NSW Readers' Advisory Working Group meeting minutes
27 May 2015, Concord Library
1. Present
Lim Goodarzi, Concord Library
Amy heap, Riverina Regional Library
Ellen Forsyth, SLNSW
Sarah Wild, Mosman
Claude Broomhead, Canada Bay
Monique Akauola, Sutherland
Helen Cowen, Wingecarribee
Eric Dodson, Lane Cove
Kristy Nightingale, Hornsby
Blue Mountains (x2) Heidi Colquhoun RSVP’d on their behalf
Catharine Rutar, Blacktown
Renee F, Ashfield
Michelle Cairns, Ku-ring-gai
David Hay, Waverley
Rita Gertskis, Randwick
Stephanie Hodgson, Auburn
Robyn Menzies (x2), Hawkesbury Library
2. #rwpchat themes for 2016
Ellen put all the suggested themes up on the wall and everyone was allowed to cast 10 votes. The themes are as follows:
January - #wildread (11 votes)
February - #speedread (10 votes)
March - #redread (17 votes)
April - #bardread (Shakespeare died in April 1616)
May - #songread (9 votes) to coincide with Eurovision
June - #bookclubread (24 votes)
July - #artread (24 votes) to coincide with the Archibald Prize
August - #geekread (17 votes) Science Week
September - #historyread (we felt this filled a gap in the themes)
October - #bookbitesread (13)
November - #flightread (14 votes) Armistace/Remembrance Day
December - #joyread (22 votes).
The themes were expanded and the descriptions can be found on the shared Google doc. If anyone is keen to write or co-write a blog post for any particular month, please email someone on the steering committee. The posts will go live in August so that libraries can plan ahead – you can get all of your hootsuiting done in half an hour.
3. What everyone has been reading
Motive by Jonathan Kellerman
The Fig at the Gate by Kate Llewellyn
Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders
The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett
1984 by George Orwell
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Siren by Tara Moss
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Left Early, Took the Dog and When Will There be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson
The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
* Quicksand by Steve Toltz
Ramona Forever by Beverley Cleary
Faulks on Fiction by Sebastian Faulks
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
The Haunting of Death Eric by Sam Llewellyn
We are in a Book by Mo Willems
Class Act: Ending the Education Wars by Maxine McKew
* The Bees by Laline Paull
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser
The Well at the World’s End by A. J. Mackinnon
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Common Threads: Weaving Community through Collaborative Eco-Art by Sharon Kallis
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K Rowling
4. How are people using Read Watch Play at their Library?
Not every library is able to participate in the twitter book discussion, but they can still be involved.
Many libraries use the RWP themes as a display
One library has created a disply based around a theme, and left Post-It notes for the customers to write down titles they would include.
Instagram could be a great way to be involved in RWP discussion
A reminder that using Hootsuite means a years worth of posts could be scheduled in 30 minutes (Ellen tested this!), so it is a very small time commitment
5. Whole Readers Advisory
Ellen mentioned a great example of Storify as a Readers Advisory tool. Catherine Fletcher (@Cath-Fletcher), a historical advisor on the Wolf Hall TV series live tweeted during the show, to give people background into the research that was done. It is available here
There was discussion around the room of the value of shelving different formats together, eg of interfiling Non Fiction DVDs with the Non Fiction book collection. Some libraries have tried this with mixed success, but shelving the music DVDs with the CD collection appears to be very successful.
6. Roving readers Advisory
Not many libraries represented in the room are offering roving Readers Advisory. There was discussion that pop-up or mobile libraries offer a great opportunity to do this.
Tamworth and Taree libraries are doing great Roving reference, and might offer some ideas and inspiration. A link to their presentation at the last Reference at the Metcalfe is available on the reference wiki.
7. Readers Advisory Training
A reminder that there are links to free Readers Advisory training on the RA wiki. Some of the tools include webinars and YouTube videos, and could be used as training in the library, or at home. Please take some time to have a look at it, and if you are aware of other tools and resources that are useful, please add them, or let us know.
8. Public Libraries in NSW Facebook page
Everyone in encouraged to visit the new Public Libraries in NSW Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/PublicLibrariesNSW.
If you haven’t been signed up to our DropBox where we collect your images and posts, please email me Barbara.todes@randwick.nsw.gov.au and I will send you an invitation. You don’t need to download DropBox onto your computer, you can use the online version.
9. Readers Advisory Survey follow up
We will be working through the points raised from the Readers Advisory Survey. A summary of the discussion is available in the attachments below.
There is a great Ebsco webinar called Meeting Your Community's Demand for Books that discusses strategies to help the community find the 'right' book.
10. Other Ideas
Waga City Library had great success when they arranged their picture books into subject areas like transport, animals, favourites etc. This idea was inspired by Darien Library, a service in the USA.