Fiction_L Archives Staff Recommends Dates: 2/5/02,4:52 PM  through  2/13/02,5:13 PM  (11 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 2002 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Janet Cavanagh <[removed]@russell.lioninc.org>
REC'D: 2/5/02, 4:52 PM

Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends" service/shelf/whatever in
our library. I need some ideas on how to go about this. I have seen lists
on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful? What about annotations?
How about identifying the staff who gives the recommendation? I have seen
staff recommendations in bookstores but they of course usually have many
copies of the recommended titles.

Am I making this too complicated?

Actually, to complicate things more, how do you "capture" patron
recommendations.


Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation on February 22 and
would like to offer some ideas.

Janet Cavanagh
Janet M. Cavanagh
Head of Circulation Services
Russell Library
123 Broad Street
Middletown, CT 06457

(860)347-2528 X133
fax (860) 347-4048

FROM: Mary Ann Bakken <[removed]@linc.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 2/5/02, 5:13 PM

We have a perpetual Staff Recommendation shelf among our fiction displays.
We encourage any staff member, maintenance worker to director, to add to
the shelf any book that has been enjoyable to them. If pickings get slim, a
member of the Readers Services staff wanders the stacks for inspiration to
fill it up. The content changes frequently and without any particular sort
of direction. To augment this, we have an annotated Staff Recommendations
section on the Good Reading part of our web site.
http://www.st-charles.lib.il.us/frames/rev_frame.htm As with our shelf
display, all staff members are encouraged to contribute a recommendation.
Those without computer access and/or skill can fill out a paper form and
the Readers Services staff will enter it. We have chosen to keep the
identity of the reviewer anonymous, except from the staff monitoring the
reviews.

Mary Ann Bakken
St. Charles (IL) Public Library

At 05:47 PM 2/5/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends" service/shelf/whatever in
>our library. I need some ideas on how to go about this. I have seen lists
>on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful? What about annotations?
>How about identifying the staff who gives the recommendation? I have seen
>staff recommendations in bookstores but they of course usually have many
>copies of the recommended titles.
>
>Am I making this too complicated?
>
>Actually, to complicate things more, how do you "capture" patron
>recommendations.
>
>
>Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation on February 22 and
>would like to offer some ideas.
>
>Janet Cavanagh
>Janet M. Cavanagh
>Head of Circulation Services
>Russell Library
>123 Broad Street
>Middletown, CT 06457
>
>(860)347-2528 X133
>fax (860) 347-4048
>
>
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: "Laurel Goodgion" <[removed]@portland.lib.ct.us>
REC'D: 2/5/02, 6:06 PM

Hi,

We have had a Staff Recommends display ever since many of us attended a
reader's advisory workshop many years ago taught by Joyce Sarricks. This
was one of the many good ideas she presented.

All staff are encouraged to contribute to the display (a Worden unit with 2
shelves on each side, sadly no longer available). Only a few staff really
fill the display.

We check out materials to a "staff recommends" internal library card. They
are due in 6 weeks. When we get the overdue notices, the items are pulled
from the display so we are sure that it stays fresh.

I don't use books from the "new" area because I feel they are already being
featured. I roam the stacks and pull out my favorite reads, both fiction
and non-fiction. It's fun to "make a sale" of some of my favorite titles.
Many of these books circulate only because they are part of the recommends
display. It's a great way of giving new life to wonderful old, overlooked
titles.

The more staff that are involved the wider range of reading interests
represented.

Several patrons have told us how much they enjoy the display.

Good luck.

Laurel Goodgion, Director
Portland Library
20 Freestone Ave.
Portland, CT 06480
email: [removed]@portland.lib.ct.us
phone: (860) 342-6771
fax: (860) 342-6778


----- Original Message -----
From: "Janet Cavanagh" <[removed]@russell.lioninc.org>
To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 5:47 PM
Subject: Staff Recommends


> Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends" service/shelf/whatever in
> our library. I need some ideas on how to go about this. I have seen
lists
> on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful? What about
annotations?
> How about identifying the staff who gives the recommendation? I have seen
> staff recommendations in bookstores but they of course usually have many
> copies of the recommended titles.
>
> Am I making this too complicated?
>
> Actually, to complicate things more, how do you "capture" patron
> recommendations.
>
>
> Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation on February 22 and
> would like to offer some ideas.
>
> Janet Cavanagh
> Janet M. Cavanagh
> Head of Circulation Services
> Russell Library
> 123 Broad Street
> Middletown, CT 06457
>
> (860)347-2528 X133
> fax (860) 347-4048
>
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: [removed]@DAYTON.LIB.OH.US
REC'D: 2/5/02, 7:10 PM

We have a staff recommendation program. I am very lucky to be in a branch
that
is only 1 1/2 old. We have 41 slatwall slots where we place staff
recommendations. We take a fourth of a sheet of paper. About an inch from
the top we type in bold letters STAFF RECOMMENDATION. Above that line
we do a handwritten annotation. The annotation may be really simple from "I
couldn't put this book down" to "One of the top romances of the year", etc.
One of our most popular was a recommendation a circulation worker wrote for
a book by Bill Fitzhugh. She wrote, "I laughed to hard chocolate milk came
out my nose." People love this. At the bottom of the slip we write the
author and the title. We stick the slip in the book and put it on the
slatwall. We have kept statistics on this and find we check out about 300
books per month from these displays. I think that from March 15, 2001 to
Dec. 31, 2001, we checked out over 2600 books from the displays. The patrons
love it. Everyone contributes, even patrons now. We keep a supply of books
ready to keep the displays full. Since we have the title and author written
on the slip we can search the shelf for the same book and redisplay it withh
the same recommendation. A library technical assistant handles the whole
program. I just write some of the recommendations.

It does create circulation for books that do not go out and it also creates
interest in a certain author. I can't tell you how many times we display
one of the books and then find out we have a request list for the rest of
the titles by the author. It is a truly successful program and will
be a permanent part of our displays. Many patrons say we were right on with
our description of the book. We have about 300 titles now that we rotate
in the display.

Jan Nottingham
Branch Manager
Miami Township Branch
Dayton & Montgomery County Public Library
[removed]@dayton.lib.oh.us


>Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends" service/shelf/whatever in
>our library. I need some ideas on how to go about this. I have seen lists
>on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful? What about annotations?
>How about identifying the staff who gives the recommendation? I have seen
>staff recommendations in bookstores but they of course usually have many
>copies of the recommended titles.
>
>Am I making this too complicated?
>
>Actually, to complicate things more, how do you "capture" patron
>recommendations.
>
>
>Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation on February 22 and
>would like to offer some ideas.
>
>Janet Cavanagh
>Janet M. Cavanagh
>Head of Circulation Services
>Russell Library
>123 Broad Street
>Middletown, CT 06457
>
>(860)347-2528 X133
>fax (860) 347-4048
>
>
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: "Marla" <[removed]@orion.mtgr.mtlib.org>
REC'D: 2/6/02, 8:02 AM

Hello, Janet.

I do this about as simple as one can get. I have an on-going fiction
bin display that I change about every 2 months or so. At least
once a year the subject is "May We Recommend?" in large letters
with a picture of a waiter type offering a covered serving platter (I
think I got it off Print Shop) and "favorite reads by your library staff"
in small letters.

Then I have staff members bring me 5 - 6 of their favorite books (or
a list) and I just pile them in the bin. It's a very popular display and
easy for me. No annotations, no explanations, no complications.

Good luck. BYE!

Marla/Great Falls Public Library/Acquisitions
301 2nd Ave N
Great Falls MT 59401-2593
[removed]@orion.mtgr.mtlib.org


*************
For reason will convince us that what is necessary to be
performed in the heat of action should constantly be
practised in the leisure of peace.
Vegetius, EPITOMA REI MILITARIS

FROM: Barry Trott <[removed]@mail.wrl.org>
REC'D: 2/6/02, 8:13 AM

I have found that our "staff favorites" list is one of the more popular,
both in print and electronic form. We solicited staff to give their top
five books, and compiled the list from there. We decided that we would not
attach names to the recommendations for reasons of staff privacy. We have
occasionally done a display of these titles, and the items circualte off
the display shelves very well. We also post all of our reading lists in
electronic format on the library's web site, and that section of the site
gets a lot of hits as well.

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/bookweb/
*******************************************************************************

On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Janet Cavanagh wrote:

> Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends" service/shelf/whatever in
> our library. I need some ideas on how to go about this. I have seen lists
> on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful? What about annotations?
> How about identifying the staff who gives the recommendation? I have seen
> staff recommendations in bookstores but they of course usually have many
> copies of the recommended titles.
>
> Am I making this too complicated?
>
> Actually, to complicate things more, how do you "capture" patron
> recommendations.
>
>
> Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation on February 22 and
> would like to offer some ideas.
>
> Janet Cavanagh
> Janet M. Cavanagh
> Head of Circulation Services
> Russell Library
> 123 Broad Street
> Middletown, CT 06457
>
> (860)347-2528 X133
> fax (860) 347-4048
>
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>

FROM: "Kathy Loucks" <[removed]@cml.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 2/6/02, 11:32 AM

We have a staff favorites display in the fiction division, and ask each staff member to always have a book of their choice on the display (and change it for another title if the one they picked hasn't gone out after a week.) Next to the display we have a bulletin board for patron recommendations. We have a supply of 3x5" cards printed up (asking for author, title, why you liked it) and available for patrons to fill in, which we then post. We also have a one-page newsletter called Great Reads to which all staff in our division contribute brief reviews of fiction books they've enjoyed. We print out multiple copies for patrons to take, and keep a notebook with a copy of each back issue as a RA tool. Finally, we have a Staff Favorites section on our website for staff from all over the library system to contrubute brief reviews of fiction and nonfiction they recommend. If you'd like to see it, go to www.columbuslibrary.org and click on the Great Reads link. At one time, we also had each staff member in our division make up a bookmark listing several of their favorite books--each person put one of their bookmarks in every book they added to the staff favorites display, and we also went through the stacks and put one in every copy of each title listed on the bookmark.

Kathleen Loucks
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Columbus, OH

FROM: Sandy Westbrook <[removed]@crlc.org>
REC'D: 2/6/02, 4:07 PM

We also have a very popular dispaly of "Staff Picks!" here. The staff fill
out a small paper which has their first name, the title, author and a
comment section (optional). The paper goes in the book on display. When the
book goes out, the circ staff gives me the paper and I put the book on hold
for a special in-house account - first time only. When the book comes back
and is on hold for that section, circ gives me the book and I replace the
paper and put the book back on display. This time when the book goes out,
it comes up with an alert that the book is "on hold". The hold is
overridden so that the patron can take the book out, but, the hold stays on
the book. That way when it comes back it shows as being on hold and they
return it to me. It sounds complicated, but works well. We have some
copies of the titles in different editions - large print, cassette, etc.
So, if the display is low, I go and find the other editions to put out.
Every 6 months or so, I ask for some updated picks.

Sandy Westbrook
South Windsor Public Library
South Windsor, CT 06074
Ph 860-644-1541
Fax 860-644-7645
[removed]@crlc.org


At 05:47 PM 2/5/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends" service/shelf/whatever in
>our library. I need some ideas on how to go about this. I have seen lists
>on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful? What about annotations?
>How about identifying the staff who gives the recommendation? I have seen
>staff recommendations in bookstores but they of course usually have many
>copies of the recommended titles.
>
>Am I making this too complicated?
>
>Actually, to complicate things more, how do you "capture" patron
>recommendations.
>
>
>Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation on February 22 and
>would like to offer some ideas.
>
>Janet Cavanagh
>Janet M. Cavanagh
>Head of Circulation Services
>Russell Library
>123 Broad Street
>Middletown, CT 06457
>
>(860)347-2528 X133
>fax (860) 347-4048
>
>
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>

FROM: [removed]@aol.com
REC'D: 2/7/02, 10:42 AM

We have a small bin labeled "Reader's Choice" and everyone on staff is encouraged to choose their favorite books. However..and please don't laugh...in addition to my personal favorites, I like to choose books from the very top and bottom shelves and give them "new life" so to speak. It's surprising what you find when you poke around in the stacks!

FROM: Nigel Brown <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 2/7/02, 1:54 PM

Hi Janet,
Here at the Timaru District Library (NZ) we have a
Staff Recommended collection.
All the Staff have contributed books and ideas for the
collection (we found it to be a very good "Team
Building" exercise).
Our selection is both Fiction and Non-Fiction as well
as Small and Large Print books. We have a separate bay
of 10 Shelves set up and we clearly identify the
Shelves with signs and Smiley faces.
We also put Smiley face stickers on the spines of the
books so they can be clearly be identified by the
Library users and the circulation staff. We put a
series note on the Cataloguing record and put all
copies of the book (including duplicates) on the
Shelves.
It is our most popular collection - we have over 900
books in our Staff Recommended Books collection but
there are never more than about 40 books in at any one
time.
Nigel Brown
Reader Services Librarian
Timaru District Library
New Zealand

--- Janet Cavanagh <[removed]@russell.lioninc.org>
wrote:
> Hi, I would like to set up a "staff recommends"
> service/shelf/whatever in
> our library. I need some ideas on how to go about
> this. I have seen lists
> on web sites. Are straight lists like that useful?
> What about annotations?
> How about identifying the staff who gives the
> recommendation? I have seen
> staff recommendations in bookstores but they of
> course usually have many
> copies of the recommended titles.
>
> Am I making this too complicated?
>
> Actually, to complicate things more, how do you
> "capture" patron
> recommendations.
>
>
> Thanks for any help. Am making a staff presentation
> on February 22 and
> would like to offer some ideas.
>
> Janet Cavanagh
> Janet M. Cavanagh
> Head of Circulation Services
> Russell Library
> 123 Broad Street
> Middletown, CT 06457
>
> (860)347-2528 X133
> fax (860) 347-4048
>
>
>
>
>
......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L:
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings!
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FROM: Janet Cavanagh <[removed]@russell.lioninc.org>
REC'D: 2/13/02, 5:13 PM

Dear All,

Thanks so much for your help on my earlier question about setting up a
Staff Recommends service.

Janet


Janet M. Cavanagh
Head of Circulation Services
Russell Library
123 Broad Street
Middletown, CT 06457

(860)347-2528 X133
fax (860) 347-4048

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