7B: Rethinking Readers' Advisory

Widdersheim, McCleary – Gender & Sexuality, Self-Identity, and Libraries: Readers’ Advisory as a Technique for Creative (Dis)Assembly

Using theories of gender, sexuality, and identity to describe ways of constructing more inclusive Readers’ Advisories, Widdersheim and McCleary discuss the tensions in providing service to LGBTQ+ young adults. The authors advocate for a method called creative (dis)assembly, which outlines how librarians can create spaces with their readers’ advisories that allow for young readers to assemble their sexual and gender identities on their own terms rather than having it defined for them by the library or the librarian. Widdersheim and McCleary also articulate ways in which critical theory can be utilized to conceive of new ways to engage with young readers and be advocates for them in ways that dismiss structural gender binarism and heteronormativity.

Beard – Rethinking the Book

This article explores different ways of imagining Reader’s Advisory that goes beyond book description. David Beard and Kate Vo Thi-Beard raise different theories as to why adults read different genres of fiction or non-fiction. Ultimately, they raise their case that Reader’s Advisory should be based on why readers read instead of what readers read. Including books about fandom blogs and ComicCon next to a display on sci-fi books puts the burden on the librarian on figuring out the best way to engage readers rather than putting the burden on the reader to figure out what kind of books to read based purely on genre or elemental description.

Meredith – Using AR Tools to Enhance Children’s Library Services

Responding to the potential uses of augmented reality (AR) technologies in the library, Tamara Meredith highlights how AR can be highly beneficial for children’s services to mitigate misunderstandings between young users and librarians. Meredith specifically addresses how AR could benefit reader’s advisory experiences by having AR-capable devices like smartphones scan the covers of books and display information. However, she also acknowledges the technology has the capacity to overload the cognitive senses of young children, while also being an expensive technology for libraries to implement and patrons to utilize.

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For this week’s class, I searched and selected three readings about different ways of thinking about reader’s advisory, each relating to a type of library that is more inclusive, considerate, and revolutionary. Whether it is engaging with new technologies or embracing terminologies that recognize and celebrate difference, librarians have the potential to transform reader’s advisory (RA) into a service that benefits users in far-reaching ways. These readings showed the extensive thought librarians and other information professionals have given to rethinking how activities in libraries, like RA, are conducted. This is especially true in Meredith’s article, which examines augmented reality technologies for reader’s advisory for children. She highlights one of the potential uses to combat inadequate staffing at a library that serves children:

Another area of reader’s advisory for children that is negatively impacted by insufficient library staffing (or limited time) is that of finding read-alikes—materials with similar themes or emotional content. [1]

With smartphones as an intermediary, children can interact with materials in a way that can recommend new books for them to read, a boon for an age group developing the skills of literacy. Utilizing new technologies for the benefit of the user is one of the ways in which libraries can use reader’s advisory to achieve a technological revolutionary means of engagement.

Librarians can also be considerate to the reasons and desires of the user, as Beard and Thi-Beard mention in their article on rethinking readers’ advisory and making it more about why readers read the books they do as opposed to what readers read. Going beyond simple description, Beard and Thi-Beard advocate for pulling in a diverse set of books in anticipation of what a reader might want to accomplish with their reading, whether it is an action-based inspiration or an identity-based inspiration. When thinking of readers’ advisory book displays, the authors suggest using “the idea that reading enables action and fosters social affiliation to pull books together on the endcap.” [2] Taking the time to imagine how readers process the knowledge contained in their materials and using that as inspiration for readers’ advisory creates an environment where the library can be seen as a considerate subject in relation to its users.

Lastly, the Widdersheim and McCleary article provided a template for how to imagine a more inclusive library that relies on liberatory pedagogy instead of repressive systems that rely on sexual, gendered paradigms. Recreating readers’ advisory in a manner that does not enforce gender binarism or heteronormativity requires a disruptive mode of thinking, which in this case, Widdersheim and McCleary label as disjuncitonal advisory. As they describe it:

“Disjunctional advisory forgets past practices in which gender and sexuality were identities to be managed and sorted out by librarians making recommendations. As a countertechnique to the hegemonic machines of self-assembly, disjunctional advisory attempts to dissociate the library and reading practices from the dominant technologies that regulate gender and sexuality.” [3]

Instead of providing readers’ advisory that is reductive and oppressive, such as recommending “boys’ books” and “girls’ books” to young adults, librarians can practice disassociating from those modes of thinking and encourage the reading of materials in a liberatory manner. By acknowledging the power of recommending materials to queer young adults, and thereby playing a part in (dis)assembling their identity, librarians can start to make more informed choices that will ultimately lead to building a more inclusive library.

[1] Meredith, Tamara R. "Using Augmented Reality Tools to Enhance Children’s Library Services." Technology, Knowledge and Learning 20, no. 1 (2014): p.73.

[2] Beard, David and Kate Vo Thi-Beard. "Rethinking the Book: New Theories for Readers' Advisory." Reference & User Services Quarterly 47, no. 4 (2008): p. 334.

[3] Widdersheim, Michael M., and Melissa A. Mccleary. "Gender and Sexuality, Self-Identity, and Libraries: Readers’ Advisory as a Technique for Creative (Dis)Assembly." Library Trends 64, no. 4 (2016): p. 730.