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Top Picks for Reader's Advisory

Individual Web Sites
Collected Reader's Advisory Web Sites
Reader's Advisory Information in SCLS Databases

Individual Web Sites

Hennepin County Library "If You Like..." lists
http://www.hclib.org/pub/books/iyl/
"I just finished all of the books written by Dean Koontz. Can you recommend more books like his?" Sound like a familiar question? Check out Hennepin County (MN) Library's searchable list of "if you like" lists compiled by Hennepin County librarians. Users may browse all the subjects at once, or search by keyword. A wonderful, easy to use resource for a common type of question.

Reading Group Guides
http://www.readinggroupguides.com
Contains more than 500 reading group discussion guides, information on how to start and run a reading group, and links of interest to established groups.

What's Next: A Searchable Database of Novels in Series
http://www.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp
What's the right order for the J.D. Robb "in Death" series? Check out this up to date listing of adult fiction in series, searchable by author, title, or series. A "series" is defined as two or more books linked by character(s), settings, or other commonalities. Information provided by Kent District Library in Kent County, Michigan.

Stop - You're Killing Me
http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/index.html
Search for mysteries by a variety of indexes: author, character, setting, job of the series character, historical period, cross-genre and more. Content provided by a very avid individual.

The SF Site: The Home Page for Science Fiction and Fantasy
http://www.sfsite.com/home.htm
"A mixture of book reviews, opinion pieces, author interviews, fiction excerpts, author and publisher reading lists and a variety of other features," including links to fan sites and author information. Maintained by an independent group and updated twice a month.

Reader's Robot
http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html
If you have patient patrons - or aren't working with someone directly - this site can be a wonderful resource for finding adult fiction and nonfiction based on the mood, the appeal, or other important features like tone of voice, readability and length. Combine these with a genre search and you have a very detailed search along the lines of: " Find me Science Fiction or Fantasy novels that are fanciful and entertaining; have a detailed background; are real 'page-turners'; and are quirky and offbeat. 18 hits!" Why patient patrons? You need to consider 16 different criteria to get to search results!

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Collected Reader's Advisory Web Sites

Morton Grove Public Library's Webrary
http://www.webrary.org/rs/rsmenu.html

Madison Public Library's Books and Literature Page
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/ref/mpl_books_literature.html

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Reader's Advisory Information in SCLS Databases

EBSCOhost

Of course, you can use EBSCOhost to find coverage of a particular book or information about an author by typing in the title of the book or the name of the author. But a more direct way (and more helpful, sometimes, if the author is someone like Nora Roberts or Stephen Covey) is to use the Advanced Search features in EBSCO to pinpoint book reviews, biographies,

First, you'll need to select your database(s) to search. MasterFILE Premier is usually the best bet for general-interest titles, though some may also be in Academic Search Elite. Academic Search Elite would be useful for more scholarly coverage. A patron looking for reviews of "A Beautiful Mind" might find information of relevance in both databases, for example. If the author or subject is business related, you may choose to select one or more of the business databases within EBSCOhost as well. Finally, there's a newer database, American Humanities Index, which might be useful for books covering social sciences, history, or the arts.

Once you've chosen your databases, choose "Advanced Search" tab.

Then, enter your person or your title. Scroll down, and choose the desired criteria from the "Document Type" box

-book review
-entertainment review
-interview
-literature review

Just this simple search can save you a lot of time for popular authors or titles.

ProQuest

I wish there was an equivalent limit in ProQuest, but there isn't. Still, throwing the word "review" or "interview" or "biography" into an Advanced Search can limit your searches significantly, and is always worth a try. Something else worth a try is using the "AND NOT" limiter to eliminate movie reviews when looking for information about a book or "best-sellers" to eliminate a long list of brief citations for a book's inclusion on best seller lists.

Of course, you can always search for an author's name or a book title as "subject" too, rather than the default "citation and abstract" in Advanced Search. You'll often miss articles this way when using it for a person's name, though, so broaden your search if you get an unexpectedly-low number.

Don't forget to use ProQuest if you don't find anything in EBSCOhost Web on a particular author or book. Sometimes ProQuest can be better at covering locally-popular books or authors not included in the mainstream national media.

LRC (Literature Resource Center)

LRC's main focus is literary information, though popular authors are sometimes covered. If your author has merited an entry in "Contemporary Authors," you'll get a list of titles written and a "further reading" bibliography, though both might be dated.

Some of the advanced features can be useful for people looking for more literary reading. In the "Authors by Type" search, authors can be chosen based on time period or literary movement, nationality, ethnicity, and most-used themes.

Newer Databases Available: What Do I Read Next?, LitFINDER, TeachingBooks

What Do I Read Next?
Available through the SCLS database page for several months, What Do I Read Next? is structured as a reader's advisory database. Search the database by author, title, series, genre, time period, character name and age, location/setting, subject, or any combination. Limit your selection by fiction or nonfiction, and age of audience. While this database doesn't attempt to guess at the "mood" of a story (see: "Reader's Advisory: Matching Mood and Material", Library Journal; February 1, 2001; Ross, Catherine Sheldrick and Chelton, Mary K.), it can be helpful at answering questions like "I need an historical fiction novel for my 7th grader's assignment" "I like romantic books set in New Orleans" and "When I was a kid I read a book about an armadillo that had illustrations - can you help me find it?"

Lit FINDER (Roth Publishing)
available through BadgerLink at http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/badgerlink/

" Provides access to indexes and full text for poems, short stories, plays, speeches and essays. The database includes full text for 125,000 poems, including over 20,000 copyrighted poems and 800,000 citations. The databases also include access to 4,000 full text stories, 2,500 full text speeches, 5,000 full text essays, and over 1,000 complete plays. Entries include biographies, author pictures and entry explanations. A Kid's Korner provides access to poetry for younger children by appealing categories."

TeachingBooks.net
available through BadgerLink at http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/badgerlink/

" TeachingBooks.net is a Wisconsin-based company offering a website designed for people who are interested in or work with children's literature. The site offers author programs, activity and discussion guides, information on awards and distinctions, and links to many valuable resources. Author programs are designed to provide a personal glimpse into the author's life and work and consist of movies of author's in their studios, written transcripts, in-depth interviews, discussion guides, bibliographies, and pertinent links. Users are required to register through the TeachingBooks.net website."

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For more information about the Top Picks, contact Cheryl Becker.

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