Fiction_L Archives Reading journals Dates: 2/17/00,3:58 PM  through  3/4/00,10:42 AM  (8 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: "Jan Kilker" <[removed]@oplin.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 2/17/00, 3:58 PM

Does anyone have any thoughts, experience, suggestions etc. on starting
and keeping
a reading journal or reading log? I would like to suggest this to our
patrons, but need
a little more information from someone who has done this. Thanks in
advance.

FROM: <[removed]@aol.com>
REC'D: 2/17/00, 10:13 PM

In a message dated 2/17/2000 5:26:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[removed]@oplin.lib.oh.us writes:

<< Does anyone have any thoughts, experience, suggestions etc. on starting
and keeping
a reading journal or reading log? I would like to suggest this to our
patrons, but need
a little more information from someone who has done this. Thanks in
advance. >>

On the subject of keeping a reading journal, my best friend Nancy, who's also
a librarian (Towson University) has kept a reading log since she was old
enough to write in a notebook, I think. She takes it with her to the
library, bookstore, and even to book sales like those run by Smith College.
If anyone wants information directly from her on the whys and wherefores,
please let me know. She's thinking of subscribing to list, by the way. I
told her how fabulous it was!

Binnie Syril Braunstein
Romance novelist/Former librarian

FROM: "Jeanne Etling" <[removed]@ccs.nsls.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 2/18/00, 11:08 AM

Jan,

It's funny you should ask because I was just working on such a thing a
couple of days ago. I'm planning to have several sheets and have a space
for title, author, date and "thoughts". Thoughts can be whatever the
patron would like to put there and I suggested a couple of words to
describe the plot or hero or heroine, location, time if historical,
whether liked or disliked or notes to tell a particular friend who might
also like the book. I do wish I had started one myself, but better late
than never. On the inside cover, (it's a typical sheet folded in half
with several sheets stapled together) I listed a few of the fiction
resources we have at our library. I've not gotten any farther with it
than simply planning and design, but I should be ready soon.

Hope this helps,

Jeanne Etling
Dundee (IL) Township Public Library District

FROM: "Vicki Novak - LIBRARYX" <[removed]@MAIL.MARICOPA.GOV>
REC'D: 2/18/00, 11:17 AM

I just started a reading journal for this year. I keep it on a database
program, with these categories: title, author, genre, summary, copyright
year, date I finished reading it, and my rating (on a scale of 1-5). I
think it will be really useful because I can display the list in many
different ways, such as highest to lowest rating, highest rating within each
genre, or by copyright year and then rating (useful for determining my
favorite books of the year). My genres are my own categories - ones like
literary fiction, true crime, creative nonfiction, etc.
My summaries can be very brief or longer if I really liked the book.

When a patron asks me, "So what's a good book to read?" and doesn't have any
specific type in mind, my mind usually goes blank! So my reading journal
should help. I was inspired to start it by an earlier discussion on
Fiction_L about reading journals.

Vicki Novak
North Central Regional Library
Maricopa County Library District
17811 N. 32nd St.
Phoenix, AZ 85032-1201

[removed]@mail.maricopa.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Kilker [<A HREF="mailto:kilkerj1@oplin.lib.oh.us">mailto:kilkerj1@oplin.lib.oh.us</A>]
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 3:26 AM
To: Fiction List
Subject: Reading journals


Does anyone have any thoughts, experience, suggestions etc. on starting
and keeping
a reading journal or reading log? I would like to suggest this to our
patrons, but need
a little more information from someone who has done this. Thanks in
advance.

FROM: "Natalya Fishman" <[removed]@webrary.org>
REC'D: 2/18/00, 12:30 PM

Jan,

You can search Fiction_L November archives at
<A HREF="http://www.nsn.org/MHONARC/FICTION_L/November1999/threads.html">http://www.nsn.org/MHONARC/FICTION_L/November1999/threads.html</A> to find more
information on reading journals. Use "keeping track of reading", "tracking
what you read", "reading log",etc. as keywords.

Natalya

Natalya Fishman
Fiction_L Manager
Morton Grove Public Library
Morton Grove, IL 60053
(847) 965-4220
[removed]@webrary.org
<A HREF="http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html ">http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html </A>

Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
official Library policy.

----------
>From: Jan Kilker <[removed]@oplin.lib.oh.us>
>To: Fiction List <[removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org>
>Subject: Reading journals
>Date: Thu, Feb 17, 2000, 4:25 AM
>

> Does anyone have any thoughts, experience, suggestions etc. on starting
> and keeping
> a reading journal or reading log? I would like to suggest this to our
> patrons, but need
> a little more information from someone who has done this. Thanks in
> advance.
>

FROM: "Madeline Guzman" <[removed]@capaccess.org>
REC'D: 2/18/00, 1:09 PM

I started keeping a reading journal as a result of a suggestion by a
member of another "books" list.

I've had nothing but pleasure from it since then. I keep the journal on
my computer and list author, title, publisher, place and year of
publication, summary, review, and rating. I've used the journal many
times to remember details of a book for responses to reading mailing lists
as well as to make recommendations for reading for others. Eventually
I'd like to transfer my journal to my web site to encourage others to
read the books that I've truly enjoyed.

My suggestions are to keep the entries brief, mention place and character
names, and make the entries immediately upon finishing a book.

Madeline

P.S. Here in Maryland, my kids had to keep just such a journal when they
were in middle school. It was called a "Response Journal".

- - - - - - - - - - - -

> Does anyone have any thoughts, experience, suggestions etc. on starting
> and keeping
> a reading journal or reading log?

Madeline T. Guzman
Rockville, Maryland
<A HREF="http://strictlyc.tripod.com/index.html">http://strictlyc.tripod.com/index.html</A>

FROM: "Mary Clemens" <[removed]@3gcs.com>
REC'D: 2/18/00, 5:44 PM

I have attempted to keep various types of reading logs over
the years. I have done index cards, computer databases,
bound journals, etc. After a similar discussion on this topic a while back,
I decided what would work best for me is a 3 ring binder with very basic
information. Index cards and databases are more thorough than a simple
list, but I found very little time to enter all the information. I choose a
binder format over a journal, so it can grow with me. I'm not limited to
the space in a bound book.

I combined suggestions members of this listserv made, and looked at some
bound reading log journals before making some very simple tables in
Microsoft word to use in my binder. In addition to the actual Books Read
Log, I have sections for Books to Be Read, Books to Consider for Purchase
and Reading Group Notes. I copied these different forms onto bright
colored papers and decorated the binder so it looks attractive and fun to
use.

The information I've included in each table is listed below:

Books Read: Date Read/Title/Author/Age Level (I'm a children's librarian so
read regularly across all age levels)/Genre-Category/1-5 Rating/Notes

Books To Be Read: Title/Author/Age Level/Genre-Category/
Recommended By (This way I'll remember if I read about it in a journal or if
someone told me about it.)

Books to Consider for Personal Purchase (hopefully trying to instill a
little restraint in my non-stop book purchasing) :
Title/Author/ISBN/Price/Bought (Mark with a check)

Reading Group Notes: (In hopes of the day I'll have time to
regularly attend a reading group): Title/Author/Location/Date/
Notes on Book. I also included a separate Reading Group Notes
Contact List in this section: Name/Address/Email/Phone/Fax

So far this is working well for me, and a number of my co-workers
have hopes of setting up binders for themselves as well.

Hope this helps.

Mary Clemens
Children's Librarian
Carol Stream Public Library
[removed]@3gcs.com

FROM: "christine jeffords" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
DATE: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 10:42:48 PST

>From: "Ridgefield Library Fiction Room" <[removed]@biblio.org>
>Reply-To: [removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org
>To: [removed]@maillist.nslsilus.org
>Subject: Re: Reading journals
>Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 15:49:32 -0500
>
>If you are dealing with patrons who like to read series or authors with
>lots
>of books, I would highly recommend that you recommend that they use a small
>looseleaf notebook, rather than something pre-bound. I have a couple of
>patrons who are avid mystery readers and started a log with one page for
>each author, but put them in a spiral-bound memo book in the order they
>discovered the author. They spend about 10 minutes each time they are here
>looking through them all to see whether they have read a particular book
>because the pages are not in alphabetical order and they can't find what
>they are after...
>
>
>
>Mary Rindfleisch
>Adult Services/Reader's Advisory Librarian
>Ridgefield Library
>Ridgefield, CT
[removed]@biblio.org
>

And be sure they know they ought to start a new page for each author, and
not put a second author on the back side. It may seem a waste of paper at
first, but when dealing with especially prolific authors it will soon prove
its worth.
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