Reader’s Advisory Tools



Reader’s Advisory Tools

In order to compare the reader’s advisory tools, I looked up the same book in each: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, 2010.

provides detailed product information, including age range, grade level, and lexile level. The inclusion of texts of editorial reviews, such as School Library Journal and Booklist, is beneficial. Customer reviews are also provided. Customers can comment on each others’ reviews and rate the book on a scale of 1-5 stars. This book had an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars, calculated from 484 ratings. The pool of ratings is smaller than some of the other sites reviewed. also gives a short biography of the author. Stephanie Perkins used to work as a librarian! Titles of other books purchased by people who viewed or bought this book are also provided. This is a commercial site, so it includes advertising, which could be distracting. The viewer can order a new, used, or Kindle book of this title. The strengths of this website are the number of reviews, the inclusion of both professional and non-professional reviews, and the ease of purchasing the book.

NoveList Plus is a database subscribed to by many public libraries. As such, a user needs a library card number or other authentication to view this source. This could limit accessibility. There is a lot of information included in NoveList, including a summary of the story, texts of editorial reviews like School Library Journal and Kirkus, grade level and lexile level. A standard set of appeal terms and subject headings are used, so users can click on the terms and find other books with the same characteristics. Readers can find more books like the current title by viewing readalikes provided by NoveList or by searching by desired appeal terms. NoveList also provides a link to goodreads reviews and ratings. Also helpful are the links to lists and articles that mention the title. For example, this title was mentioned in the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults: 2012. The strengths of this database are the use of appeal factors and readalikes. Only two reviews are provided.

Goodreads is a social media tool. Readers can write reviews, provide ratings, and see which of their friends who are on goodreads have read the book. As with , the ratings are summarized. This book received a rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, summarized from 62,652 ratings. Some authors post comments and links to their own blogs. A lot of information is provided, including summaries, series information, characters, setting, links to literary awards, and lists which contain this book. Links are provided for information to purchase from Barnes & Noble or other vendors. A link to Worldcat for library availability is also provided (not all libraries are represented in Worldcat). Readers can maintain lists of books read, to read, and reading to keep track of their reading. They can also view a list of books that other users who liked this book enjoyed. Some negatives about the website are that reading levels are not apparent, there is some advertising, and it is difficult to search by subject or genre, other than by clicking on users’ tags or lists. This website’s strengths are its interactivity, its popularity, and recommendations. LibraryThing is a website similar to goodreads, but not as popular. Anna and the French Kiss was given an average rating of 4.33 out of 5 stars based on 1128 ratings (a lot fewer than goodreads).

School Library Journal is a professional journal which provides many reviews in each issue. The reviews are brief, but contain summaries and other information. The information provided includes suggested grade level and this particular review gave reasons why this book would be for older teens. Booklist is another professional journal containing book reviews. Like School Library Journal, Booklist provides summary and other information in a concise way. Suggested grade level is included. The strengths of the professional journals are that many books are reviewed and reviews have been edited for inclusion.

All of the sources discussed have value when searching for book reviews. Review journals, such as School Library Journal, provide a briefer, more scholarly review. This is helpful for collection development staff that has to review a large number of titles in a short amount of time. Librarians can also use the journals to become familiar with titles to recommend to patrons. Interactive websites, such as and goodreads, contain reviews and ratings from other readers. Individual readers can benefit from the social aspect of these sites. Any review source that lists readalikes is a great tool for librarians helping a patron to find the next book to read. Most review sources provide reading level or grade level ratings. This is helpful to librarians assisting parents and students selecting books.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download