It’s here!

After months of thinking about and planning for a week-long series of posts all about reader’s advisory, it’s finally here this week. I’ve talked at length about the importance of and value of reader’s advisory not just in the library world, but in the reading world more broadly. Reader’s advisory is a skill set, and it’s one that you can learn regardless of your educational background or career.

The goal of reader’s advisory week is to not only offer up means through which you can learn how to be a better reader’s advisor, but it’s also to highlight some of the really neat ways other people have done reader’s advisory and to talk about some of the other aspects of RA that aren’t always talked about as much as they could be.

We’ll have three guest posts this week, including two from librarians talking about some of the RA techniques and tools they’ve used, and one from a teacher who will discuss how she’s used RA inside and outside her classroom. I’ve also got a few posts about weeding, about backlist, and about other resources and tools you can use to become a better, more thoughtful, and more effective reader’s advisor.

I’d love for a rich discussion with these posts, so feel free to jump in at any time and offer your own thoughts or ideas. Likewise, if reader’s advisory interests you now or after you learn a little more about what this fancy term actually means, you should join us this Thursday — and every first and third Thursday of the month from 8 to 9 pm Eastern — for the #readadv chat on Twitter, hosted by Sophie Brookover, Liz Burns, and myself. All are welcome, not just those who have RA as part of their job description. If you’re a reader and you want to learn how to make connections among books or how to best recommend books to others, join us. We want your insight, too.

Reader’s advisory is something all readers can do, and it’s my hope this week helps not only show the number of ways RA is done and demystifies some of the process, but also inspires you to dive in and try some things out yourself.