Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal June 2008 Volume 6(3)

Conference: Reviews

Talking about books

Val Phillips, Senior Library Assistant at Inverclyde Libraries, Greenock attended the Talking to readers about book session at CILIPS Annual Conference.

I facilitate a book group in Gourock Library which has been running for five years, and I was looking forward to the workshop, ‘Talking to Readers About Books’. The session was led by Fiona Edwards from Opening the Book, the consultancy which covers reader development in libraries, including refurbishment, training and web presence. The excellent website whichbook.net helps find suitable books using emotions, characters and genre.

The ‘ice breaker’ was a great way to get to know each other. We answered a variety of questions on personal book memories. My question was a leading one “When you were in your teens, did you ever read a book just for the dirty parts?” Trust me to get that question! The discussion this provoked certainly led to a few laughs and surprises. By the time coffee break came we were all chatting away at ease with each other.

During a discussion about how best to promote books to challenging customers, various ideas were expressed about each situation. It was

worthwhile to hear about the differences in procedures between authorities. The suggested solution was not always the one we agreed with. One question raised a few eyebrows and, at the discussion later, a useful message came through as to how to help people without taking responsibility when the result was unfavourable. Stepping back from conflict and not taking things personally was a useful lesson to learn.

After a wonderful lunch we discussed examples of how we talk to readers about books without personal bias. We had all brought two books with us. One was a treat to read and the other we would not touch with a barge pole. We had to promote our treat book and then explain why the other book was a particular turn off. When all the treat books were then put on one table and ‘barge pole’ books on another, it became clear that one person’s barge pole was another person’s treat. An excellent way to emphasise the point that librarians should avoid their own personal prejudices in advising customers.

The next discussion was ‘Meet the Books’. To what extent can you judge a book by its cover? We discussed cover illustrations, title and author display, size of book and size of print. Would that prejudice your choice? This debate led on to the next exercise which was to discuss an appraisal of unknown books by cover. We answered a list of questions about each book and debated the result. In groups we discussed various questions, e.g., what kind of book is this? Who is the book aimed at? Does it have a wider appeal than its target audience? This promoted an interesting debate which was thought provoking.

Fiona Edwards certainly ‘Opened the book’ for me and I look forward to using new techniques with the book group. I feel confident that I can promote professionally without bias to readers books that I would not normally read.

Information Scotland Vol. 6(3) June 2008

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