RA in the Catalogue

Laurel TarulliCollection Access LibrarianHalifax Public Librariestarulll@halifax.cahttp://laureltarulli.wordpress.com

Ask yourself these questions…

Am I comfortable discussing my reading habits/preferences? Who am I comfortable discussing them with?

Do I use a computer/smartphone on a daily basis? Weekly?

What about physical visits to the library? Daily? Weekly?

Where do I go for book ideas and recommendations?

Theory behind RA in the Catalogue

For PatronsReading ideas and suggestions are

wherever you are (on a bus, on vacation, at home)

You can interact, suggest reading ideas or receive reading ideas without having to physically visit the library

Comfort level/TrustShyness and fear of judgment removedTrust of library, staff and expertise remains

Theory behind RA in the Catalogue

Readers’ AdvisorsReach readers remotely by bringing RA

services out of the branches and into the community

Fosters a community of readers and reading conversations

Strengthens Collection Development practices

Strengthens collaborative opportunities and new projects for promoting RA services

The “Traditional” Catalogue

Biases and dividesCatalogue is too hard to useCatalogue isn’t user friendlyCatalogue doesn’t have what I’m looking forCatalogue is just an inventory of books, not

a tool for finding reading suggestions

6 Faulty Assumptions of Traditional RA

Readers will initiate an RA interview or want to participate in one

RAs will be able to answer RA questions successfully, even if it isn’t their area of expertise

Short or long, the RA interview will provide enough information to make successful reading suggestions

6 Faulty Assumptions cont…

Despite time limitations, staffing shortages or inexperience, a quality RA interview is possible

Existing RA tools are easy to use in a face-to-face RA interview

Face-to-face RA encounters are well documented so that follow-up can occur

Hollands, Neil. Improving the model for interactive readers’ advisory service. Reference & User Services Quarterly. March 22, 2006.

New Challenges of RA Work

Patrons who don’t want to share their reading experience in person Embarrassment View staff as negative authority figures Feeling of disenfranchisement Feeling of being “outside” of the process (a need to

share their experience with peers) Patrons who are homebound and/or remote users The changing nature of a “personal” service and

the public’s view of access to all services electronically

New Expectations of RA Services

Physical library Expectations of remote access to services

Variety of access points to services – “Gateways” Mobile devices, Friends, Chat, Social networking sites

Relative autonomy to do it themselves Simple, immediate access Anytime, anywhere Same level of service Sharing with friends

Our “New” Catalogues

Interactive Patron and Staff Driven Discovery Spaces

Intuitive Interfaces Variety of ways to share information

User-generation Information Reviews, Tags, Lists, Ratings

Benefits of RA in the Catalogue

An extension of the experience readers have in the physical branch

Provides community’s perspective on appeal elements to bestselling books and authors.

The data we can collect is similar to listening to readers’ conversations in parks, on the bus or in the hair salon

Allows us to identify books that are popular within the community and provides a glimpse into our readers’ use of descriptions and their relations between books. We can use to enhance RA services in our libraries

RAs + Cataloguers = Great RA service!

Embedding reading lists and recommended titles in the catalogue

RSS feeds Personalized, annotated summaries within the

bibliographic record created by Readers’ Services team that addresses appeals and read-a-likes

Local genres, subject headings and appeals terminology as access points

Linking, linking, linking Live RA chat

Example of linkableRA lists in the

library catalogue

Facets draw from content within bibliographic records. RA

reading lists or appeal

terminology can be included in

searchable facets.

Sharing and contributing

Seamless integrationwith library website

Streaming book covers

Featured lists

Salt Lake County Library Serviceshttp://www.slcolibrary.org/

RA in the catalogue

NoveList Select

Every time you click a title--you

can get more content and

moresuggestions.

Thank you!

Laurel TarulliCollection Access LibrarianHalifax Public Librariestarulll@halifax.ca(902)490-2704

The Cataloguing Librarian Bloghttp://laureltarulli.wordpress.com