Popular Fiction and Reader’s Advisory at
Academic Libraries
My
first experience at an academic library was as an undergraduate at the
University of Minnesota Duluth. Aside
from all the things one might expect to find in an academic library (computers,
study rooms, periodicals, archives, and scholarly monographs), UMD Library also
featured an extensive popular fiction and bestsellers collection. The entire first floor held only books in
those categories; they weren’t all fictional but even the non-fiction materials
were bestsellers and thusly more closely related to pop culture than academia
(celebrity cookbooks and memoirs, Post Secret and Ripley’s Believe It or Not
books, for example). The library also
has an extensive fiction audio book collection.
It hosts the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards each year
to honor and celebrate area authors, illustrators, and publishers, getting
considerable press and promotion for the library and university in the process. I had been under the impression that all
academic libraries valued and promoted leisure reading in this manner. I soon found out, however, that this is far
from the truth.
Reader’s
advisory and leisure reading once played a major part of services offered at
academic libraries. According to Julie
Elliot, back in the 1920’s and 1930’s reader’s advisory was one of the main
services offered at academic libraries, and reading was even considered ‘the
king of sports,’ according to a 1939 handbook printed at the University of Iowa
(35). The start of the Second World War,
however, led to a decrease in free time and reader’s advisory services started
to slump in not only academic but all types of libraries. It is worth noting, however, that while
reader’s advisory had a sort of renaissance in public and school libraries this
has not been the case in academic libraries.
The idea of an impermeable,
intimidating, or daunting academic library filled with dull books is one mentioned
frequently in the literature (Smith & Young, 521; Nicholson, 181). The term ‘library anxiety’ is now relatively
common. Imagine a first year student,
accustomed to school and public libraries stocked with not only materials that
can help them with their school projects but also materials for leisure
reading, on their first foray into the academic library. It is quite probable that no fun displays or
brightly colored, invitingly designed book covers greet them. They wander over to the periodicals but find
only dull academic works, no leisure titles are found there either. This first impression presents a library
drastically different from any they have ever known, and might not make a good
impression. Will they come back, or will
they choose to go it alone, using only the library’s databases and electronic
resources?
So why has
popular fiction and reader’s advisory been left out at academic libraries? A number of barriers have been cited in the
literature but time and time again the three most common appear to be time,
space, and budgets (Elliot 36; Trott & Elliot 341-342; Nicholson 180). It has been argued that librarians do not
have spare time in which they can offer reader’s advisory services, as they are
either too busy acting as information specialist (a role seen as more worth and
important than reader’s advisors), instructors, reference specialists, or
gatekeepers for the technological world (helping with access or related
technology issues). On a related note,
aside from perhaps not having time for reader’s advisory some librarians feel
it is simply outside the scope of their job demands and not worth
pursuing. For example, one librarian,
when surveyed about the topic, felt that the mission of the “academic library
is to support the curriculum. Popular
reading is for public libraries” (Trott and Elliot, 342).
Space is also a
concern for many academic libraries who have limited shelf space to work
with. This is especially concerning when
one considers popular fiction collections; the common practice in other
libraries is to leave book jackets on and shelve them in such a way that there
may be room to stand especially attractive books up, so that their jackets may
be visible and browsed more easily.
Academic libraries tend to remove book jackets and rarely have shelf
space for those types of on-shelf displays.
Finally,
libraries of all types seem to be struggling economically these days, and
academic libraries are no exception.
They face flat lining or decreasing budgets, and one librarian (when
surveyed about the subject) indicated that her library did not even have
sufficient funding to fully support teaching, learning and research at her
institution and that using her limited funding to acquire materials outside
those categories (such as popular fiction or materials for leisure reading)
would be irresponsible (Trott and Elliot 341).
Looking at this
issue from the patron’s point of view, we find yet more barriers. Already mentioned was the decline of free time
during and after the world war. This
issue, however, is worth further explanation.
Many universities now serve large distance-education or non-traditional
populations and students also often carry part-time jobs in addition to
full-time class loads. Faculty, too,
find themselves pressured to create knowledge via research and publications
rather than exploring and contemplating other’s ideas in the publish-or-perish
system that rules academia today. Both
populations, then, find themselves with less and less free time for leisure
reading. Indeed, 2007 study by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that on weekends young adults aged 15-19
spent just 16 minutes of time on
reading for pleasure while adults aged 20-24 spent only 7 minutes on reading for pleasure during the weekend (Trott and
Elliot, 340).
Despite all the
reasons it isn’t offered, reader’s advisory services and leisure reading can
have a positive impact at academic libraries and should be offered. First, it can counter the daunting first
impression many academic libraries leave and perhaps make the library a more
welcoming space. It might also bring
more people into the library that wouldn’t have previously visited; this in
turn can raise circulation statistics and awareness of other library services,
all of which would be beneficial when trying to get funding for such programs
from administrators (Nicholson 182).
Additionally, leisure reading has been linked to improved critical
thinking skills, writing skills, and literacy levels, all of which are key
skills found in undergraduate curricula around the nation and instrumental in
the creation of lifelong learners (Nicholson 182, 183).
So how can the
barriers I mentioned previously be countered so that reader’s advisory services
and leisure reading might become part of an academic library’s services and
missions? To overcome space and budget
issues, many authors suggest that libraries consider making use of titles
already on their shelves. For example,
there are likely already fiction books used to support academic programs that
could be pulled and arranged by genre or (alternately) listed on genre reading
lists along with call numbers so that users may seek them if they choose (this
eliminates the need to pull and rearrange them) (Nicholson 184; Smith and
Young, 522; Trott and Elliot 342; Elliot 37).
Another possible option if special, separate popular fiction shelving is
not possible is to save book jackets (which are often discarded in academic
libraries) and use them to create displays with call numbers so patrons may
find the books in the stacks.
It is also
argued that a minimal investment in popular items can create a huge return;
several institutions take advantage of paperback rental programs and have a
constant supply of new popular material at a lower cost than purchase and have
seen a great increase circulation numbers as a result (Nicholson 184; Campbell,
O’Brien and Flanigan 9). Strategies like
this are attractive because libraries needn’t be concerned with a need for
weeding or finding additional space as the collection doesn’t grow but merely
rotates out.
Another
frequently mentioned option is partnering with local and regional public
libraries. There can be several
different levels of partnership. For
example, Indianapolis Public Library extends membership to IUPUI students (and
those of other area schools) even if they are not residents of Marion County;
University Library and IPL branches could work together to promote each other’s
services and perhaps even collaborate on programming and events. This solution might also be helpful with the
argument that academic librarians don’t have time to perform reader’s advisory;
general reader’s advisory queries could likely be handled at the library’s reference
(information, help…) desk, without need for dedicated staffing or extra time input. If, however, a patron wanted more extensive
reader’s advisory services they could perhaps be referred to staff members at
the public library.
Nicholson
suggests another type of collaboration between public and academic libraries,
in which academic libraries may receive donations of recreational books from
public libraries that have to be weeded and will not be used for things like
friends of the library sales (183). The
Edmonton Public Library has even gone so far as to open a small branch library
on the University of Alberta campus for circulating popular materials and holds
pickup (Nicholson 183).
One
final barrier (and solution) that should be addressed is the readiness of
librarians to offer reader’s advisory services.
If an institution is considering adopting popular fiction and reader’s
advisory services it may find oppositions from librarians who have never
provided reader’s advisory (or had training on how to provide it) and feel
uncomfortable suddenly being asked to perform these duties. This is certainly a rational and valid
feeling, but not one that cannot be overcome.
With the renaissance of reader’s advisory in recent years came a number
of tools like Novelist, Booklist,
Genreflecting, GoodReads, and LibraryThing
(Nicholson 184; Smith and Young 524).
Other training options include attending reader’s advisory workshops
which may be available at area libraries or at professional association
conferences (Smith and Young 524).
My
alma mater, the University of Minnesota Duluth, is a shining example of how
reading for pleasure and reader’s advisory can have a positive impact at the
library, university, and community level.
Unfortunately UMD is a relatively rare example of leisure reading and
reader’s advisory in the academic world.
Rochelle Smith and Nancy J. Young, in their article for the Journal of Academic Librarianship, call
upon academic librarians to embrace reader’s advisory and leisure reading
saying, “As academic librarians, we have allowed ludic reading to slip outside
our purview and it is time to re-examine its role within an academic
setting. This type of reading is
crucial, and promoting it remains an essential part of our profession…who
better to take this on than academic librarians with our deep collections?”
(524). Leisure reading promotes critical thinking, literacy, and writing
skills, each of which are central to library missions. Why then, would we not embrace it and promote
it in our academic libraries?
Works
Cited
Campbell, Kathy, Debbie O'Brien, and Jean Flanigan. “Creating a Reading
Culture in an Academic Library.” Southeastern Librarian 53.1 (2005):
7-10.
Elliott, Julie. “Academic Libraries and Extracurricular Reading
Promotion.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 46.3 (2007): 34-43.
Nicholson, Heather. “How to Be Engaging: Recreational Reading and
Readers' Advisory in the Academic Library.” Public Services Quarterly
8.2 (2012): 178-186.
Smith, Rochelle, and Nancy J. Young. “Giving Pleasure Its Due: Collection
Promotion and Readers' Advisory in Academic Libraries.” Journal of Academic
Librarianship 34.6 (2008): 520-526.
Trott, Barry, and Julie Elliott. “Barriers to Extracurricular Reading
Promotion in Academic Libraries.” Reference & User Services Quarterly
48.4 (2009): 340-346.
The Fifties (19th century) 
