Format: Self-paced Course
Developed by: LibraryU, a program of the Illinois State Library and the regional library systems
Length: 1 hour
This introduction to public library readers' advisory services to adults includes the readers' advisory interview, marketing readers' advisory services, promoting fiction, and using finding aids. In this course you will learn how to identify what it is in genre fiction that appeals to a reader, how best to get them to articulate that appeal, what books to suggest to the reader, and how to promote the different kinds of genre fiction in a public library.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify what it is in genre fiction that appeals to a reader: frame, characterization, pacing, and storyline.
- Conduct a readers’ advisory interview.
- Identify which books to suggest to the reader.
- Use a variety of resources and finding aids to stay informed about genre fiction.
- Use strategies to promote different kinds of genre fiction in a public library.
Course author: Terri Lyons, MLIS
Instructional design: Linda Vanderbaan (original course), WebJunction (updated course)
Original creators: Illinois State Library and the regional library systems throughout Illinois
Updated March 2024
