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 describeBook 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.
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