Readers’ Advisory Tools – Bethanie's Ignite Talk

Let’s talk about Readers’ Advisory tools! The following are the urls and brief summaries to the tools I presented on during the Ignite Talks (April 23rd). I’ve also added a few extra that we didn’t have a chance to go over and I hope that it inspires you to contribute a few that you or your staff uses.

1. Fiction_L (Listserv provided by Morton Grove Public Library)

• URL: www.mgpl.org/read-listen-view/fl/flmenu
• This is a great tool when looking for feedback from other librarians/readers’ advisors for book recommendations based on specific subjects.
• Subscribe to individual postings with “subscribe to the regular version” or subscribe to the digest version with “subscribe to the digest version”.

2. Books with Movie Tie-In (Provided by Mid-Continent Public Library)

• URL: www.mymcpl.org/books-movies-music
• You can search by movie titles, movie release years, book title, or book author
• I also use this tool when making my multi-state orders to see what books we might need to order more copies of because the movie is coming out

For example: Victor Frankenstein is coming out October 2015 and is based off Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Looking at my multi-state order list I might need to order more copies of DB025835.


3. Fantastic Fiction

• URL: www.fantasticfiction.co.uk
• A great tool to see upcoming books, series orders, and book/author summaries

4. Tastekid

• URL: www.tastekid.com
• Recommendation tool for music, movies, tv shows, books, authors, and games
• It was re-launched in March 2015 so it’s not completely accurate but it is growing quickly with the help of its members (which can be you). As a member you can report errors to help grow Tastekid’s recommendations and report “mistakes” to help the Tastekid staff create more accurate recommendations.

5. Star Wars Timeline List for Readers

1. www.yodasdatapad.com/booklist.html
2. Book List is a great source for finding a timeline for patrons who are interested in reading Star Wars books

• It offers links to amazon which provides book summaries.
• It shows new releases, movie novelizations, and future releases.
• It’s also updated often

1. Goodreads

• Goodreads.com
• Another great social media tool that recommends books, provides reviews for books, and much more.

2. Novelist

• Pro: If you can afford it, I would highly recommend it since it has excellent tools, blogs, and other neat features for Readers' Advisors. Especially their author/book/series read a-like options
• Cons: You have to pay for this service

Great resources--Thank you for sharing!

All I can think of ti add is if you can't find the series you're looking for at Fantastic Fiction, or just want a second opinion, try Kent District Library's "What's Next" database: ww2.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp

This seems like an excellent database. I did a quick search for Star Wars really appreciate the way all the series are linked with their authors. It's very organized and user friendly.

Thanks for the feedback!