Fiction_L Archives "Passive" RA? Dates: 5/1/01,5:50 PM  through  5/2/01,5:04 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 May 2001 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Nora M. Armstrong" <[removed]@clsn1269.cumberland.lib.nc.us>
REC'D: 5/1/01, 5:50 PM

Ann Marquis* wrote:

"...passive readers advisory areas--in other words, what we do with our
collections..."

I'd like to propose another term for this kind of activity - and it really
requires a *lot* of activity, don't you agree? How about calling it
"indirect RA"?

Direct RA involves the conversation between advisor and reader, the give
and take wherein we try to discern just what kind of read our client is
looking for, based on many factors.

Indirect RA encompasses everything else, from library layout to displays
to fliers and bookmarks and bibliographies to marketing the collection.
Anything that falls outside the scope of that one-on-one chat.

Direct RA is a pretty active event, but so is the indirect variety. Think
of how much time and energy goes into the preparation of something like a
display: it's only going to be up for a couple of weeks, but there's
building a list, gathering the materials, maybe designing a bookmark or
writing a bibliography, and keeping the thing stocked. There's nothing
passive about it; displays don't just put themselves together, even if
that's what we want our clients to think. :-)

Does this make sense to anybody else?

Nora Armstrong
Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center
Fayetteville, NC
(910)483-7878, FAX (910)486-6661
[removed]@cumberland.lib.nc.us

*And I'm NOT picking on Ann: I've seen the term "passive RA" used before -
this is just the one instance that I happened to be in the mood to
broadcast my opinion on the topic.

FROM: Barry Trott <[removed]@mail.wrl.org>
REC'D: 5/1/01, 6:53 PM

Very elegantly proposed Nora. I think that this is an excellent phrase for
all of those pieces that go into making the direct RA interaction
possible. I would also include collection development and management in
this piece. Building the library's collection to serve all of the readers
in your community is an essential part of being able to provide useful
readers' advisory help to those patrons.

Barry

--
*******************************************************************************
Barry Trott 7770 Croaker Rd.
Adult Services Director Williamsburg VA 23188
Williamsburg Regional Library Phone: 757-259-4053
[removed]@mail.wrl.org FAX: 757-259-4079
http://www.wrl.org/REF/Bookweb_Main.html
*******************************************************************************

On Tue, 1 May 2001, Nora M. Armstrong wrote:
>
> I'd like to propose another term for this kind of activity - and it really
> requires a *lot* of activity, don't you agree? How about calling it
> "indirect RA"?
>
> Direct RA involves the conversation between advisor and reader, the give
> and take wherein we try to discern just what kind of read our client is
> looking for, based on many factors.
>
> Indirect RA encompasses everything else, from library layout to displays
> to fliers and bookmarks and bibliographies to marketing the collection.
> Anything that falls outside the scope of that one-on-one chat.
>
> Direct RA is a pretty active event, but so is the indirect variety. Think
> of how much time and energy goes into the preparation of something like a
> display: it's only going to be up for a couple of weeks, but there's
> building a list, gathering the materials, maybe designing a bookmark or
> writing a bibliography, and keeping the thing stocked. There's nothing
> passive about it; displays don't just put themselves together, even if
> that's what we want our clients to think. :-)
>
> Does this make sense to anybody else?
>
> Nora Armstrong
> Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center
> Fayetteville, NC
> (910)483-7878, FAX (910)486-6661
> [removed]@cumberland.lib.nc.us
>
> *And I'm NOT picking on Ann: I've seen the term "passive RA" used before -
> this is just the one instance that I happened to be in the mood to
> broadcast my opinion on the topic.
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>

FROM: Jane Jorgenson <[removed]@scls.lib.wi.us>
REC'D: 5/1/01, 7:46 PM

And let's not forget all the reading we do.

Jane

At 07:45 PM 5/1/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Very elegantly proposed Nora. I think that this is an excellent phrase for
>all of those pieces that go into making the direct RA interaction
>possible. I would also include collection development and management in
>this piece. Building the library's collection to serve all of the readers
>in your community is an essential part of being able to provide useful
>readers' advisory help to those patrons.
>
>Barry
>
>--
>*******************************************************************************
>Barry Trott 7770 Croaker Rd.
>Adult Services Director Williamsburg VA 23188
>Williamsburg Regional Library Phone: 757-259-4053
[removed]@mail.wrl.org FAX: 757-259-4079
> http://www.wrl.org/REF/Bookweb_Main.html
>*******************************************************************************
>
>On Tue, 1 May 2001, Nora M. Armstrong wrote:
> >
> > I'd like to propose another term for this kind of activity - and it really
> > requires a *lot* of activity, don't you agree? How about calling it
> > "indirect RA"?
> >
> > Direct RA involves the conversation between advisor and reader, the give
> > and take wherein we try to discern just what kind of read our client is
> > looking for, based on many factors.
> >
> > Indirect RA encompasses everything else, from library layout to displays
> > to fliers and bookmarks and bibliographies to marketing the collection.
> > Anything that falls outside the scope of that one-on-one chat.
> >
> > Direct RA is a pretty active event, but so is the indirect variety. Think
> > of how much time and energy goes into the preparation of something like a
> > display: it's only going to be up for a couple of weeks, but there's
> > building a list, gathering the materials, maybe designing a bookmark or
> > writing a bibliography, and keeping the thing stocked. There's nothing
> > passive about it; displays don't just put themselves together, even if
> > that's what we want our clients to think. :-)
> >
> > Does this make sense to anybody else?
> >
> > Nora Armstrong
> > Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center
> > Fayetteville, NC
> > (910)483-7878, FAX (910)486-6661
> > [removed]@cumberland.lib.nc.us
> >
> > *And I'm NOT picking on Ann: I've seen the term "passive RA" used before -
> > this is just the one instance that I happened to be in the mood to
> > broadcast my opinion on the topic.
> >
> >
> >
> > ......................................................................
> > Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> > Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
> >
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: "Mary Rindfleisch" <[removed]@biblio.org>
REC'D: 5/2/01, 11:39 AM

Absolutely! We track in our reference statistics the number of bona fide
face-to-face RA transactions we have with patrons, but there are whole days
when everyone who comes into the Fiction Room says hello, then walks right
past my desk to the table or bulletin board where bibliographies, bookmarks,
etc. are housed and helps themselves with the benefit of what we have
prepared (often requiring a lot of effort and the benefit of loads of
experience and training). I am always joking that we should get at least a
half a tick mark for each of these people, but this really is a serious
consideration when trying to convince the Powers That Be of the benefits of
RA service.

Mary Rindfleisch
Adult Services/Readers' Advisory Librarian
Ridgefield Library
472 Main St.
Ridgefield, CT 06877
Phone: 203-438-2282
e-mail: [removed]@biblio.org

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Nora M. Armstrong
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 6:44 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: "Passive" RA?

Ann Marquis* wrote:

"...passive readers advisory areas--in other words, what we do with our
collections..."

I'd like to propose another term for this kind of activity - and it really
requires a *lot* of activity, don't you agree? How about calling it
"indirect RA"?

Direct RA involves the conversation between advisor and reader, the give
and take wherein we try to discern just what kind of read our client is
looking for, based on many factors.

Indirect RA encompasses everything else, from library layout to displays
to fliers and bookmarks and bibliographies to marketing the collection.
Anything that falls outside the scope of that one-on-one chat.

Direct RA is a pretty active event, but so is the indirect variety. Think
of how much time and energy goes into the preparation of something like a
display: it's only going to be up for a couple of weeks, but there's
building a list, gathering the materials, maybe designing a bookmark or
writing a bibliography, and keeping the thing stocked. There's nothing
passive about it; displays don't just put themselves together, even if
that's what we want our clients to think. :-)

Does this make sense to anybody else?

Nora Armstrong
Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center
Fayetteville, NC
(910)483-7878, FAX (910)486-6661
[removed]@cumberland.lib.nc.us

*And I'm NOT picking on Ann: I've seen the term "passive RA" used before -
this is just the one instance that I happened to be in the mood to
broadcast my opinion on the topic.

FROM: Heuer <[removed]@itol.com>
REC'D: 5/2/01, 5:04 PM

I wish I could get that across here as well. We have some serious staff
shortages right now because of a hiring freeze and to staff the place but
not so everyone has to work every night and weekend, they are seriously
contemplating shutting down , what else, the fiction desk, on nights and
weekends. What is sad is one of the desks they can't shut down is the
Magazine desk where the internets are. Honestly, very little actual library
work gets done there. But someone has to be on duty for computer sign-ups,
paper jams, toner replacement, rebooting frozen computers... you get the
idea. No they don't want volunteers or clerks on that desk. We have too many
"strange-ones" using the internets and we have to monitor them. But the desk
where we actually interact with the customer and what they are reading will
be closed. I don't want to work every night and weekend either but it is
regretable.


--
Jeanne Heuer
Brown County Library
Green Bay, WI
[removed]@itol.com

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, Art is knowing which ones
to keep." -anonymous
> From: "Mary Rindfleisch" <[removed]@biblio.org>
> Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
> Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 12:30:44 -0400
> To: Fiction_L <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
> Subject: RE: "Passive" RA?
>
> Absolutely! We track in our reference statistics the number of bona fide
> face-to-face RA transactions we have with patrons, but there are whole days
> when everyone who comes into the Fiction Room says hello, then walks right
> past my desk to the table or bulletin board where bibliographies, bookmarks,
> etc. are housed and helps themselves with the benefit of what we have
> prepared (often requiring a lot of effort and the benefit of loads of
> experience and training). I am always joking that we should get at least a
> half a tick mark for each of these people, but this really is a serious
> consideration when trying to convince the Powers That Be of the benefits of
> RA service.
>
> Mary Rindfleisch
> Adult Services/Readers' Advisory Librarian
> Ridgefield Library
> 472 Main St.
> Ridgefield, CT 06877
> Phone: 203-438-2282
> e-mail: [removed]@biblio.org
>

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