Fiction_L Archives How to read a book in 5 minutes Dates: 2/1/00,7:13 PM  through  2/2/00,10:21 PM  (5 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to February 2000 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Sophia Torelli" <[removed]@kcls.org>
REC'D: 2/1/00, 7:13 PM

In August of last year, conversation centered around this article
taken from the Missouri Library World and indexed on Wilson First
Search. Did anyone find a complete citation with date and page
number? I can' access it and would appreciate any info. Thanks.

FROM: "Marie Hatcher" <[removed]@techheadnet.com>
REC'D: 2/1/00, 8:09 PM

Try this: <A HREF="http://www.nsn.org/MHONARC/FICTION_L/August1999/msg00275.html">http://www.nsn.org/MHONARC/FICTION_L/August1999/msg00275.html</A>
-----Original Message-----
From: Sophia Torelli <[removed]@kcls.org>
To: [removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org <[removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org>
Date: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 7:58 PM
Subject: How to read a book in 5 minutes


>
>In August of last year, conversation centered around this article
>taken from the Missouri Library World and indexed on Wilson First
>Search. Did anyone find a complete citation with date and page
>number? I can' access it and would appreciate any info. Thanks.
>
>
>

FROM: "Mary K Chelton" <[removed]@pop.mail.rcn.net>
REC'D: 2/2/00, 9:09 AM

I did not see this in Missouri Library World, but unless somebody
else had the same idea, this is possibly a handout from one of my RA
presentations. It was an in-house training tool I inherited from my
Adult Services Coordinator predecessor, Jane Hirsch, at the
Montgomery County (MD) Public Library, when she retired. Obviously
it was published without attribution, which I find annoying on Jane's
behalf. For anyone who wants it, here it is:

How to Read a Book in Five Minutes

You cannot read all of the new titles added to the collection
every year, much less the thousands already owned. But the users need
your help, so here are some hints on evaluating the usefulness of
books so you can recommend them.

Take a pile of new or interesting-looking older titles. Give
each one five minutes by the clock and then write on a 3 x 5, Author,
Title, Genre, Call #, and a brief note of contents and use.

Use the list below as a beginning guide to what to look for
and how to do it fast:

1. Nonfiction Check List

A. Cover

Attractive?
Reflect content and approach?
Color and type appropriate?

B. Blurb - Is it helpful?

C. Heft - Can you balance it?

D. Type (Big? Small? Crammed?)

E. Table of contents: Are chanter headings meaningful or fey?

F. Read a bit of preface/foreword.

G. Read part of a chapter about something you know, check
for style, reading level, arrangement of information.

H, Illustrations

I. Index and bibliographies

Ask yourself who for? what for?

II. Fiction Checklist

A. Cover
Indicate contents (e.g. metalic lettering means
glitzy; beige and brown colors means serenity.

B. Blurb. Does it lure in reader without revealing whole plot?

C. Heft. (Can you balance it in bed?)

D. Type.

E. Read first chapter, skip through, read a bit in the
middle. Read the end. Does it flow?

F. Evaluate:

Style
Pace
Clarity

G. What is format?

Narrative?
Flashbacks?
Alternating Narrator?
Letters?
First Person?
Omniscient Author?

H. Connect with other books. Which ones, and why?

I. Who for?/what for?

Jane K. Hirsch
1986


>Try this: <A HREF="http://www.nsn.org/MHONARC/FICTION_L/August1999/msg00275.html">http://www.nsn.org/MHONARC/FICTION_L/August1999/msg00275.html</A>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Sophia Torelli <[removed]@kcls.org>
>To: [removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org <[removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org>
>Date: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 7:58 PM
>Subject: How to read a book in 5 minutes
>
>
> >
> >In August of last year, conversation centered around this article
> >taken from the Missouri Library World and indexed on Wilson First
> >Search. Did anyone find a complete citation with date and page
> >number? I can' access it and would appreciate any info. Thanks.
> >
> >
> >

FROM: "Roberta S. Johnson" <[removed]@nslsilus.ORG>
REC'D: 2/2/00, 10:11 AM

> I did not see this in Missouri Library World, but unless somebody
> else had the same idea, this is possibly a handout from one of my RA
> presentations. It was an in-house training tool I inherited from my
> Adult Services Coordinator predecessor, Jane Hirsch, at the
> Montgomery County (MD) Public Library, when she retired. Obviously
> it was published without attribution, which I find annoying on Jane's
> behalf.

I have this article from Missouri Library World (Fall 1998, p 33-4) and the author does
attribute Jane Hirsch, but has added a few tips of her own. This article is in
the WilsonSelect database if anyone wants to look at it. The title is simply How to
Read a Book in Five Minutes, by Lisa Sampley.

Best,

Roberta


Roberta S. Johnson
Adult Services Librarian
Des Plaines Public Library
[removed]@nslsilus.org
www.fictional.org
Opinions my own.

FROM: <[removed]@aol.com>
REC'D: 2/2/00, 10:21 PM

Mary: I pulled it up from the website and you and Jane have full credit,so
"cool your jets".

I received the check. Thanks.
I'll be on the lookout for the K. Creighton books and let you know if I find
them.

Yours,Cynthia

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