Research Based Readers’ Advisory for Young Adult Readers http://researchbasedra.pbwiki.com/

1. Research Based Readers’ Advisory for Young Adult Readershttp://researchbasedra.pbwiki.com/ Jessica E. Moyer Michael Cox 1st Annual YALSA Symposium November 8, 2008 Nashville, TN

2. What is Readers ’Advisory? “A successful readers’ advisory service is one in which knowledgable, nonjudgemental staff help fiction and nonfiction readers with their leisure reading needs.” (Joyce Saricks, Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library pg 1, emphasis added) “Quite simply, it is the act of putting people together with the books they love”. Diana Herald, Genreflecting website “The art of readers’ advisory [for teens] involves masterfully articulating various elements of a book to pique interest and entice the prospective reader.” Heather Booth, Serving Teens Through Readers’ Advisory

3. Do Teens Actually Read? • YES!! Children and teens consistently choose leisure reading as an out of school activity • Teens would like to read more if they had easy access to books they would like • Children and teens read the most over school breaks, especially summer vacation • Children and teens are motivated to read books that are about topics in which they are interested

4. When Do Teens Read?

5. Research Review: Conflicting Results NEA Report 2004 – Reading At Risk • Less than half of American adults read literature, from 56.9% (1982) to 46.7% (2002) • Over the past 20 years, young adults (18-34) have declined from being those most likely to read literature to those least likely • The decline in reading correlates with increased participation in a variety of electronic media, including the Internet and video games

6. Research Review: Conflicting Results 2007 NEA Report – To Read or Not to Read Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.1 Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading. Reading scores for 12th-grade readers fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, with the sharpest declines among lower-level readers.

7. Research Review: Conflicting Results • Reading is good for teens: for developing social skills and empathy – Bookworms vs. nerds, Mar et al 2005 • Fanfiction and “other” literacy activities • Surveys of teens in Europe, Canada, Australia and US report: teens do choose to read books, newspapers, magazines, more than 20% read at least 3 hrs a week and YA books sell and circ • Girls tend to prefer narrative fiction books or graphic novels. Adult fiction is also popular. • Boys are more likely to pick comic books, graphic novels (F or NF), gaming manuals, magazines, newspapers or any type of NF • Boys are less likely to consider these real “reading” and more likely to describe themselves as “nonreaders” to adults

8. Teen Reading Choices

9. Rules of Leisure Reading “Never apologize for your reading tastes” - Rosenberg’s First Law of Reading “Every reader his [or her] book. Every book its reader” - S. R. Ranganathan’s 2nd and 3rd Laws of Library Science “ No two people ever read the same book.” Diana Herald, RAO Blog

14. Examples of RA Interactions Teen with Gossip Girls series (for the 3rd time) “Aren’t you ready to read something else?” OR “You’ve already read that, don’t you want something better?” “I’ve noticed how much you seem to enjoy reading Gossip Girls, I thought you might also be interested in this list of similar books” OR “Let me know when you might want some more books, I’ve got some suggestions from other teens who like these that I think you might like”

15. Examples of RA Interactions Teen reading Shakespeare GN “We have the real book, here it is” (puts in hand) “Did you know we have a GN collection with other classic stories? Here are some of the others I’ve heard are good (lays GNs on table)” OR “Did you know there are several different versions of that play in the library?”

16. Examples of RA Interactions Young looking teen in adult fiction area “These books are too mature for you, let me take you to the childrens (or YA) area” OR “Are you sure you want to reading such adult books?” OR “Would your parents think it was OK?” “There are lots of books to choose from here, are there some authors you like in this area?Would you like some ideas on which ones you might enjoy the most?”

17. Examples of RA Interactions I recently read Outsiders in school and I liked it, do you have anything else like that? “I LOVED Outsiders when I was a teen!! It was my favorite book!! You must read Annie on my Mind, that was my other favorite book in high school” “I’ve read that, it was pretty good, wasn’t it? What was it about Outsiders that made it so great for you?”

18. Examples of RA Interactions “I’ve read all the Georgette Heyer books in the adult section and they are pretty good, but I don’t like a lot of other adult romances, too much sex” “You’ll want to read the original Regency romance stories, by Jane Austen. They are so much better than anything written now.” “She’s a great author, isn’t she? Barbara Metzger is an adult romance author who writes stories that are lot like Heyer, you might like them. Here’s a book that you might like to browse for more ideas.” (Show Genreflecting or Rocked by Romance)

19. Guidelines for Young Adult RA: DO • Stock popular materials and replace them when they wear out or walk out • Have nonfiction, graphic novels, magazines and audiobooks in your YA collection • Read nonfiction, graphic novels, manga, magazines and adult fiction, and listen to audiobooks of all types, even if it is only in “10 Minutes” • Keep a journal to remember what you “read” • Suggest nonfiction, graphic novels, manga, audiobooks, and adult fiction • Be specific, not abstract when describing your suggestions • Admit your likes and dislikes when asked – be honest with your teens!

20. Guidelines for Young Adult RA: DON’T • EVER make any kind of judging statement when talking to teen readers • Suggest really old materials (as in I loved that when I was a teen) • Push your favorite books • Encourage teens to read “quality” books or “move them up” to better books • Tell teens only books (or fiction) count as really “reading” • Read only YA books • Forget the Rules of Leisure Reading

21. Selected Resources Research Based Readers’ Advisory Wiki http://researchbasedra.pbwiki.com/ Jessica E. Moyer Doctoral student, Adolescent Literacy, U of Minnesota jessicaemilymoyer@gmail.com Michael Cox Youth Services Supervisor michael.cox@pueblolibrary.org