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Librarian Help?

KristoCat

KristoCat

New Member
Would any of you ask a librarian for pleasure reading suggestions? Have you in the past? Do you know anyone who has?

If you normally wouldn't think to ask a librarian for reading suggestions (and I was in this category before I started taking library science classes) why not?
 
I've asked for suggestions from the librarian in my town, but they don't often come up with stuff I'm interested in. I've gotten a lot of Mary Higgens Clark, Steven King, etc suggestions. There aren't really any young librarians there though, so I figure maybe they've just given up.
 
when i was younger, i asked librarian, but they always gave me stories about horses... and with the time i just stopped going to the library... :eek:
 
To a certain extent. I have to know the librarian really well. I used to ask my high school librarian for recommendations, although I usually asked my librarian mother who always seemed to know exactly what my tastes were. I know she makes recommendations all the time to students.

Are you going to be a teacher-librarian or a public library librarian, Kristo?
 
I don't ask, but there's no real reason for why that is. Maybe it's that I already have so many books that I want to read that I will never get to them all anyway. I also wonder how someone who doesn't know my taste or know me can make a recommendation that makes any sense.

When I go to the library, the librarian always seem like he or she has plenty of stuff to do without me tugging at his/her metaphorical sleeve. I guess it feels like it would be an imposition, and I don't much like asking people for things.
 
Just thought of something else... You know what I love in a library, Kristo? Lists of books along the lines of "if you liked .... you might like ....". I think this gets around peoples inhibitions to ask librarians questions. You could put at the bottom of the sign, "For more recommendations see your librarian, KristoCat, at the checkout desk".
 
I'm from Chicago. I know graduates from most of the Library Science programs in Illinois. Are you in Champaign? The library there is awsome!

Anyway, the libraries here in DC are miserable, and the librarians don't seem to be encouraged to have a welcoming manner. Very few of them have Library degrees. I never ask them for recommendations.

I think most people still expect to see the stereotypical librarian look down her nose at them. I know lots of people who thought they encountered the slightest sign of that in some library, and just don't go to libraries anymore. Good for the bookstore business, I suppose.
 
I have made friends with the librarians at my local branch library. Heck, I go in there at least once a week! I ask them all the time to put books on hold for me, request books through ILL for me. And one of them, she's about my age, knows what I like to read and now and then, will already have a book at the desk waiting for me.
 
I'm not sure what kind of librarian I want to be, Kook. So far I'm leaning toward public librarian, because although I love kids and children's literature I'm thinking I might get bored with that after a while.

@ Mari: Yes I'm going to school in Champaign. The library program here is bitchin :p

I can understand what y'all are saying about librarians being too busy/unwilling to help/not listening enough. It's a common opinion even among librarians (older ones especially) that librarians should only be there to help people get cold hard information, and that fiction is only in the library to boost circulation statistics. Needless to say I don't think that at all!

I'll keep what you said about the reading lists in mind, Kook. Does anyone else like something their library does to help people find books? Any complaints about what their libraries DON'T do?
 
My library keeps a cork bulletin board where people can post short original reviews of what they've read recently. Sometimes other people will just write "I agree" on those notes. It seems to work nicely. They keep it by the new releases.
 
That's a neat idea, novella. I also like the idea of having a book where people can write recommendations for new materials. This not only helps them find what they're looking for but also can engage interactions with those scary librarian people ;) . Can't say I've ever met one I didn't like, but apparently there are some out there.
 
I really dont ask for recommendations. I just look at books and find one I think I want to read, i f I dont like it... Oh well.
 
I've asked the librarians for other information, but never recommendations. I usually get those from dad, or from people at the bookstore...either the workers or random browsers. It works just fine for me. I've always found librarians to be a bit intimidating, though I do enjoy asking them about random bits of information.

Kristocat, I think its awesome that you're studying to be a librarian. Seems there are so few people who do so anymore.
 
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