How To Read Like a Librarian

One of the responsibilities of your public-serving librarians is a thing called ‘readers’ advisory.’ Unlike informational or reference questions, readers’ advisory is for pleasure reading, whether fiction or nonfiction. It is our fancy library terminology for when a customer comes up to the desk and says, ‘Can you recommend a book?’

However, unlike the layman book lover, librarians do not recommend books on the basis of our personal favorites, whether recent or long-held.

Instead, we ask questions: what genres they are interested in, their own favorite books and authors, and so on. All for the purpose of matching readers with not the superlative perfect book, but the perfect book for them.

Readers’ advisory is much more like a book-reader dating service. We are trying to make the perfect match. But how do we become book-reader matchmakers? Well, we read like librarians.

Read broadly

In order to be ready for readers’ advisory, it affects how librarians read books. First of all, it is in our professional interest to try and read broadly. Or at least mix in sampling books from genres we wouldn’t typically read if left entirely your own devices. We also buoy this up by looking at reviews, keeping up with book news, reviewing our collections, and using read-alike databases.

If you want to read like a librarian, step outside our book comfort zones. Try books in genres you wouldn’t typically pick up. Read books not written for your demographic, such as an adult reading a children’s novel. You might find that you like things you hadn’t thought you liked. Or at least you will have a more well-rounded understanding of the different areas and genres of literature.

Evaluate objectively

Most of us, without much thought, think that our tastes and ratings of art — books, movies, music — are objective. That book’s good. That book’s boring. That book is overrated/underrated. How could anyone like that? (And if we don’t think we’re objective and like something “bad” anyway we call them guilty pleasures.)

But to evaluate objectively — to evaluate like a librarian — you need to learn to put your personal reading tastes to the side. You can, of course, still have them. You won’t be able to get rid of them. However, your personal taste needs to remain just that, your personal taste, and not the ultimate litmus test to quality.

Instead, evaluate books by what they are trying to be and whether or not they reach that goal. A cozy mystery with an amateur sleuth is trying to be something different than a hardboiled detective novel. You can’t ding the cozy mystery for being too light and fluffy because that is what a book in that subgenre of mystery is trying to be. It would be like saying a half-hour network sitcom isn’t serious enough.

However, if the clues to the crime in the cozy mystery don’t add up… well, that is a problem. Clues need to add up to the solution of a crime in a mystery novel or it is failing the main promise of its premise.

Appreciate appropriately

In other words, get over your judgmental feelings towards certain genres or types of books and the people who read them. People of all stripes read for a variety of different but valid reasons. Some people are there for escapism, some people are there for pretty prose. Some people prefer action-packed stories, others heart-warming romances, other crazy plot twists and so on and so on and so on.

Two of the five laws of library science are (1) every book its reader and (2) every reader his/her book. So when you read a book that is not of your personal taste and preference, instead of thinking ‘who would ever want to read this?’ think ‘this would be good for people who like shows like Law and Order’ or ‘this would be good for readers who like poetry.’ Think about the audience that would appreciate rather than just thinking about how you are not part of that audience.

Share wisely

I have earned a sort of reputation amongst my family and friends as being the person to turn to for book recommendations because I do not just recommend my favorite books, but instead ask questions and tailor my recommendations to them. I am a one-person Goodreads/amazon/read-alike algorithm! Little do they realize I am just employing my librarian readers’ advisory skills that I explained above in the opening.

A booklover’s natural reaction to reading a book they love is to share their love of the book with all, recommending it to friends and family or even outright insisting that they have to read it. While it is true there are some books that manage a lot of crossover appeal to wide readerships, there is always something disappointing when you get a loved one to read a book you love and they are just… unimpressed.

So if you want to not just read like a librarian, but recommend books like a librarian too, remember to take the reader’s personal tastes and preferences into account in your recommendation and not just your passion to get everybody to read the thing.

(In fact, you might find yourself more satisfied to get your friend who is also into whatever specific genre trope you’re into to read the thing so you can geek out over it together than getting a lot of people who only have a lackluster interest.)

Wrapping it up

Reading like a librarian is learning how to read and evaluate books with perspective. How to evaluate the books not by personal taste, but by what a book is trying to be and whether it reaches that measure. It is also about putting aside judgment toward different types of books and different types of readers, understanding that books and reading exist for people and interests of all types. If you want, it can mean recommending books like a librarian too.