Secret Shopper Assignment
I decided to conduct my secret shopper visit at my home library, which I have not
been to since I began working at a different library nearby. When I walked into the building, the librarian closest to the door cheerfully greeted me and asked if she could help me with anything. I told her I wasn't sure what I was in the mood to read and was hoping she would help me find a good book, which seemed to excite her. She began the RA interview by asking me what I've read in the past, and I told her I typically read fantasy and gothic horror but that I was interested in reading other kinds of horror novels, like slashers. Throughout our eight-minute interaction, she asked me if I liked reading YA too or just adult books (I like both), if I wanted any horror novels with romance subplots (I did not), and if I've read anything by Stephen King (no, and I'm not interested because they are very long). As she looked through the library catalog, she admitted that horror books scare her easily, so she does not read them very often.
Overall, I thought the RA interview was okay. I thought the librarian could have asked me more questions than she did to figure out what I was in the mood for, like whether I wanted a fast-paced, graphic horror novel or something less graphic and more atmospheric. At one point, I tried to prompt her by telling her I enjoy watching horror movies, but she didn't take the bait. Even though I told her I wasn't looking for gothic horror, the six YA and adult novels she ended up recommending fell into that subgenre (which was honestly fine because I love gothic horror, but I was hoping to leave with at least one slasher since I've never read one). The librarian was very friendly and easy to talk to, and she told me to let her know if I needed help finding anything. The downfall of the interview was that she had limited knowledge of the genre and only used the library catalog to find titles that she knew other people enjoyed reading. If she had asked more specific questions and used other readers' advisory tools like Goodreads or even Google, I think the RA interview would have been more successful.
You mentioned that the librarian closest to the door as you came in was the one who assisted you; do you know if they were technically a reference librarian? I believe that any patron-facing library employee should be able to offer some form of RA service, but from personal experience, when I was working the circulation desk and trying to help patrons with RA, if I felt like I hadn't fully fulfilled the patrons' needs, I would actively direct them to a reference librarian.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually not sure, but the front desk is very close to the entrance and she just happened to be the first person I saw!
DeleteI love that she was very eager to help you! While I agree that the interview could have gone better, I think her positivity and eagerness to help bodes well for her continued experience and professional growth. I, too, gave the librarian who helped me a little prompting by giving her a book title I read in high school which really helped her find me the right book. I wish that your horror movie comment was taken into consideration to help her find you a good slasher!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like, based on your experience and my own, that resources like NoveList and Goodreads aren't the norm and that most readers' advisory relies on personal knowledge of books. We're lucky that in taking a class like this we know about these resources and know a bit more about how a RA interview should go. I wonder if this kind of training outside of a class setting could become more widespread across libraries since for librarian positions that don't require an MLS, a class like this wouldn't be required.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds a lot like my experience. The librarians I spoke with were friendly and delightful, but they barely asked me any questions, even when I tried to kind of hint at what my specific preferences are. They also relied mainly on their personal favorites rather than using sources like Novelist. I did a similar assignment to this a couple semesters ago, at a new library branch with all new employees, and they REALLY emphasized NoveList, which makes me think there's more of a push to use it among newer librarians.
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