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Reader's Advisory at SHA

“Morah Lauren, I need a historical fiction book, but I don't want it to be very long.”

“Where do you keep the Harry Potter Books?”

“Lauren, where are the Boxcar Children?”

Working at a K-8 school 15 hours a week, and sometimes more, means a barrage of questions from students, parents, teachers and administrators. Because I was not the beloved SHA librarian, I mostly just assisted children with reader's advisory, but I was present for the many reader's advisory questions Janine received as well, and I was able to observe her reactions and techniques.

The above questions are a few examples of what I might be asked in a typical day at SHA. Here's how I responded to each of these questions:

1. I took the 5th grader to the historical fiction section and pointed out some of the shorter books she might be interested in. She had rushed in and just wanted a quick read, most likely for a class assignment. Sometimes being a librarian is finding the item and handing it over, with little room or time for advisory. Had I had more time, I would have found out what some of her favorite books were, and gotten ideas for what to recommend to her based on the “doorways,” as Nancy Pearl calls them, which stuck out to me the most from what she responded with.

2. This boy, also a 5th grader, obviously liked Harry Potter and was both at that reading level and interested in things like this. I showed him the Potter series on the shelf, but then told him about Mysterious Benedict Society and explained that it was very like Harry Potter in that the books were about children with supernatural abilities, but rather than magic, they were more like talents.

3. This boy was a kindergartener who has a really inquisitive nature. He's absolutely precious and very bright. He wanted to know where the Boxcar books were located in the library, and almost automatically he followed his question with “ My mom reads them to me,” as if he knew I might question a chapter book for such a small boy. I sat with him on the floor and we talked about how his mom has read the first two, how he thinks his copies are in “better condition” than ours. In this instance, it was good just to talk to him on his level about what these books meant to him. I didn't recommend another series at that time, because he was already working on that one and I didn't want to take away from that, but when he brings it back, I will recommend some great read-alouds to him, like Mouse and the Motorcycle, The Ramona Quimby Books, The Borrowers and Matilda.

Here are some of the RA/reference questions I heard from staff and parents at SHA, as well as some scenarios I heard about which I learned from.

“I need books for my entire class on each of their individual report topics.”

“I need a book to read to the entire school for an upcoming holiday.”

“I need to create some appropriate genre boxes for my class to choose from during silent sustained reading.”

“I don't like the fact that my kid comes home with certain books I don't find to be appropriate.”

These questions were handled as follows:

1. Janine and her assistant, Stella, looked up the call numbers for around 3 books for every topic in this teacher's class. They put sticky notes in each, with each child's name and then organized the materials in a box so the teacher would have a complete set of books for this project in a nice contained place within her classroom. This is very typical of school libraries, according to Janine- teachers coming in and asking for more than just reference, but actual compilation of materials and often they would appreciate your advice and assistance in teaching their lesson or series of lessons on a topic.

2. This happens very frequently at SHA, as the school director addresses the entire student body weekly, on Fridays. Sometimes she just shares events, sometimes she has a topic to discuss, and often she reads a story related to a holiday or a specific issue she is trying to promote. When she needs materials, she comes in day-of and asks. Sometimes it's ten minutes prior to the assembly. These RA interactions require quick thinking and a deep knowledge of the collection as well as the person and her intent. Janine has a relationship with the director and she is very familiar with the Jewish culture and religious foundations the director often promotes, so she can quickly find a good resource. This collection knowledge combined with the religious knowledge is very unique and hard to come by, but necessary to the workings of the school.

3. This is a particularly messy and annoying request, but one which must be accommodated to facilitate good teacher-librarian relations. It's difficult, because a librarian wants her patrons to learn the library and how to find items within, but when a teacher needs something, it's best to accommodate her. As a result, there is an alcove with about six clear tubs of books labeled with that teacher and the genre. I really don't like this technique, as it discourages and undermines the teaching the librarian has done regarding the library system and layout, and it clutters the library and pigeonholes kids into only choosing the books we could fit in the boxes. It's annoying, but the teacher requested it and we are there to support the teachers.

4. Appropriateness is something that permeates the entire school, from dress code, to book subjects. An orthodox Jewish school has a high level of sheltering from certain types of materials, and some parents are more discretionary than the school when it comes to what they will allow their children to read. There have been parents who challenge the collection policy, and in this instance, Janine has given parents opportunities to come into the library and, with her assistance or not, choose books for their child to check out from, to insure they are reading what the parent finds appropriate. As someone with a public library background, I find this to be tragic, but again, the environment dictates the policy.

The above-mentioned scenarios are just a few of the reader's advisory interactions I was privy to during my time at SHA. I was fortunate to gain experience and knowledge via my direct work with students and via the forty years of librarianship my mentor brought to me when talking about RA.

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