Nicole's Readers' Advisory Blog

Green River, Running Red (2004) By Ann Rule 434 pages Nonfiction Synopsis Able to kill without consequence for almost twenty years, the Green River Killer took the lives of at least forty-nine women in the Seattle, Washington area between the years of 1982-2001. Preying on mostly young women, and often teenage girls, Gary Ridgeway earned the moniker “Green River Killer” after disposing of his first several victims along the Green River. Over the many years that would follow, Ridgeway would dispose of his victims’ bodies in a number of different forested and overgrown areas in King County, Washington. Ridgeway was able to elude authorities for so long due, in part, to his perfectly average face and build. He owned and used multiple vehicles which also made it hard to positively identify him. Even after being questioned several times by police as a potential suspect, police generally came away with the same consensus: no one with such a meek demeanor could have committed such horrendous...

Ebooks Pros (for patrons):  Remote access; no need to come into the library Accessible on multiple devices Adjustable settings to personal preference Automatic returns; no late fees  Portable, lightweight (when using a phone, e-reader, etc.) Cons (for libraries and patrons):  Expensive for libraries to purchase (or rent); libraries cannot own the titles Publishers have enforced purchasing restrictions and limits Less of a tactile experience Not appealing to all demographics Personal experience:  I don’t think I had ever read an ebook (for personal reading) until I worked at a library. I started using OverDrive to read ebooks at the Information Desk when things were slow, but that was the only time I would read ebooks. Oftentimes, my loan period would expire before I was able to get through an entire book. After working at the library for awhile, I was given a work-issued iPad. Even after being issued the iPad, I didn’t really use it for quite some time. I had never u...

I chose to view a Zoom book club meeting of the Read it Forward Book Club on YouTube. The book they discussed was The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. There are three women in the book club: Abbe, Jess, and Emma. Abbe seems to be the leader of the group, or at least she was the leader for this particular discussion. She opened and closed the discussion as well as asked questions to guide the conversation throughout. Each time Abbe posed a question, she gave Jess and Emma a chance to respond before adding her own thoughts. The questions were worded in a way that invited each group member to really “dig in” to their analysis of various elements of the book. A few questions Abbe asked were, What feelings did you get about the fictional town? Could you see the cracks growing between these sisters, initially, in childhood? Do you think either of the sisters regrets her choices? and What do you think the author is saying about the roles that we perform in the world? All three group members ...

Passive Readers' Advisory: Adult Nonfiction While traditional readers’ advisory relies on face-to-face and/or real-time staff-patron conversation, passive readers’ advisory aims to offer reading suggestions to patrons through a variety of alternative methods such as book displays, bookmarks, posters, pamphlets, etc. Passive readers’ advisory may be more effective at reaching patrons who do not feel comfortable with or do not prefer seeking readers’ advisory assistance directly from library staff. Some unique ways for libraries to market adult nonfiction: Book displays Bookmarks Pamphlets Posters Flyers/handouts Example: Bookmarks While the word “bookmark” refers to a particular format and function, they can be used for other purposes, such as DVD inserts. Bookmarks would be a great way to turn DVD renters into nonfiction readers. Individual bookmarks could be made to appeal to patrons who like to watch particular television series. Bookmarks could be titled, “If you like ( TV serie...

  The Bookshop on the Corner (2016) By Jenny Colgan 470 pages (Large Print) Gentle Reads Synopsis When the Birmingham public library branches will be consolidated into one large multimedia “hub” in the center of town, librarian Nina Redmond learns that her position will be eliminated, and if she would like to continue to work for the library, she must interview for an entirely new position, a position which focuses less on connecting people with books and more on connecting people to the internet and “intersensory experiences.” Feeling dejected at the thought of competing with dozens of other desperate applicants for a job she doesn’t really want, Nina begins to entertain the idea of a completely new career: a mobile bookstore. As the library purges its stacks and stacks of print materials, Nina fills her car and her apartment with these valuable treasures which would otherwise be lost. She travels to Scotland to purchase a van which she hopes to transform into a bookstore on whee...

"Write about what you want. Write well. It doesn't matter if it's true. I'll never know the difference." In 2003, in the basement of Glendale Mall in the heart of Indianapolis, my W131 professor instructed our night class on how to approach our personal narrative essay. It was the first time that I had ever considered the idea of artistic license (however naïve that may be), and simultaneously, had been given permission to use it on a school assignment. I ended up fictionalizing an event that happened in my life years prior, and my writing was better for it, which was reflected in my grade. My first college paper opened up a whole new way of writing personal narrative for me. Fast-forward to about a year ago when my library purchased A Million Little Pieces , a 2019 movie based on the previously published book, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, a memoir detailing the painful and depraved realities of addiction and recovery. As someone who has watched several...

And Then There Were None (1939) By Agatha Christie 247 pages Mystery Synopsis Ten strangers receive mysterious, similarly vague invitations to an isolated island mansion off the English Devon coast. The guests arrive to find that the host is absent, and it becomes quickly apparent that the elusive host, U. N. Owen, is a stranger to all of the guests. With seemingly nothing in common, the guests wonder why they have been chosen to attend this retreat. They soon find out why when an audio recording begins playing behind a wall of the mansion, accusing each of the guests of committing a crime for which they were never charged. Chaos ensues, and in the midst of trading accusations, one of them collapses. And dies. What follows over the next several days is the calculated murder of each of the guests. The killings seem to be following the pattern of a poem which is hung in each of the guests' bedrooms. Desperately searching the island for the killer, the remaining guests have to work t...