For my special topics paper, I chose to compare how a librarian might perform a youth reader's advisory interview versus an adult reader's advisory interview. As a Youth Services Assistant, I am usually helping children or parents rather than adults, so some of the information in my paper was from my personal experience. To my surprise, not a ton of articles were out there about specifically youth RA, but the ones I found were very thorough and helpful.
Much of youth RA is similar to that of adults. Librarians still have plenty of tools, like bestseller lists and Novelist, and some questions will be the same. You can still ask children about books they've read and liked, what they liked best about those books, and what they're hoping to read next. You must stay just as engaged- if anything, even more so, since some children will be nervous to approach a librarian. Being welcoming and helpful is still just as important.
However, there are some additional challenges in youth RA. Sometimes, children are interested in one thing, but have to read something else for an assignment, and it can be difficult to find a good balance between the two demands. Parents will also come in alone and ask for books for their child- they may or may not have an accurate idea of what their child wants to read. Children also may take some time to learn appeal terms and how genres work, so they may not be able to accurately tell you what they are looking for.
Overall, there aren't a lot of differences, but there are a few additional roadblocks that librarians who don't normally work with youth should be prepared for.
Another challenge is that children sometimes do not know how to be honest and say no to suggestions. They just accept whatever book you give them, even though you ask if the book is something they may be interested in. In some of these cases I find the books placed on the shelf later. I'm happy they didn't choose it because they truly didn't want it, but it would be ideal if they could communicate with us to let us know that. RA works best as a conversation. Adults can do that, but it's challenging with teens and children.
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ReplyDeleteDear Amy,
ReplyDeleteI think that it’s interesting that you chose to address how librarians conduct a youth reader’s advisory interview against how librarians conduct an adult reader’s interview. I’ve learned a lot about reader’s advisory from at least one class in the past, but it’s always good to hear actual examples or experiences of reader’s advisory from librarians. I don’t work at a library, since I haven’t yet been hired. So, I’m generally curious about the experiences that any librarian would experience in real life.
I can imagine that librarians would always need to be friendly to keep patrons at ease. I generally try to have a friendly disposition in life, but I wonder if my behavior can seem too silent and sometimes discourage individuals from having conversations with me. It also seems that you’ve experienced some issues with youth reader’s advisory. That’s not surprising to me, since children would comprehend less about genres and certain appeal terms. How difficult is it to conduct reference interviews with children, especially if the children are shy or can’t effectively communicate? Do you have to continually speak in a quiet tone or appear relatable in a certain manner to children during an interview?