Brief History of Readers’ Advisory

            Libraries nowadays offer users valuable personalized services through online resources or through librarians at reference desk. One of the services is readers’ advisory, through which the librarian interviews the user about their needs to get information to use to suggest titles and resources. While years ago titles were exclusively books, nowadays librarians are well-kept on popular culture, and can recommend movies, music cds, online resources and even apps.

In a study done by Dilevko and others, it was estimated that most libraries in the United States offer the reader’s advisory service (Dilevko & et al. 2007). But how did readers’ advisory start? And what importance does it have for users of libraries today?

In his article, Crowley divides the history of readers’ advisory into four eras (Crowley, 2005):

·         1876 to 1920 - "Inventing" Readers' Advisory

·         1920 to 1940 - "Privileging Nonfiction" in Readers' Advisory

·         1940 to 1984 - Readers' Advisory "'Lost' in Adult Services"

·         1984 to 2005 (current at time of article) - "Reviving Readers' Advisory"

 However, in their book “Readers’ Advisory Service in North American Public Libraries 1870-2005), the authors Juris Dilevko and Candice Magowan break down the history of readers’ advisory in three, different eras:

·         1870 to 1916 - "The Formative Years"

·         1917 to 1962 - "The Commitment to Systematic Adult Education"

·         1963 to 2005 - "The Devolution into Entertainment"

The American Library Association has a long history of providing guidance and regulations to librarians and libraries, and it is interesting that the founding of ALA took place in October 6, 1876, which marks the beginning of the first phase of reader’s advisory history, “Inventing readers’ advisory”, as suggested by Crowley.

Other related factors to the creations of the readers’ advisory service are the literary movements which took place with the beginning of the 19^th century, such as transcendentalism, romanticism, realism and more. These movements sparked the love of reading and the need for information, therefore it is not surprising to know that in 1897 the ALA president declared, “the personal influence of librarians who assisted and advised readers was the most potent force in molding community reading.” (Lynn, 1981)

However, according to Saricks Joyce, documented readers’ advisory programs took place in the 1920s (Joyce, 2005). With the efforts of the ALA and its dedication to bringing information for all, it outlined in a report published in 1926 the importance of readers’ advisory services. The ALA made the connection between adult education and readers’ advisory, and libraries in that era started hiring librarians as specialized full-time readers’ advisory experts, which created a ripple of social change in societies.

Since the 1920s, there has been some evident changes in the readers’ advisory service, and one of the changes which is quite comparable to the initial marketing campaign of ALA in 1926 is the change of including other age groups in this service, instead of labeling it as a tool for adult education.

Moreover, librarians are being trained for readers’ advisory services, which proves the importance of this service and the need for it. Other genres are also included in this service, especially the controversial ones such as the LGBT literature.

Another shift in the readers’ advisory service is its total integration in online environment and other virtual means. Librarians are able to publish blogs, manage social media accounts, create websites, design booklists and more. They can also chat with a patron and recommend titles to multimedia items and books.

The history of readers’ advisory is one of innovation and continuous dedication to learners and societies. However, some libraries today struggle with the lack of library staff which could eliminate the readers’ advisory expert position or include it in other tasks for another library staff whom may not be trained in this service necessarily.

This point brings us to the main topic of budgeting and reforming libraries’ funding, however, with these obstacles, librarians are being creative and assertive in their quest of providing information for users by utilizing the internet resources and staying connected to their users.

I do hope to see a readers’ advisory expert in more libraries, moreover, I hope that libraries would recognize the importance of this service and send their staff to seminars and trainings related to readers’ advisory.

Works Cited

American Library Association. (2015). History. http://www.ala.org/aboutala/history

Birge, Lynn E. (1981), Serving Adult Learners: A Public Library Tradition, Chicago: American Library Association

Crowley, Bill (2005), "Rediscovering the History of Readers Advisory Service", Public Libraries 44 (1): 37

Dilevko, Juris; Magowan, Candice (2007), Readers' Advisory Service in North American Public Libraries, 1870–2005, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, p. 3

Saricks, Joyce (2005), Readers' Advisory service in the Public Library (3rd ed.),Chicago: American Library Association, p. 1