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| The book that was suggested to me during my RA interview |
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Since my first book annotation was for Gabriel Garcia Marquez', Love in the Time of Cholera, which falls within the romance genre, and because romance genre is next week for our class, I decided to ask the librarian for a good book to read from this genre.
The day that I went to the library there were only the
circulation clerks present, no librarian in site at any desk. I waited around
for quite some time, then asked the circulation clerks if there was a librarian
available to assist me with locating a book. They told me she had gone on a
break and would be back soon. I waited and then when she returned, someone else
made a request first, then the phone rang and she spent some time assisting
that patron.
Finally, after about 20 minutes, I was able to ask: “Hi. I see
you're busy but I was hoping you could help me find a good book to read.” She asked me what I was looking for. “Well, I don’t read
romance books very much. In fact I don’t read fiction very often. I stopped in
today to get some videos. However, I recently read Gabriel Marquez', Love in the Time of
Cholera. I liked it and today I would just like to grab something similar to it
and leave quickly. Can you help me with it?”
She responded that it wasn’t that easy just to grab a book
and go. She asked me if I had looked on
Amazon for something like it? I responded that I was familiar with Amazon, but
that I thought she might be more helpful. She kind of fumbled and went
online, and then also suggested Oprah’s Book Club. I said I was familiar with that, but
hadn’t looked at it for some time. She explained that she was not familiar with Marquez' work but that Oprah had it listed as a book- of- the- month
suggestion.
I explained to her that I don’t really like cheesy romance
like Harlequin romances. She didn’t ask or interview me about my tastes. I
volunteered them because she wasn’t asking. “Oh, I know what you mean, I don’t
like those kind either”, she said. I
responded with how it’s kind of difficult finding a well-written literary style,
like Marquez' in a romance novel and that is what attracted me to the writer.
We spoke at length about Oprah’s Book Club. I kept waiting
for her to suggest an established Reader’s Advisory service - as this library did have
many on their website, but she did not. There were RA
services located throughout the library, but she did not suggest them either. However,
she was very friendly and seemed to genuinely want to help me.
She explained that the romance genre books all had heart
stickers on the outer binding, and that is how I could locate them. “Oh, I don’t have time
to go through all of those,” I said. “I really would like for you to suggest
one to me.”
“I normally don’t work this desk as I am the children’s
librarian, so I’m not familiar with this genre. I don’t read this genre either.” This synched with everything we have read so
far in class about most librarians not familiar with the genre, scared of the
genre, and not aware of most of what the genre contains, even though “this genre accounts for the largest share of the consumer market.”[Saricks]
“There is a book that I
read once that might be similar to what you’re looking for” she said and then
checked the library catalog for it. She offered to go get it and I walked over
to the stacks with her. She was very friendly and helpful as she located In the
Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. I glanced at the cover and said I would
take it. I thanked her for the suggestion, checked out the book and left.
Upon further investigation of the book, the two things they
have in common are that they are both written by a South American author and
the titles are very similar. However, the book she suggested is not a romance
at all, but more of a Women’s Lives and Relationship book. This will not be the
book I will be reading for our Romance annotation week.
I thought the librarian was friendly and as helpful as she
could be under the circumstances, but it was very clear to me that she did not
take a Reader’s Advisory course during her Library Science education, nor was
she very versed in using the RA tools in her own library. To suggest Amazon and
Oprah to me, was something that I felt anyone would know. Still, I liked her attitude
and willingness to assist me.
Notes:
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA. p. 132.
Notes:
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA. p. 132.
