"On a personal note, I want to thank you Jenna, for providing me with such a well-thought out personal reading profile, as well as your openness, enthusiasm, and encouragement during our Skype “meeting.” I am in awe of your prolific reading experiences, and I really grooved on the fact that you like to read so far across the spectrum of genres, themes, and styles." - Colleague, 2010.
Reader's Advisory
One of the best things about working for public libraries is serving a reading public. Although the popularity of reader's advisory seems to ebb and flow in the library world, it has always been one of the tasks I look forward to with the most pleasure. Indeed, the onset of e-reading devices has only increased the amount of leisure reading our patrons are able to accomplish. Therefore, it is imperative for a public librarian to be very much aware of the literature that is available and popular in the world and how to match patrons with books they might enjoy. The most recent (and I would argue one of the best) classes I have taken to refine these skills is a class with Nancy Pearl, well known to some for her many published books and widely admired skills on readers advisory and to others as the official Librarian Action Figure (with amazing shushing action!). This class has given me the chance to learn from Nancy herself as well as my incredible colleagues about the fine art of matching up a book with a person who will enjoy it. In addition to the "Nancy Pearl class" I have also taken other classes dealing more extensively with reader's advisory. In these classes, I practiced reading suggestions, producing book lists and writing annotations and descriptions for books I had read. A number of suggestions I made for the book Sleeping with Strangers by Eric Jerome Dickey can be viewed here. Additionally, I have taken these skills outside the library and provided monthly book lists for a local news source called the Patch (see one very popular example here). I also blog about young adult fiction monthly on the King County Library System blog, Book Talk. You can see my archived entries here.
Puget Sound Children's Book Reviews
In addition to the amount of reader's advisory experience I have had with adult material, I have also been working with the Puget Sound Children's Review Council (PSC) almost since I began studying here at the Information School. Members receive a number of children's and young adult books monthly, which they rate and write reviews to be published in a monthly newsletter. This has given me a large amount of experience working with materials for youth and better prepared me to recommend books to patrons of all ages. An example of a typical month of book reviews can be seen here.
Storytelling
Until I took a class on storytelling, I had no idea the sheer amount of places I would be using the skills I learned while working on projects for this class. I have used storytelling skills for book-talking, discussing resources and giving presentations. Additionally, through a storytelling experience I was able to make a connection with a local community group that I never would have previously. Everyone in the storytelling class had to tell a 15-17 minute story to an audience. The audience had to be a gathering of some kind and could not simply be a group of family or friends. I decided to challenge myself and told the story of "The Old Woman and the Devil" at the open mike night for the Seattle Storytellers Guild. Not only was this excellent practice presenting to an educated audience, but I also cold contacted a community group that I never would have heard of otherwise.
