Secret Shopper

I wandered into a not-so-local library on Wednesday afternoon and approached the service desk. I told the librarian (possibly just staff? This is a very small library, and no one was wearing badges with name or designation) that I was looking for a recommendation of a good book. She brought me over to the new arrivals shelf and pointed out a couple authors who have been popular with their users (Mary Higgins Clark and James Patterson). I nodded to those suggestions, but I didn't really show much interest. I was hoping she might ask something, anything really, to narrow down the options. She did ask if I enjoyed mysteries, and I told her that I did, so she toured me through that section (which was right next to the new items) and suggested Mary Jane Clark. She then said she didn't read these authors much, but she preferred autobiographies instead. That got my attention more, and as she was apologizing for not having a lot of recommendations, I told her that I was into biographies. She pointed out the section, but she didn't recommend anything from that area. Something sparked for her though, as she led me to the section with Andrew McCall Smith. She said she enjoyed his work, but she also admitted that she was biased because she was from South Africa. I told her that it was understandable, especially since lots of people enjoy reading stories they relate to. Again, I was hoping she would ask anything to aid in the reader's advisory, but at this time she told me that if I needed anything else to just ask, and then she returned to the service desk.

I continued wandering and found books I would enjoy (and thanks to a reciprocal borrowing policy with my library, I could check out): Citizen by Claudia Rankine, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, and Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. I also grabbed a couple books for my son, and then I checked out. As I did, I thanked her again, and she told me she hoped I had found a good book.

While the librarian offered up some authors for me to peruse, she didn’t give me a “good book.” I found those on my own, instead, just by wandering around and knowing what I like. I feel if she had asked some follow-up questions, or even if we had gone to the autobiographies when I showed an interest in them, this readers’ advisory interview would have gone in a much different, and possibly better, direction. In her “At Leisure: Rethinking the Readers’-Advisory Interview,” author Joyce Saricks states that we should be thinking of this as a conversation with more back-and-forth (24). I didn’t really provide a lot on my end of the readers’ advisory interview because I wanted to observe the librarian’s methods. Perhaps, had I given her more of a push in any direction, it would have helped her to understand what type of book I was looking for. As it was, she might not have been able to gauge my interests--although I thought I made that clear when I told her I was into autobiographies. That, for sure, felt like a missed opportunity. Saricks says that “a conversation… invites readers back--to share information about what they have enjoyed, about what else they’re interested in, even about new discoveries” (24). I just didn’t feel like it was a conversation, though, as the librarian wasn’t really picking up on my interest. Yes, I was a quiet patron, and I feel I showed polite interest in what she said, but I only ever really perked up about the autobiographies--which we never explored. Had she gone to at least a series of questions to ask, like Saricks suggests, I think it would have yielded greater results.

Additionally, I think a follow-up would have been helpful during this interaction. After showing me some of the authors and areas, she turned me loose in the library and returned to her desk. I remained in the library browsing for another 30 minutes or so, but I only saw her again as I was leaving.

References:

Saricks, J. (2007). At leisure: Rethinking the readers'-advisory interview. The Booklist, 103(15), 24.