Thursday, April 30, 2009

Newsletter Number 5

April 30 '09
Training is here … the trainers are revved and raring to go!

Your manager will be organising for you to attend training – the first session is on Tuesday 5th of May. If you haven’t heard which day you’re going yet, don’t panic – the training continues right through into the middle of July. You will receive personal notification from Karen closer to the day you are scheduled to attend. Shelvers, you will have you own sessions arranged a little later in the year.

How do I prepare for the training day?Read, read, read! You will need to think about a book, DVD, magazine etc. you’ve enjoyed so you can share it on the day. You will also need to have posted a comment on the blog – talk to your supervisor or other senior staff if you need help with this.

Where will it be?The venue is Glenfield Library Community Board room. The day will start at 8.30 sharp, so please be there five minutes before. The day will finish at 5.00.
You will need to make your own arrangements for lunch, an hour has been allocated, the mall is nearby and you are welcome to use the library lunch room. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided.

Food for thought….
“The very least that public libraries can do…is to ensure that the overall impression of the space is not negative. How tidy is it? How many notices are displayed which aim to control visitor behaviour? Are staff members identifiable if they’re not behind the counter and if they are, do they take a moment to raise their heads, make eye-contact and offer a smile to visitors?”

From: The Reader Friendly Library Service – Rachel Van Riel.

Website of the week…..
www.readersadvice.com
10,000+ fiction authors in 475+ subgenres

Quote of the week…
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could
call him up on the phone whenever you felt like
it…”
~ J. D. Salinger ~

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Importance of Reading


Do you read for entertainment, for information, to escape, for enlightenment, to experience new things, for comfort or for stimulation?


Some questions to consider:

What does reading mean to you?

Why does reading matter?
Why do people read?
How personal is the reading experience?
What benefits do you personally gain from reading?


Record your thoughts here!

Newsletter Number 4

April 23 ‘09

Shelf Talkers … What are they and how do we use them?

Your library has received some shelf talkers designed by North Shore Libraries’ very own Jan Marshall. If you haven’t seen them, ask your supervisor or manager to show you where they are.

Shelf talkers are a very simple way of making reading suggestions to your customers… and it needn’t be limited to books either. They can be put into DVDs, CDs, audio books, magazines etc.

What a great reason to chat with your customers as they are putting their books into the bin. Ask them if they enjoyed them! If they did – put a shelf talker in the book and put it on your face out display shelves or bay end display for other customers.
Naturally you will all do the same with the books and other media that you enjoyed!

Tip of the week….

The balance of a freestanding display is most important: The shape of a pyramid is the easiest way to create a freestanding display, it has imaginary 3 sides, is visible from all angles and is a guideline which is easy to use. Create this by stacking cubes or blocks which can be offset to create interesting angles and spaces on which to put your books.


Food for thought….

On entering any new space, 80% of the impression we carry thereafter is based on what we see immediately…..Creating a welcome for visitors involves more than putting up a sign saying “welcome”. Eye contact and smiles from the staff, clear signage and guiding, uncluttered surfaces and tempting points of focus created by well stocked displays all help customers to feel relaxed, confident and comfortable. From: The Reader Friendly Library Service – Rachel Van Riel.Website of the week…

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/

Winner: 2008 Gumshoe Award for Best Crime Fiction Website

Quote of the week…“I often feel sorry for people who don't read good books;
they are missing a chance to lead an extra life”.
~Scott Corbett ~

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Newsletter Number 3

April 9 ‘09
How are you going to keep yourself informed of good websites, reviews, ideas, display tips and all the other things that make The Reading Experience happen, you may be asking?
Well here is the forum for this…..

The Reading Experience Blog…This is an ongoing forum for all of us – to contribute ideas, good books, dvds, magazines, websites, to ask questions or just to browse and keep up to date.
You will need to have registered to comment on the blog site, before you attend your training – feel free to use a pseudonym. If you need help, ask one of the web 2.0 experts in your library, or you can email northshorelibraries@gmail.com .
The blog is currently in its infancy, but there are already links on there that will interest you.
Tip of the week….Do you have bookmarks with “who writes like” or with genre lists in your library?
Instead of putting them in containers for customers to take, try popping them into relevant books on the display shelf and recent returns so that customers who pick up a book in a particular genre will find a list of other suggested authors ready and waiting for them in the book they have chosen.

Food for thought….
“It may seem curious that youth services librarians, both in public libraries and in schools, do a considerable amount of reader's advisory work and reader's guidance issues and concerns appear frequently in their literature. In fact, reader guidance is seen as a central concern. For some reason, it is assumed that children and teens need help in selecting the right book, but that adults do not. Is this a reasonable assumption?” William C. Robinson University of Penn.

Website of the week…

For Lee Child fans…

http://www.reachercreatures.com/

Post a comment on the blog if you know of other similar sites.

Quote of the week…
“Books had instant replay long before televised sports”. ~Bern Williams

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Newsletter number 2

April 2 ‘09


Congratulations to those of you who found the source of the quote included in the last newsletter …. It’s good to know that you read the newsletter right to the end!

Wanted… for our new website!Remember contributing the name of a book you enjoyed to the librarian’s reads for summer last Christmas? Well now you can go the next step and contribute a review of a book you have enjoyed to our new website. Just write a brief review and email it to Kim. How easy is that?! kims@shorelibraries.govt.nz. She will compile these so the new website can be launched with some great reading suggestions from us. Can’t wait to see what you guys are reading out there!

Tip of the week….
“Opt in” to your Reading History in “My Info” and review the list occasionally. This quick easy technique jogs our memory of the wonderful titles we’ve read. You’ll be surprised how much this can help you make a reading suggestion to a fellow reader.

Food for thought….“[The reading experience] is about public service, about meeting readers where they are and helping them find something they will enjoy… libraries have become many things to our patrons, but one of the mainstays is the civility with which our patrons are treated. Their questions, no matter what they are, are considered important. When their questions and their reading tastes are valued, our patrons feel valued too.” Joyce Saricks Booklist July 08.


Website of the week…
http://www.candycoveredbooks.com/

Welcome to Candy Covered Books!
From Chick Lit Book Reviews to those of Women's Fiction, we are determined to make choosing your next book a breeze. We gather reviews from a wide variety of sources and average them into a single rating so you don't waste valuable time reading anything less than fabulous. After all, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover……

So true…?

“No two persons ever read the same book”
~Edmund Wilson