I chose to write about the topic of Readers Advisory to Teens for my Special Topics paper. I work with teens a lot in my current job, and because of this, many of my coworkers turn to me when a teen requests help finding a book to read, whether it be for an assignment or for enjoyment. Learning about this topic has empowered me as a readers advisor to the teens that visit my library, and I'm eager (if not a bit nervous) to put what I have learned into practice. I will include some highlights from my paper below.
First, it is worthwhile to mention that the young adult book industry is currently booming and that young adult literature is growing and expanding. This puts a bit of a burden on readers advisors to teens. Not only do they have to keep up with the literature trends, but they also have to understand the unique nature, worldview, and attitudes of teens and tweak traditional RA methods accordingly. How we approach teens is essential to a successful conversation about books. “The watchword in readers advisory for young adults is approachability” (Booth, 2005, p. 36). Teens vary widely in their reading levels, purposes for reading, and attitudes toward books, and librarians need to gather this information from teen readers, often indirectly and quickly during the RA interview. The questions we ask teens are often quite different from what we ask adults because we have to assess their attitudes and reading levels. With adults, this is less important.
How we talk about appeal factors with teens is markedly different than our approach with adults. Asking a teen what he/she is in the mood to read, a common question posed to adult readers, will not get us very far with teens. Young readers are much more interested in plot description and details about the characters in a book than any other appeal factor. We should talk to teens about the characters in a book and what they do. Booktalking to tickle a teen’s ear looks something like this:
“It is a (genre) book about a (character) who (plot).” (Booth, 2007, p. 68)
I also included a brief discussion of a few important and effective readers advisory tools that can be used by librarians serving teens. These include booktalking, book bundles, and the use of TikTok. Younker, in her article “Talking it Up” argues that story time for teens should become just as ubiquitous as it is for children. The effectiveness of this practice has been proven in her own experience: “I’ve seen our circulation statistics for 11–18-year-olds increase 600 percent following one of my many classroom visits” (2006, p. 39). Book bundles have become a popular form of readers advisory in many public libraries. Book bundles offer readers several titles in one that share a common theme. Yang and Segraves argue that teens often prefer these to a long list of suggestions written on paper or a bookmark and that “book bundles make sampling books irresistible and fun” (2010, p. 132). Finally, to combat the traditional apathy many teens possess toward the library, many librarians are inserting themselves into teens' TikTok feeds and posting quality and engaging videos to get them excited about books and reading.
References
Bogan,
K. (2023). Leveraging TikTok videos for outreach, engagement, and advocacy. Computers in Libraries, 43(1), 30–32.
Booth, H. (2005). RA for YA: Tailoring the readers advisory interview to the needs of young adult patrons. Public Libraries, 44(1), 33-36.
Booth, H. (2007). Serving teens
through readers' advisory. Chicago: American Library Association.
Tuccillo, D. (1992). Leading them
to books--for life. Publishing Research Quarterly, 8(1), 14-22. https://doi:10.1007/BF02680517.
Yang, G., & Segraves, E.
(2010). Book bundles: Reader’s advisory in a package. Voice of Youth Advocates, 33(2), 132–134.
Younker, J. M. (2006). Talking it up.
School Library Journal, 52(4), 39.
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI just started working as a Teen Librarian, so I will definitely be looking into some of the RA methods that are more effective for teens. I've worked with teens before and noticed they seemed to prefer browsing and interacting with displays and lists versus asking librarians for help. Often, when teens did ask me for help, they weren't quite sure what they were in the mood for and had a hard time putting what they were wanting into words. I relied a lot on the "What's your favorite movie or TV show?" prompt a lot because it seemed to get them excited and more comfortable talking when they had something else to refer to.
Hi Morgan! Thank you so much for the comment on my summary. It was very helpful doing this research and learning about how to approach teens when it comes to RA. It's quite a bit different than with adults. I agree with you that teens overall seem to prefer to peruse the stacks on their own. The teens that approach me for RA help are often the ones who need help finding a book for an assignment, but I do think it would be worthwhile to do some chatting in the stacks with teens that are already reading for pleasure. I love your idea about asking them about their favorite movie or tv show. That's a great place to start, especially with the more reluctant teen readers!
DeleteThe model that you described for recommending books to teens is very interesting! The focus on story elements like character and plot suggest to me that teens might on average be reading more for recreational, perhaps escapism, purposes or for finding a character that they identify with. Do you find that to be the case? How often would you say you encounter teens looking to read for educational or enrichment purposes?
ReplyDeleteHi Corey! Yes, it seems that teens prefer brief plot and character descriptions and don't go for in depth discussions of the other appeal factors. That might only be because they are unfamiliar with those and need to grow into those discussions first. The teens who approach me for book recommendations are often those who don't generally read but are looking for a book for an assignment. My big readers already know what they want, and they'll ask for it by name!
DeleteTeens can be tricky when advising books! Plots and troupes are supper important to teens since they often reflect what they know and therefore enjoy. Not that they wouldn't read something else, but in my experience, they understand what they like and typically want to stay there. In my library, for example, I have a group of sisters that love graphic novels and very rarely will read anything else.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, this is such an interesting topic! I work in the youth area but I don't know the YA literature as well as the upper elementary literature and I tend to turn to my colleagues when patrons come and ask for ideas. One of my colleagues recently asked us all for recommended reads in the YA area and she organized them by genre and wrote the titles on construction paper fish, which she then laminated and put in a fish bowl that sits on a table in the teen area. We have seen an increase in the number of books being checked out!
ReplyDeleteI also wonder about book clubs for teens - this week's assignment is making me think about this. As you mention story time I wonder if some kind of discussion time around a book or a few books would be something to help teens read more, and also help them learn to think a little beyond plot in the books they read. Did your research point to anything like that?
Hi Janna! Those are good thoughts! What a cute idea with the laminated fish for the passive RA! I tried a "Currently Reading" Book Club with my teens, but I did not get much interest. The RA research I did for this paper did not touch on book clubs, but I absolutely think with the right group of kiddos, this would be a great form of RA. For teen book clubs, I suggest keeping it casual with no assigned reading. They can pop in and hang out and talk about what they are reading, or if they're not reading, just get ideas! Snacks always provided!!!
DeleteGreat summary and good discussion in the comments!
ReplyDelete