The Readers' Advisory in Academic Libraries
Virginia Vesper
The Readers' Advisor in the Academic Library
Librarians have always wanted "to provide the right book for the right
reader at the right time (Drury1), and the Readers' Advisor has a long tradition
of finding that "right book" for the "right reader."
The name itself is defining, the Reader's Advisor or Advisory counsels and
guides readers or library patrons to needed information or just a good book
to read. The definition has, at times, included reference service, but most
often the term is used to describe a service for guiding the reader to recreational
reading.
The idea for a Readers' Advisor originated with public libraries in the
1920's and spread to academic libraries, where the importance of reading
for intellectual development as well as for recreation was recognized. The
creation of a browsing area, complementing the Readers' Advisor service
became an important element of the academic library in the 1930's. An excellent
article by Janelle M. Zauha discusses the early history of browsing rooms,
particularly at the University of Iowa. She quotes John B. Kaiser, Director
of the University of Iowa Libraries from 1924-27, about the importance of
reading and a browsing room. "The Library suggests to the student that
he take time each week to read books on some subject entirely outside his
regular work: that he make the acquaintance of some of the standard magazines
never before encountered....that, above all, he learn to know books as friends
and to experience the sheer joy of reading"(Zauha 57). Often these
browsing rooms were staffed by a librarian, a Readers' Advisor, whose function
was not only to select and maintain the collection, but to provide "the
right book to the right reader at the right time." The objective of
the browsing collection has remained the same through the years, "to
stimulate, entertain, relax; to offer readers the newest attractive books
on hobbies, travel, and other personal recreational activities; to entice
people into subject areas as yet unexplored by them (Shelton 410). Library
literature of the 1930's includes numerous references to browsing rooms
in college libraries, dormitories and fraternity houses, as well as articles
encouraging Readers' Advisor services for both academic and public libraries.
In the 1940's the popularity of this service declined, at least as a formalized position or policy. For academic libraries, the death knell came from Harvie Branscomb, Director of Duke University Libraries who published a book in 1940 entitled, Teaching With Books: A Study of College Libraries, which was the result of a study investigating the role of the library in undergraduate education. Branscomb believed that for students "there will be little time for outside reading....The college library, it can be argued, needs to take its own task more seriously, not to attempt the role of the public library, the great concern of which with recreational reading is itself questionable"(qtd. in Farber 4). So, after a brief moment of glory in the 1930's the Readers' Advisor in academic libraries became only a memory. Browsing rooms continued to exist but without a librarian to assist students.
With some notable exceptions, the Browsing Room
has been tolerated, but not usually encouraged, in academic libraries. At
the University of Illinois, the Illini Union Browsing Room has survived,
but even this collection only survived because external funding came to
the rescue in 1991. Other exceptions are the University of Indiana and the
University of Michigan which have residence halls that serve as learning
centers, encouraging the expansion of intellectual and cultural development.
Based on the premise that reading and libraries are vital to life-long learning,
each residence hall has a library. These libraries have a variety of knowledge-based
resources including reference as well as recreational titles, and at each
library, a Head Librarian, a graduate student from the School of Information
advises students with the help of a team of Library Assistants.
Browsing rooms, the "Cinderella" of academic library services
have been virtually ignored for several decades. A survey done by Susan
Marks in May, 1975 of the nations's thirty largest university libraries
had 24 respondents. Only twelve of these responding libraries still had
browsing collections (95). Possible reasons for the decline in this service
include open stacks, shrinking funds for library resources, the information
explosion, and the love affair with technology. Given the current financial
crisis on most campuses, the emphasis on accountability, and the constant
struggle to meet the curricular needs of the academic community, spending
funds for recreational reading seems like buying cut flowers for a dinner
table centerpiece when you don't have enough money for the entree. Time,
money and staff have been in short supply for a text-based service deemed
marginal or non-essential to the college community.
Librarians have rationalized the existence of browsing
collections, in times when expenditures on this type of material might be
criticized, and have sought inexpensive and imaginative methods of supporting
acquisitions to this collection by buying paperbacks, accepting donations,
using book sale funds, rental plans, lost books from airports, etc. A common
practice and solution for many libraries is to temporarily shelve selected
new additions to the collection in the browsing area.
Many librarians, who are readers and bibliophiles, see the advantages of
"encouraging recreational reading, which in turn can increase general
and specific reading interests. At a time when headlines warn of the decline
in college students' ability and desire to read, the existence of browsing
rooms should not be jeopardized, but encouraged"(Marks 95). Alan Bloom
in the Closing of American Mind laments "our students
have lost the practice of and taste for reading. They have not learned how
to read, nor do they have the expectation of delight or improvement from
reading"(62). Three studies in the 1980's, reported in Zill's Who
Reads Literature?, point to a decline in reading by young adults in
the United States (19). Two of these studies were sponsored by the Book
Industry Study Group and the third study, Survey of Public Participation
in the Arts was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Studies
site a variety of reasons for the decline in reading interest and ability
(Zill). In a presentation concerning the reading habits and abilities
of college students at the International Reading Association meeting in
1988, Evan Farber hypothesized that two of the possible reasons for the
lack of reading among college students were that academic libraries do not
encourage recreational reading and that many students suffer from "library
anxiety" which causes them to avoid the library unless absolutely necessary
(2). The Browsing room and a Readers' Advisory Service seems an obvious
remedy to this situation, and in the past was recognized as instrumental
in encouraging reading. In 1936, Professors Randall and Goodrich writing
about browsing rooms in the Principles of College Library Administration,
stated, "The amount of free reading done in a college will be commensurate
with the supply of material of a readable nature which is furnished and
with the ease with which it may be secured. Any activities, therefore, which
result in increasing the supply or the accessibility of readable and interesting
books are likely to be useful in the encouragement of reading" (151-152).
The influential author of The Administration of the College Library,
Guy R. Lyle devotes a whole chapter to encouraging reading, especially recreational
reading in the 1949 edition of this book. He includes a most impassioned
plea and defense for recreational reading and a readers' advisor from a
former president of Brown University, Henry M Wriston.
In a large and more genuine sense, however,
recreational reading is often the most truly educational, even the most
really intellectual, element in experiences with and through books. It may
well furnish an intellectual project within which the student establishes
his own goals and determines his own significant values. It is the place
where his tastes, aptitudes, and skills find freest play. Individual differences,
recognition of which is the keynote of modern education, here come to richest
fulfilment. It is precisely through independent reading that the task of
knotting together the raveled sleeve of information may best be achieved.
Here the student's own philosophical structure takes form as a result of
reading and reflection. A shrewd and wise person, who knows the student
and has the gift for offering stimulating suggestions, makes as direct and
profound an impact upon his development, as any professor, of whatever degree
or distinction ( qtd. in Lyle 246).
While browsing collections have survived, the readers' advisor has seemingly
disappeared from academic libraries. The vestigial remains can only be glimpsed
in the division of books into genre categories, displays of books for special
occasions, or bibliographies. Although there has been a renewed interest
in Readers' Advisory in the public libraries during the last decade, this
interest has not yet appeared in academic libraries. But there is a glimmer
of a resurgence of interest in browsing collections and readers' advisory
services in discussions on academic library listservs. Perhaps as a backlash
to the impersonalization of technology, a renewed interest in reading, book
arts, and book discussion groups is taking place. Ironically, libraries
and librarians, using the same technology that many feel is in direct opposition
to reading and literacy, are providing inexpensive Readers' Advisory services
to their patrons.
Public Librarians have been actively exploring the use of the Internet for
providing such services. An example is the Mid-Illinois Readers' Advisory
Group (MIRAGe), which is a group of librarians who are interested in developing
their Readers' Advisory skills and in promoting literature and reading for
pleasure. MIRAGe was formed as the result of an October 1993 meeting. Those
librarians in attendance expressed interest in forming a group in central/mid-Illinois
to provide practical programs, bibliographies, and networking opportunities
for librarians working with adult fiction readers' advisory services. Another
example is the sophisticated tool for online Readers' Advisory that has
been marketed by the CARL Corporation since 1994. NoveList is an electronic
readers' advisory resource which provides subject access to more than 34,000
adult fiction titles and more than 6000 full text book reviews. An excellent
overview of how the Internet can be used for Readers' Advisory has been
written by Roberta S. Johnson from the Morton Grove Public Library. This
article describe how the Internet can be used for Collection Development
and answering specific questions from patrons about books.
More and more public libraries are using the Internet web sites to provide Readers' Advisory services to their patrons. One of the best examples of a good site has been developed by two librarians, Janet Lawson and Cynthia Orr. In their own words, they describe Book Browser. "Book Browser is a collection of fiction reading lists. . We arrange our lists by genre, location, series and anything else we can come up with. The Reading Lists are the core of our site, and are designed to help avid readers locate new books to read. We have tried to combine the browsing quality of the old card catalog with the flexibility and efficiency of the Web. The lists are updated virtually daily, which is one of the wonderful things about the Web!" Although presently there are no annotations for the individual books, the lists are such that a reader can find a mystery about a librarian, set in Tennessee or an herbalist in Texas, and thereby the reader can make a decision about whether the book will be a good choice. Book Browser is an excellent site because of the amount of information presented, the pleasing graphics and logical layout, the additional links to other relevant Internet sites, and the provision for reader input. A library site in New Zealand, has a less comprehensive yet unique presentation for advising readers, based on the premise "If you like....,try...." Although the layout is unimaginative, the lists are inspired, suggesting titles for both books and music, based upon what the reader already knows and likes. A library may decide to include only links to other sites on a Readers' page, an example is the Readers' Services page from the Rochester Hills Public Library. Their Site for Book Lovers includes links to book reviews, genre sites, author interviews, and other sites that library patrons would find valuable in obtaining further information about favorite books or authors. Or, a site may include only annotated lists of what is available in their library, such as the Normal Public Library's Good Reads. Ideally, the best site should include lists of individual titles with annotations as well as links to Internet sites, such as the Morton Grove Public Library site which is " Dedicated to the lover of fiction and fiction collections..." At the Morton Grove Public Library, the Reader's Service staff offers many special services to library patrons and on-line visitors such as an annotated list of selected new books, annotated bibliographies on many subjects fiction and non-fiction, a list of coming bestsellers, and links to other book sites on the Web. A variety of different web sites for Readers' Advisor services have been developed by public libraries to serve library patrons. Although some may be more inclusive or comprehensive than others, all should be applauded for the time, effort, and imagination needed for the creation of a web site.
The interest in providing Readers' Advisory services
for public libraries is understandable since one of the primary functions
of the public library is to provide recreational reading for library patrons;
however, for academic libraries, where the provision of recreational reading
is usually an auxiliary function at best, there has not been the same interest
in providing this service. Academic libraries can create web sites, similar
to the ones used by public libraries to direct students to titles in their
own library, while at the same time linking them to other information about
the author, similar titles, and reviews. By using the Internet, academic
libraries have the opportunity to support the recreational reading interests
of the college community. An example of an academic site which concentrates
on only one genre is the Romance Novel Database by Christina K. Powell.
Created when she was a student at the University of Michigan's School of
Information and Library Studies, this sites functions as both a readers'
advisor and a source of information about books and authors in the genre
of romantic fiction. Currently their are over 234 records in this remarkable
resource with most having annotations and/or reviews, and an image of the
book cover. Another interesting use of the Web for recreational/academic
reading is from the Busse Center Library at Mount Mercy College. Their Newsstand
on the Web is an innovative and useful service for obtaining information
from newspapers, journals, and other informational media. One of the ways
in which academic libraries are using the Internet is by creating a virtual
browsing collection of new books and/or best sellers added to the library
collection, as either a complement or substitute for a browsing collection.
Examples include sites at the DeVry DuPage Library in Illinois, Grinnell,
Cornell University, and the Middle Tennessee State University Library. Most
libraries include only a brief bibliographic entry with a call number on
their listings of new books. Cornell University's New Book Shelf, not
only lists the new books, but has linked each title to the book jacket cover
and the table of contents. The MTSU Library includes links to book reviews
or information about the author to its listing of new titles. Most academic
libraries give only a cursory nod to recreational reading even in the virtual
library; an example is the library page from the University of Missouri
at St. Louis which only lists a few Internet resources, related to leisure
reading. Dollies' Corner is a virtual reading room at Northwestern
University with a list of recent leisure reading and links to recreational
Internet sites. The Browsing Page from the University of South Carolina
has lists of popular titles and new selections, with plot summaries or short
comments. The Readers' Advisory at Middle Tennessee State University
is another virtual browsing room with bibliographies, links to Internet
sites, and related information for recreational reading. Academic libraries
are just beginning to take advantage of the opportunity to encourage recreational
or leisure reading by using the Internet to create virtual browsing rooms
for their students, and at present there are not many examples. In the absence
of a browsing collection in the library, a web site can provide information
on the availability of popular fiction and best sellers in the library collection.
Additional information such as annotations, book reviews, or information
about the author are easily linked to the site. Links to other Internet
sites for the various genres, authors, reviews, and book discussion groups
allow students to discover other titles or authors of interest. By using
the Web in this manner, academic libraries can still acknowledge the importance
of recreational reading to the college student.
However, the primary mission of academic library
is to support the curriculum of the college or university, and this is reflected
in the readers' advisor in an academic setting. "The function of the
Readers' Advisor in the college library is to relate the student's classroom
reading to appropriate readings, to guide his non-curricular reading, and
thereby to broaden his base of knowledge"(Lyle 243). Although the position
of Readers' Adviser in the academic library disappeared decades ago, reference
librarians, particularly those involved with library instruction have been
providing this service on a daily basis, not only by answering questions,
but by preparing instructional handouts, subject guides to resources, bibliographies,
and classroom instruction. Now, academic librarians have created excellent
online guides to resources by incorporating their print subject guides and
bibliographies of library resources onto their web sites. Several sites
have taken advantage of the technology to include links online resources
to their subject guides. Ken Middleton's guide, Women's History: A Guide
to MTSU Library and Internet Resources is an example of a bibliography
that includes both library resources and links to resources on the Internet.
Another example that includes both library and Internet resources are the
Resource Guides by Subject from the University of South Carolina.
The Women in Science and Technology site combines library instruction,
library resources, and Internet links to encourage and facilitate student
research and learning. The Internet offers academic librarians a challenge
and an opportunity to adapt this technology to the encouragement of reading
for pleasure and knowledge, and to continue the tradition of the Readers'
Advisor.
Web Site Examples
Book Browser
http://www.Polyweb.com/BookBrowser/index.html
Deaf in Literature from the Wallace Library, Rochester Institute
of Technology
http://wally.rit.edu/pubs/guides/deafinlit.html
DeVry Dupage Library --lists new books added to the library collection
http://www.dpg.devry.edu/library/
Dollie's Corner from Northwestern University. A virtual leisure reading
area. Recreational reading and Internet links. http://www.ghsl.nwu.edu/dollies_corner.html.
Good Reading from the Fairfax County Public Library
http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/library/reading/menu.htm
Good Books to Read from the Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library--lists
of recommended titles in the usual and unusal categories--Books about food
in fiction, and amnesia, etc, as well as the usual serial killers and vampires.
http://www.dayton.lib.oh.us/~ea_jan/goodreads.html
Good Reads from the Normal Public Library. Annotated lists of new
fiction and non-fiction, movie tie-ins and cool magazines in the Normal
Public Library.
If you Like....from a New Zealand Public Library.
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Library/IYL/
If you like.... from the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/ACPL_Locations/Branches/shw_ifulike.html
Leisure Reading in Physics from the Wallace library
http://wally.rit.edu/pubs/guides/phybks.html
Literature and Languages: Selected Reading Lists from the Harold Washington
Library Center. A wide variety of bibliographies and readings lists on various
genres and topics.
http://cpl.lib.uic.edu/001hwlc/litlists/litlists.html.
Middle Tennesse State University Library lists new books, best sellers,
readers' advisor, subject guides to resources and bibliographies.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~library
MIRAGe from the Mid-Illinois Readers' Advisory Group. Extensive lists,
links, and bibliographies for the interested librarian and reader.
http://www.prairienet.org/mirage/homepage.html
MMC Newstand on the Web from Busse Center Library, Mount Mercy College.
http://www.mtmercy.edu/lib/newstand.htm
New Leisure reading at Russell Library from the Ina Dillard Russell
library Georgia College State University. http://Peacock.GAC.PeachNet.EDU/~techserv/leisure.html.
NOBLE North Boston Library Exchange
http://www.noble.mass.edu/booklist.htm
NoveList from CARL Corporation. Home page for this electronic resource
for Readers' Advisory. http://222.carl.org/nlhome.html
Philosophy and Ethics: A Guide to Resources from Georgetown University,
a library guide with selected resources.
http://gulib.lausun.georgetown.edu/dept/reference/philosophy/
Popular Books on Browsing from the University of South Carolina.
A list of new books with links to plot summaries. http://www.sc.edu/library/catalog/browsing/poplar.html
http://www.sc.edu/library/catalog/browsing/brows.html (Browsing Home Page).
Readers Advisor for Information and Computer Science Heyward Ehrlich's
book length essay and annotated bibliography on resources available on this
subject.
http://newark.rutgers.edu/~ehrlich/clbook1.html
Reader's Advisory from MTSU University Library, a virtual reading
room.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/read.html
Reader's Advisory Services from the Los Angeles Public
Library. Mostly a listing of authors for different catagories of genre fiction.
http://www.colapublib.org/advisory/index.html
Reader's Advisory-Fiction the Web Station of the Flint Public Library
in Michigan.
The purpose here is to suggest Internet resources which will allow staff
and patrons the opportunity to make informed choices in the areas of book
selection and reading material in the five genre sections that the library's
collection is divided: General Fiction, Mysteries; Romance; Science Fiction;
Westerns and Short Stories.
http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/fpl/resources/FPL_Readers_HomePage.html
Reader's Robot from Kevin Kierans, Manager of Library and Support
Services at Thompson Nicola Regional District Library System, Kamloops,
B.C.
http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html
Readers' Services Page from the Rochester Hills Public Library includes
Sites for Book Lovers
with links to book reviews, author interviews, awards, genre fiction, lists
of books, ideas for reading groups.
http://metronet.lib.mi.us/ROCH/readadv.html
Resource Guides by Subject from the University of South Carolina,
Thomas Cooper Library. Includes library resources as well as Internet resources.
http://www.sc.edu/library/tcl.html#bibs
http://www.sc.edu/library/bibs/womsci.html
Romance Novel Database from Christiana Powell at the University of Michigan.
Many annotations and reviews as well as links to resources in the genre.
http://www.sils.umich.edu:80/~sooty/romance/
University of Missouri-St. Louis includes in their virtual library
a small section for leisure reading.
http://jinx.umsl.edu/services/library/virtual/
Virtual Reader's Service Desk from the Morton Grove Public Library.
Many services for readers, including bibliographies, coming bestsellers,
annotated list of selected new books, links to other book related sites.
http://www.nslsilus.org/mgkhome/mgpl/rsdesk.html
Works Cited
Blackwood, Charlene and others. "Pleasure Reading by College Students:
Fact or Fiction?" paper presented at the Mid-South Educational Research
Association (Lexington, KY, November 13-15 1991), ED 344191.
Bloom, Alan. Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
Drury, Francis K.W. Book Selection. Chicago: ALA, 1930.
Farber, Evan Ira. "Turning Students into Readers: Librarians and Teachers Cooperating," paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association (33rd, Toronto, Canada, May 1-6, 1988), ED 302807.
Harrington, Mildred P. "Free" Reading
and the College Undergraduate." The Library Journal.
60. (1935): 947-952.
Johnson, Roberta S. " Lost and Found in Cyberspace: Reader's Advisory on the Internet". Program presented for the Library Administrator's Conference of Northern Illinois, September 27, 1996. URL: http://www.nslsilus.org/mgkkhome/mgpl/ranet.html.
Lyle, Guy R. The Administration of the College Library. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1949.
Marks, Susan. "Browsing Rooms Redivivus," American Libraries 7. (1976): 94-95.
Randall, William M. and Goodrich, Francis L.D. Principles of College Library Administration. Chicago: ALA, 1936.
Regents of The University of Michigan. "Residence Hall Libraries at the University of Michigan." URL: http://www.rhl.housing.umich.edu/rhl.html, c1995.
Shelton, Regina. "The Lure of the Browsing Room." Library Journal 107 (1982): 410-413.
Smith, Duncan. Readers' Advisory Renaissance. From "Readers' Advisory Goes Electronic program at the National Public Library Association meeting in Portland, Oregon. URL: http://www.carl.org/nl/pla.html, (no date).
Zauha, Janelle. "Recreational Reading in Academic Browsing Rooms: Resources for Readers' Advisory." Collection Building 12 . 3-4 (1993): 57-62.
Zill, Nicholas and Marianne Winglee. Who Reads
Literature? Washington D.C.: Seven Locks Press, 1990.
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