I work at a very large library in circulation. Since it is such a big institution, I do not know many of the librarians, so I had no trouble doing my ‘Secret Shopper’ assignment there. This turned out to really be a two-part meeting So, my first encounter took only about ten minutes. I approached one of the librarians and she immediately asked, “How can I help you?” I proceeded to tell her I needed to find a good book to read and I was interested in either reading Bird Box or Sharp Objects, since I had seen both the movie and the mini-series, and I wanted more information, than what I had seen on TV. She hadn’t read Bird Box, but she had read, Gone Girl and Sharp Objects and told me how great Sharp Objects was, even better than Gone Girl and I wouldn’t be disappointed. She was so friendly and enthusiastic that I took her advice and checked out the book, which I used as my ‘Thriller Annotation’ assignment.
For the second encounter, I was so impressed with her friendliness and her previous suggestions, I wanted her to be the one for my actual ‘Secret Shopper’ assignment since I had more time to talk to her. I approached her and thanked her for her first suggestion which was right on about Sharp Objects. She smiled and remembered our conversation. I told her my life was so busy with school and working part-time, that I did not have the time to read a good book for pleasure for ages. She asked me, “What types of books do you like to read or have read?” I decided to change it up a bit and I told her I had heard about the ‘Anita Blake’series and I wondered about it because I liked Ann Rice’s vampire series and her Mayfair Witches series.
She was really up on her knowledge about Laurell Hamilton’s series. She told me the first 6 or 7 books in the series were a ‘better formula’, but then the next books were centered more around the character’s ‘love and sex’ interest. I told her that I didn’t mind sex in novels and I wasn’t a prude, but I didn’t really care for it, because I felt it did not enhance the storyline. I used Fifty Shades of Grey for an example of ‘overkill’. She proceeded to recommend Chase Novak’s book, Breed. She gave me a brief synopsis of the book and it seemed to be a book I might read. I did tell her I loved watching Grimm series and Once Upon a Time and I loved fantasy and fairytales. She said that would be considered ‘urban fantasy’ and she proceeded to tell me the story would be set in a present-day city and there would be an element of magic running through it. She suggested The Hazelwood by Melissa Albert and that it was a ‘dark twisted fairytale’.
I also told her I loved Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Janet Evanovich and she said, “yes, the Stephanie Plum series. She said, “You like ‘cozy mysteries.” She suggested The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. She told me it was about a precocious 11-year-old who tried to solve mysteries. Next, she asked how I usually looked for a book. I told her when I went to the library I usually looked at the new book section and then the mystery and fantasy sections. That’s how I found Aunt dimity when I couldn’t get the next book in Janet Evanovich series.
I was curious about her background as a librarian. So, I asked her how she knew so much and what was her approach in helping patrons. She said she has been a librarian since 2006. She said, “Browsing for books on the shelves is one way to find a good read since many libraries have a specific section for new books and different genres.” She mentioned where she had worked before they were required to read so many books per year so they would be better equipped to help their patrons. Her regular patrons would come and ask her what she recommended since they always liked what books she suggested they read.
I had mentioned I loved The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and she said it was a whole series of 20-30 some books which were really good. Of course, I added Harry Potter and the Tolkien Trilogy to the list of my favorite reads. We just seemed to connect. The more we talked the more books she suggested. I didn’t get to see the exact screens and websites she was using, because while she was talking and listening to me she would use the computer to look up books and keep up with our conversation. I am sure she used NoveList Plus since the library subscribes to it and other websites. While we were talking, another librarian sat down, which she introduced to me. Since she personally wasn’t up on fantasy, but her co-worker liked fantasy, so she asked her to join our conversation.
I don’t know what I was expecting. I know that the librarians are there to help, but it is hard sometimes to be able to suggest just what the patron needs, especially if the librarian either hasn’t read the type of genre or she is not really interested in that type of books. I would definitely go back. It was like having a conversation with a friend and exchanging ideas. The more we talked and the more I told her what I had read or liked she was able to suggest other books to read.
She mentioned audiobooks and I told her I thought they would be too slow for me since I like to skim when I read. I told her I like the fast-paced books and I don’t like a lot of description. She told me she too doesn’t like a slow read and that she just can speed up the narration on the audiobooks to make it go faster. We got to talking about e-books and I told her I am from the old school and only like hardcopy books to read. I proceeded to tell her I did get an e-book copy of Sharp Objects because at that time the hardcopy was not available. I told her I could not open it at all on my computer and it was so frustrating. She said when I had the time she would walk me through a tutorial on how to use Overdrive. That is how we left our conversation. I had a slew of new books to read and an invitation to another encounter to learn Overdrive!
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