Secret Shopper Assignment: Summary

When I arrived at the library, I noticed that there was no separate Reference Desk, so I walked up to the Information Desk.  I waited for a moment until the available librarian looked up and asked if he could help me. I replied that my 20 year-old daughter had asked me to find a romantic suspense novel for her. The only tool he used was the library catalogue. He showed me how he entered the search term “romance and suspense.” Then he asked me to look through the results to see if I liked anything. As he scrolled through the titles, he stopped to say, “Oh look, it’s a genre.” He then changed his search to focus on Romantic Suspense as a genre, and we went through the same process again. At one point he noted that the titles were very short and began to scroll through them more quickly. It was hard to read and evaluate options at that rate. Out of frustration I asked him to stop on a few titles and to write down their names. He offered to show me where the books were and I accepted. When we got to the shelves he said that if I had more questions to come and ask.

This was not the interaction I expected to have. The librarian did not ask me any of the readers' advisory questions Vnuk suggests (Vnuk). I thought he would ask if my daughter had any favorite Romantic Suspense authors, or if not, what was the last book she read that she liked. When it became apparent that he was unfamiliar with the genre, I thought he would ask another librarian for suggestions. He did not. Saricks notes that her library maintains a list of Traditional Romantic Suspense authors. It did not appear that he had a similar list. She also recommends that librarians be aware of newer popular Romantic Suspense authors and their series (Saricks). It was unclear if the librarian was from a different part of the library and was filling in at the desk or if this was his usual job. It was clear that he did not know of any Romantic Suspense authors or titles.

The experience was disappointing. Although the librarian was pleasant, he was unable to suggest any Romantic Suspense books or similar genres that might appeal to my daughter. When I tried to help him by giving him the name of one of my daughter’s favorite authors (Rhys Bowen), he did not react at all. The books on the list he gave me were Romantic Suspense, but I felt that the list could have been tailored to my needs if more questions had been asked or if he had consulted another librarian who may have been familiar with the genre. The librarian did not suggest any books, and I do not think that I would go to him in the future. My impression might have been different if he had put more effort into helping me.

References

Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.

Vnuk, Rebecca. (2013). Jack of all trades readers’ advisory: How to learn a little about a lot. Public Libraries Online. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/05/jack-of-all-trades-readers-advisory-how-to-learn-a-little-about-a-lot/