People, Paper, POP! How to Create a Readers’ Advisory System that Works for Your Library

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Readers’ Advisory (RA) for children has the same goal as RA for adults: matching readers with books. But RA for children is unique in that it can also be used to support positive relationships around books and reading between library staff and children—and help these children begin to self-identify as readers, which reading researchers and psychologists view as crucial to reading growth and development.

Learn more about how the Tulsa City-County Library developed and launched a successful “Your Next Great Read for Kids” form-based Readers Advisory service in 2019 (and then reformulated it in 2022 and continue to update for new issues and different branch realities) for school-aged children, then use our “what matters most” principles—People, Paper, POP!—to conceive a system that will work best with your staff, your community, and your library’s goals.

  • People: A successful Readers’ Advisory service for children all starts with people, whether it’s making sure children’s library staff are knowledgeable about books and motivated to offer RA or connecting the young people we serve every day in our libraries to books they will love and will enrich their lives.
  • Paper: Adults and even teens can receive effective Readers’ Advisory through digital lists; children’s brains demand a tactile, paper-based experience.
  • POP!: An effective RA service for children involves well-prepared lists and attractive, useful reading identity categories that “POP!”

This entertaining and fast-paced session will help you determine what will work best for you so that your own Readers’ Advisory system will POP!

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Define goals of a Readers’ Advisory service for children.
  • Understand the benefits of Readers’ Advisory interactions on children’s reading enjoyment and success.
  • Identify components of a successful Readers’ Advisory service for children.
  • Evaluate the viability of a Readers’ Advisory service for children at their library, given their library’s unique population and environment.

Anonymous feedback from the 2024 ALSC National Institute session of this presentation:

  • “It was great to hear the lessons learned and a change in my perception of how to approach RA for kids.”
  • "[This presentation] impacted our library’s reader advisory permanently."

Laura Raphael, MA, MLIS, has worked in public libraries for 22 years, most of those years in public services as a paraprofessional and librarian. Since 2016, she has been the Children’s Services Coordinator for the Tulsa City-County Library system. She is the co-creator of Your Next Great Read, a form-based Readers’ Advisory service for adults that has been active since 2011. She has also taught several online courses about Readers’ Advisory for ALA Editions and has published a number of articles in Children & Libraries, Public Libraries, American Libraries, This Land Press, and Library Journal.

Sarah Davis, MLIS, has been serving children at the public library for over ten years. After time as a Youth Librarian, she is now the Bilingual Children's Area Supervisor at the Martin Regional Library, part of the Tulsa City-County Library system. She and her staff lead innovative programming designed to serve a diverse audience, including Build A Reader Storytime for little ones and their caregivers, Kids Read Explore A Story programs for elementary age kids, and annual Noon Year's Eve Parties for all ages. She loves connecting kids with the just-right book.

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. This event will be recorded, and registrants will receive access to the recording within a day after the event ends.

If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.

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