My Topics Paper

Joe Szalankiewicz

SLIS 524

Topics Paper

Readers advisory to non-fiction

            When I was 15 years old, I started reading American Civil War books intensely.  I loved reading them because of the personal appeal to the materials that I was reading.  I loved reading the real stories about Civil War soldiers and the battles they had participated in during that terrible period of American History.  It captivated my interest and I made me interested in reading again.  I slowly became interested in reading other nonfiction subjects and slowly became immersed in anything nonfiction related.  Nonfiction had restored my interest in reading and a good nonfiction readers’ advisory could restore other young teen reading interests as well.  Using good reference tools and booklists are good starts to establish nonfiction readers’ advisory as a viable resource like readers’ advisory has done for fictional genres.

Another reason I started reading nonfiction was a personal feeling I had when I read it. I had just started researching my family history and I discovered that my ancestors had fought in the American Revolution and the Civil War and it made me want to read more about events that my ancestors had possibly participated in.   I wanted to read something that really happened.  Sarah Statz Cords states, “Fans of historical writing are often driven to books by their need to know about history, or by their curiosity regarding real and defining historical events” (Cord, 150).   My example for reading nonfiction subjects is a great reason for others to follow suit.

My personal experiences with history and nonfiction subjects are one of the many reasons why readers read nonfiction.  When I started reading nonfiction there was no readers’ advisory tool for me to use to find further books on the subject of my choosing. Lately nonfiction readers’ advisory has come to the forefront and it makes it easier to find more books about the subject matter in which a person wishes to pursue reading. These tools are also helping to create more readers of nonfiction subjects because of the ability to relate nonfiction subjects with fiction genres that readers have read in the past.

Nonfiction readers’ advisory is an area that is not widely utilized by reference librarians as opposed to its counterpart reader’s advisory for genre fiction. But nonfiction readers’ advisory is slowly becoming relevant and a useful tool in the library community.   Nonfiction readers’ advisory is a new practice that librarians are initiating so it will take a while for the practice to be used as readily as the readers’ advisory for fiction.   Nonfiction is just as popular as fiction and should have the same tools to access such as the fiction readers’ advisory. Nonfiction stories are real and connect the reader to real life events and could hold possible solutions to real life problems. Fiction and nonfiction have their similarities and differences.

Nonfiction and fiction have a great similarity in their writing style.  Both categories have great stories, but the difference between the two is that nonfiction readers’ advisory stories are real life.  These real stories are the main reasons why people like to read nonfiction titles. Nonfiction educates their readers about a particular subject and generally has been thoroughly researched by their authors.

 As a librarian, there are many types of nonfiction subjects that are suitable for readers of fiction.  Taking the Guess Work Out of Nonfiction Readers' Advisory: What's It All About Seabiscuit? by Heather Lawson discusses the subject nonfiction readers’ advisory. She discusses the way librarians can suggest nonfiction titles based on what type of fiction titles they read.  She states, “Match the reader's fiction interests with nonfiction genres. If a customer loves mysteries, they might like true crime. Horror readers may like books written on forensics, plagues or the occult. Character-centered fiction readers might like award-winning biographies or memoirs. Look at award lists such as the nonfiction National Book Award for suggestions.”(Lawson, 117).  It is important start readers with subjects that they were familiar with so they would begin with something that they had a great interest in.

Abby Alpert’s article Incorporating Nonfiction into Readers Advisory Services talks about the growing trend of nonfiction titles into readers’ advisory.  She states, “Librarians are realizing that they can increase their readers’ advisory services and expand their community of readers by applying the same techniques that they have used to find new titles and authors for fiction readers to working with readers of nonfiction” (Alpert, 25). Alpert is demonstrating that nonfiction and fiction should be treated the same when it comes to readers’ advisory.

Finding resources for librarians to use to help recommend nonfiction titles for users.  Alpert gives examples of resources that librarians use. It is very important to provide reading lists and other resources for readers so they know what kind of nonfiction titles are similar to many fictional titles.   She states, “Some of the common resources that readers’ advisors have been using include bestseller lists and reviews of new and forthcoming nonfiction titles in basic collection-development review sources such as Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. Newspaper review sections, particularly the New York Times Book Review, devote an increasing amount of space to nonfiction titles” (Alpert, 30).  Also, exploring the New York Times Bestseller lists is a great way of determining what types of nonfiction titles are popular with the public.  These resources help librarians judge what is popular in the nonfiction field and gives them a clue on what to recommend to readers who wish to try to read nonfiction titles.

Like Fiction Readers’ Advisory, librarians are encouraged to create resource tools to aid their readers to in detailing the different types of nonfiction titles.  Booklists can be about cookbooks, Civil War history, sewing, graphic novels, music, etc.  Alpert states, “Booklists and bookmarks are effective ways to increase circulation of titles. Displays are also popular and the opportunities for nonfiction displays are many; seasonal themes, local exhibit and event tie-ins, and staff recommendations tend to be popular”(Alpert, 31).  Booklists are one of the best ways to increase circulation in nonfiction and making users aware of the different types of nonfiction that is available in the library system.

Furthermore, an electronic version for readers to utilize is a way for interested readers to look at these titles up at home or could be looked up by mobile means such as a smart phone. Back in 2007, EBSCO Publishing and NoveList created a new version of NoveList.  They named it NoveList Plus. NoveList Plus would include both nonfiction and fiction. Vicki Nesting, editor of Public Libraries talks about the pending release of NoveList Plus and states, “NoveList Plus is intended to meet the need for expanded bibliographic data on nonfiction titles along with browsing lists, lists of award winners, author read-alikes, reviews, and book discussion guides for popular titles” (Nesting, 69). NoveList Plus is a great electronic resource tool to show the different types of the nonfiction titles and books that are related in subject manner to the ones that they are previously read or ones that they would like to read.

Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory is an important resource tool in getting readers to expand their reading habits and choices to nonfiction. Creating booklists and book reviews are great steps in getting readers to try the nonfiction genre of reading.  NoveList Plus is a great expansion of NoveList and makes people aware of nonfiction titles they might not have been aware of before.  NoveList Plus is a great tool to show nonfiction titles to readers and possibly a read that is similar to the titles they were searching for.

 Nonfiction contains real stories and is more personal to the reader than fiction and fosters readers to learn about subjects that they are more personally connected to rather than the fictional genres that they may normally read.  I understand readers indulge in fiction to escape from reality but nonfiction subjects help educate readers about subjects that are important to real world people and situations.

 

 

Works Cited

Cords, Sarah Statz. The Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests. Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Nonfiction Readers' Advisory Service Coming Soon from NoveList. (2007). Public Libraries, 46(6), 68-69.

Taking the Guess Work Out of Nonfiction Readers' Advisory: What's It All About Seabiscuit?. (2006). Tennessee Libraries,56(2), 115-128.

Trott, B., & Alpert, A. (2006). Incorporating Nonfiction into Readers' Advisory Services. Reference & User Services Quarterly,46(1), 25-32.