Conversation 1
Librarian: Hi, is there anything I can suggest?
Customer: I’m looking for a good story, you know, something that draws me in. But I don’t know where to start looking.
Librarian: What was the last book you read? Could you share something you liked about it?
Customer: The last book I read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Everyone is reading it so I had to pick it up. It was lovely. She is such an interesting woman and so brave. I enjoyed the descriptions of the countries she went to and what she did while she was there, of course, but I think what I liked most was how she shared her inner thoughts — so reflective but funny too. I thought it might be just light fluff or all me, me, me, me, but it was so much more than that. I read all the Oprah books and just love them. Anyway I wanted to ask you for a few suggestions for my book group. It’s my turn to pick the title.
So after reading the conversation I felt these were the following highlights. First, the patron reported that the last book that they read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. The patron reported that they liked the book's descriptive settings and funny commentary of the character. Secondly, they reported that they are an extrovert reader and are usually influenced by the level of group participation and they have read most/all of Oprah's book club recommendations. Finally, the patron reported that they have the responsibility of picking the book for their book club during the month and they aren't sure what to pick.
I would approach this readers' advisory backwards from the last request which is ultimately picking the book for their book club. I would point the patron to look at the current list of Oprah's book club http://www.oprah.com/app/books.html and see if there's anything off the complete book list link that they haven't read yet and move forward from there.
Conversation 2
Customer: Can you recommend any vampire books that are nothing like the Twilight series?
Librarian: Let me see how I can help you. What don’t you like about Twilight?
Customer: Everything, but especially that teen love story – way too much angst! And way too slow. Have you read any good vampire stories lately?
So in this conversation the customer is expressing that they felt the romantic drama plot involving their monster favorite, vampires, was not interesting and the pacing of the story was too slow. While the patron is expressing what they didn't like about the Twilight series, it does appear that they would like some kind of serialized vampire novels to read. So I believe that an appropriate readers' advisory would be to remain in their niche genre but stick with recommendations that they haven't discovered yet.
Since they are looking for a series, I would probably recommend they use FictFact.com. They could look up their genre's recommendation and see what books make up the series based on vampires they may be interested in. Recommendations I would start them off with would be Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles featuring Lestat or Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Conversation 3
Librarian: Hi, are you looking for anything in particular?
Customer: I just read this great book The River of Doubt. It was about Teddy Roosevelt and this ill fated expedition to chart an uncharted river in the Amazon. They lost almost all their provisions, the president was injured, and it turns out one of their crew was a murderer since there was a murder. And the most amazing thing was that it true. It was fascinating and really fast paced. Do you have anything to recommend that is like that?
I would probably identify the most with this patron as to what appeals to them in a book. I myself tend to like nonfiction accounts about historical figures who've had extraordinary experiences. These books tend to read similar to fiction thrillers and though they are based on historical events the author may use a writing style that tends to make the story seem like it is happening in realtime.
I would probably recommend books that I've read that also still deal with Theodore Roosevelt. Such as any of the books that have been written by Edmund Morris. He tends to focus on the action of President Roosevelt's life experience and expands his story into a biographical trilogy. Another one that I'd probably pass off for reader's advisory is Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, by James Swanson. It's a really enjoyable read that also mimics the assassination of President Lincoln as if it was happening in real time.
