When a reader approaches you and asks for a book suggestion, does your blood run cold? Do you desperately look around for someone else to respond? If you want to tame your anxiety around this important point of customer service, or just want to understand the reader’s need for that next good book, this Introduction to Readers’ Advisory (RA) is just the remedy. Leane Ellis will define what RA is for both the librarian and the reader; explain why you and your administration should care; suggest how to prepare for the RA exchange, and when and how to best answer the request. She will introduce you to the language of RA: Appeal, provide an Overview of Genres, and a brief walk-though of the RA Interview. In addition, she will review resources and strategies that can help you prepare for and respond to the request. Using examples from her interactions with readers and teaching other librarians, Leane will send you off with enthusiasm for RA and individually-driven exercises that both new and experienced librarians can use to learn and/or better their RA skill set.

Formerly a Reference and RA Librarian at Wakefield’s Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Leane M. Ellis has been an enthusiastic practicing RA Librarian for over 20 years and has been instructing other librarians for over fifteen. As a consultant (The RA Potential), she has both encouraged and taught RA skills to over thirty individual public libraries, and provided seminars for MLA, MLS, and NELA. In 2012, MLA inducted Leane into the MLA Hall of Fame for her pioneering work and voice in MA RA education. Leane currently coordinates the Northeastern MA RA Genre Study Round Table which she helped cofound ten years ago.

Location:
Westwood Public Library
660 High Street
Westwood, MA 02090