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**NSW Readers' Advisory Working Group meeting minutes** 

3 September 2014, Bankstown Library

====1. Apologies:==== 

Ellen Forsyth - SLNSW

====2. Present====

   * Kathleen Arundell - Leichhardt; 
  * Theresa Lock, Colleen Cliff, Adrianna Demmocks, Robyn Menzies &amp; Heidi Colquhoun - Blue Mountains;
  *  Theo Stephens - Manly;
  *  Gabrielle Winter, Claud Broomhead - Canada Bay; 
  * Merilyn Hills - Hornsby;
  *  Amy Heap - Riverina; Leonie Jordan - Auburn; 
  * Sharon Drenth - Ku-Ring-Gai; 
  * Nicole Barr - Gosford; 
  * Michelle Birch &amp; Elysa Dennis - Narellan;
  *  Sue Pace &amp; Jack Britton - Marrickville; 
  * Jenny Nicholson - Kogarah; 
  * Sarah Wild - Mosman; 
  * Suzanne Micallef - Parramatta; 
  * Carolyn Bourke - Fairfield; 
  * Renee Fittler - Ashfield; Wendy Tesoriero - Chester Hill; 
  * Renee Ghabash &amp; Liz Baker - Bankstown; 
  * Lee Burgoyne - Wollongong; 
  * Melanie Mutch - Warringah

====3. WHOLE READERS' ADVISORY &amp; HOW ARE PEOPLE USING READ WATCH PLAY AT THEIR LIBRARY?====

  * DVDs for book club - Some libraries including Riverina Regional and Camden are including film adaptations in their book club kits, along with the books. Riverina sometimes includes a selection of adaptations for the group to choose from. The films can either be shared around and watched individually, or enjoyed together as a group. Warringah includes information about book club kit titles that are also available on DVD, audio book, Large Print and as an eBook from the library collection, for members who prefer and alternate format.

  * READ WATCH PLAY - Bankstown are using slides of Read Watch Play suggestions as part of their digital display. Slides with the RWP branding are available on the RWP Pinterest boards under the monthly themes and all libraries are welcome to use them for their own libraries. Some suggested uses -

  * A digital display in the library, a screen could be dedicated to RA slides, or they could be included in a slideshow promoting library events and services
  * Social media content - the slides could be shared via FaceBook or Twitter, or pinned on a library Pinterest account


====4. ROVING READERS' ADVISORY====

  * Mosman has just initiated a 30 minute shift each day dedicated to roving RA - this shift takes place early in the morning and is spent maintaining and refreshing stock in displays and offering RA to library users. This shift is rotated amongst a number of staff.
  * Bankstown are continuing to roster a roving staff member on each floor of the library, who will offer RA or reference help as needed. Another member of staff is rostered at the reference/customer service desk on each of the three floors.
  * Roving staff at Mosman and Bankstown do not shelve.
  * A number of libraries have iPads or tablets available for staff to use when roving, but find they are not well used because the library's wireless internet is too slow, and it is faster to take the customers to the staff desk or to an OPAC to help them.


====5. THE BOOK TO ART CLUB====

The Book to Art Club was discussed as a great way to extend a reading experience by exploring literature through hands-on creative projects. Project ideas are shared along with discussion points, such as:

      * Where’d You Go, Bernadetteoffers a number of access points when it comes to making a creative response to the book. Architecture, travel, even the cover of the book are all possible starting points.
  *     ForThe Language of Flowers, our project ideas take an actual project from the book and offer a range of ways that artists can create their own flower dictionaries or flower arrangements. You’ll note that we explore a variety of media in these project ideas, from cross-stitch and embroidery to watercolor painting. Whether you’re trying a technique for the first time or honing your craft, we just hope you get inspired to get making!
  *     Paper Townsjuggles a lot of themes and imagery all at once, but I found the visual symbols of maps and string really compelling – and they fit so well with a lot of hot Pinterest crafts right now! When Quentin and Margo find the man in the park, Margo wonders if “all the strings inside him broke.” Quentin often thinks about that analogy. And maps are a pretty obvious connection to this book. So get creative with maps and string!


====6. POP UP LIBRARIES====

**Camden** have just launched an e-pop up library, with the assistance of a library development grant. It is very well resources with laptops, iPads and a data projector and screen. They took great care to make their pop-up space eye catching and attractive by engaging a professional marketer to brand their pop up space. They are aware that many people are wary of being 'sold to' by other pop up stands at shopping centres and wanted to differentiate themselves as an engaging and friendly space to visit.

They have a marquee, furniture and banner bugs and use them as appropriate for each space - e.g. the marquee takes 4 people to set up, so it may not be used at a small event. They have visited local markets, community partner meetings, retirement villages, and have an arrangement with their local shopping centre for regular visits. No additional staff have been employed to run this program.

**Blue Mountains** have held pop-up events at their local aquatic centre and at local sports fields to catch busy families. They give away unwanted donations, and find that people are thrilled to be given a free book.
Wollongong have set up outdoor reading rooms at local train stations and in their botanic gardens. They have a 'set and forget' outdoor reading space with furniture and unwanted donations, that does not need to be continually monitored by staff. They have live streamed some storytime sessions in their outdoor reading rooms, and have plans to put some on YouTube. They have had great success with using paid FaceBook advertising for their outdoor reading rooms and for other library events.

Overall, libraries running these events see them as a great way to interact with people who may not otherwise use the library. They are a great source of feedback, an opportunity to attract new members and to demonstrate the library's digital collections.

This lead to a discussion on how important it is to be offering a range of tech training in the library, to help customers access our digital services. Some libraries do this using a combination of staff and volunteers. Camden runs one-on-one help sessions that are run by a volunteer and these sessions are booked out weeks in advance.

**Camden and Parramatta** loan digital devices to their customers.

**Riverina** loans pre-loaded Sony Readers. 

**Bankstown** offers MP3 players preloaded with audio books to their customers.

====7. OTHER IDEAS====

  - One library includes RA in their weekly team meetings by asking one member of staff to discuss a book they have enjoyed, and the reasons why. At the following meeting staff are asked to suggest a book for that person to read next. This works well because people are not put on the spot to think of a suggestion, and it encourages staff to go away and use some RA tools if they need them. One suggestion is chosen as a 'winner' and receives a prize of chocolate.

  * **Parramatta** are launching a staff book club. There is a group of 18 people and 3 people will read the same book and then come tog
ether to discuss the various books that have been read. This will avoid difficulties finding enough copies to share.

  * Theo from **Manly** mentioned the 10 books challenge - people make a video discussing their 10 favourite books and then challenge their friends to make a video of their 10 favourite books. This could be something for libraries to get involved in.

====8. FORM-BASED READERS' ADVISORY====

Form-Based Readers' Advisory allows readers to complete a set of questions about their reading preferences to help library staff create a list of items they might enjoy reading. The questions can be completed via a paper survey, the library website, or social platforms.

The advantage is that readers can fill out the form in their own time, and then staff have the time and resources to offer the best possible suggestions.

A face-to-face discussion between a reader and a librarian is a preferred Readers' Advisory method under ideal circumstances, but this is not always practical. The customer service experience can vary, depending on the available staff and their RA skills. Sometimes staff can't spend very long on an RA interaction because the desk is too busy, and sometimes we think of the perfect suggestion a few minutes after the customer leaves the library.

//Advantages://

    *   an opportunity for staff to practice and improve their RA skills
  *     a buddy system could be used to train and mentor less experienced staff
  *     resources can be recycled, and posted on the library website or via social media
  *     improved staff morale and confidence
  *     an opportunity to promote hidden gems in the library collection
  *     a great Readers' Advisory experience can be offered to all library users

  * The questionnaires used by different libraries can vary greatly, from a few simple, open-ended questions, to more detailed forms.  
  * Staff from Williamsburg say 'We have discovered that a key to using a longer form is to have few required fields, and allow the reader to fill in only what they want'.
  * Most libraries offer to get back to a customer in a week, and give a list of reading suggestions that is annotated, explaining why each item has been suggested. Some libraries suggest 3 - 5 book, and other create more extensive lists.
  * It is estimated that over 105 libraries in the USA are offering some sort of form-based, online RA service.

//Libraries using form-based RA://

  * Williamsburg Regional Library Looking for a good book service
  * Tulsa City-County Library Your next great read.See the attached file below for an example reading list created by TCCL staff.
  * Seattle Public Library Your Next 5 Books. Seattle also offers RA via FaceBook

//Further Reading://

**Your Next Great Read**
Looking for a good Book? Ten Years of Form-based Readers' Advisory at the Williamsburg Regional Library
A Resource Guide to Form-Based RA: What Asynchronous RA Can Teach All of Us (even those not offering such an option) About Service, Appeal, and Working With Readers

**Training:**
Rethinking Readers’ Advisory: An Interactive Approach (ALA Editions eCourse) Rebecca Howard and Laura Raphael.


====9. Stock Quality Health Check====

 - Held over until next meeting

====10. Feedback from CODES discussion====

 - held over until next meeting

====11. WHAT HAVE PEOPLE BEEN READING?====

  * Lost and Found/ Brooke Davis
  * We Were Liars/ E Lockhart
  * The First Third/ Will Kostakis
  * The Silkworm/ Robert Galbraith
  * Free Range Kids/ Lenore Skenazy
  * Dana Stabenow
  * Short stories /Alice Monroe
  * The Blazing World / Siri Hustvedt
  * Fangirl/Rainbow Rowell
  * The Mirage/ Naguib Mahfouz
  * Going Postal/Terry Pratchett
  * Year of No Sugar/Eve O. Schaub
  * Wheat Belly/ William Davis

Thank you to Bankstown Library for hosting this meeting