizing technology advancements to more completely meet their needs. One easy to adapt technology are eReaders which allow for text scaling and text-to-speech options.
Forsyth also proposes that we get familiar with video chat software as a potential tool to give personable service to our homebound customers. Using that example I could see a case for using videophone applications like Face Time and Skype to speak with our customers. Sites like GoodReads could also be an outlet for homebound readers looking for conversations around books of common interest. A recent comparative review of video chat tools can be found at http://video-chat-im-software-review.toptenreviews.com/.

Another interesting proposal was using online gaming interfaces like Second Life or World of Warcraft as meeting spaces for book discussion groups. Since one desire noted by libraries was that their older patrons wanted to participate in intergenerational groups, operating through a gaming portal could open some interesting possibilities for members of different generations to interact.

For the mobile and lower tech desiring patrons, finding common interests could facilitate intergenerational groups. I know of a group of middle school boys who calls themselves “Knitting Ninjas.” Imagine if they worked together with retirees on a knitting project for a local children’s hospital or shelter. Imagine they used the library as their meeting place to work on or organize their project.

Language Barrier or Opportunity?
Another service area challenge in a metropolitan library that serves a substantial ESL and immigrant population is providing Readers’ Advisory and reference help for patrons wanting resources in their own language. Keren Dali identifies several gaps in public library readers’ advisory: “the…interview with an immigrant reader who is not a native English speaker, locating suitable books in languages other than English to suggest to a reader, and finding books in English similar to those enjoyed in readers’ native languages.”(Dali, 2009: 217). Dali points out that a reader advisor interview with this population can be successful even if the library doesn’t own the suggested material. What is most desired by the immigrant is the opportunity for a social connection with personal interaction. “What readers would appreciate is a chance to talk to an interested, sympathetic, and professional individual in the library….” (Dali, 2009: 218). Some assumptions we should guard against:

• Immigrants may not all want their leisure reading to be in their native language.
• Some will want materials in English, but be overwhelmed by the available choices.
• Don’t assume they only want to read only “their culture’s” authors.
• Having genre specific lists of popular English works translated into major languages a library serves is a thoughtful gesture that the immigrant will notice—even if your library doesn’t own all of the titles on the list.
• Immigrants are often interested in the works of local and regional authors, from whom they can gather more understanding of the culture around them.
  (Dali, 2009: 218-219).

Because I have some deciphering issues with certain accents, I’m sensitive to the barrier that creates for me to help someone. Crusty Germanic, lyrical Welsh and Irish, thick Scottish, French-Canadian, and British-Indian and Pakistani, I muddle through well, with others I’m tragically inept. I hate the thought of someone being frustrated far from the information desk and our foreign language books are both a good distance and out of sight from the main desk. Spanish is one of the accents that I tend to have a really hard time understanding, so maybe I should have just gone on my merry shelving way. Instead, I paused and asked the friendly patron I’d run across if they needed any help finding something. They tried to tell me what they wanted to find, I tried to point them to an area in the non-fiction to see if that was what they wanted. I’m not totally sure if I showed him the right thing or not. He tried to ask me for something else, I showed him something else. It basically devolved into he and I couldn’t find word combinations we could both understand. I apologized and suggested he talk to someone at the information desk.

For a new-to-English speaker, it might be helpful to have a bilingual readers’ advisory form with native language descriptive and appeal terms translated into English so both librarians and patron can communicate. Major nonfiction categories would be handy to have on this form to assist ESL patrons seeking nonfiction materials. Of course making such a form would be best accomplished through working with fluent bilingual booklovers from the immigrant community.

Stepping Outside Our Comfort Zone is the Skeleton Key
Much like old skeleton keys could open many doors, the one commonality between reaching the aging, the immigrant and the street lit reader is stepping outside our comfort zone and looking for ways to assist them in finding their next good read or an interest group to join. In serving these diverse groups, the most important is the willingness of the library staff to take the time to get to know the readers and familiarize themselves with tools and media that could enhance the readers’ library experiences. Extending our value-added services beyond the limits of our walls is just part of being a vital community resource. This requires a mindful process of self-education and getting to know our customers likes and wants. The payoff for our communities is expanded person to person services. The return for our libraries is increased value perception within the community.

________________________
References:
Dali, K. (2010) Readers’ advisory interactions with immigrant readers. [Article]. New Library World, 111(5/6), 213-222.
Forsyth, E. (2009). Readers advisory services for older adults. [Article]. APLIS, 22(3), 128-140.
Trott, B. (2012). Reference, Readers' Advisory, and Relevance. [Article]. Reference Librarian, 53(1), 60. doi: 10.1080/02763877.2011.596367