Reader’s advisory Around the table game

Concept The goal of this game is to give staff members practice with reader’s advisory by creating scenarios with staff members. This can give the players hands on experience and familiarity with RA tools. Another handy byproduct of this game is having the players learn what books each other enjoy, which could serve as a tool for RA (IE if someone loves horror novels, they could help with recommendations in that genre).

Pre-work needed Everyone will need a computer or electronic device to help with gathering recommendations Get pieces of paper (Or you want to be fancy, use paper stock to create cards) and make separate cards out it with labeled with all the different genres of your library (Ex: Mystery,Fantasy, Romance, Nonfiction, etc) and age groups (kids, YA, adult, etc)

Pre-work needed (Cont) Get a timer or stopwatch This game requires 4+ players The players pick a certain number of rounds to play.

Game One player is the “patron” for the round. They randomly draw a card from the genre pile. The patron tells the other players a book they have enjoyed (Or heard of they don’t have one meeting the requirements) in the past.

Game (cont) The other players have 5 minutes to research possible recommendations the “Patron” would enjoy. They can use any tools they are aware of, from their own experience, websites such as Goodreads, Novelist, or Fantastic fictions, or the library catalog.

Game (Cont) The players then propose their recommendation. They talk about the book, how they found it, and why they chose it. They have to be in the same age section. The “patron” picks which recommendation they like the best. The player who proposed the item gets a point for the round. The “patron” role then shifts to the next player in a clockwise fashion.

Game (Cont) The game continues for the number of pre-agreed rounds. The player with the most points at the end of the rounds is the winner of the game! They are the Reader Advisory master until the next game!

Example: Patron pulls “YA” and “Sci-Fi”. The Patron says they enjoyed the “Hunger Games Trilogy”. The other players perform their research and come back with recommendations.

Examples of cards Front Children Adventure Back Reader’s advisory Around the table game

Examples of cards Front Adult Horror Back Reader’s advisory Around the table game

Examples of cards Front YA Romance Back Reader’s advisory Around the table game

Example (Cont) Player 1 comes back with the “Maze Runner” because it’s also a dystopia survival sci-fi storyline. Player 2 did not find anything in time, so sits the round out. Player 3 proposes “Divergent” because of similar characters, social revolution themes.

Example (Cont) The “Patron” choses “Divergent” so Player 3 scores a point. The role of “Patron” now shifts to another player, the cards are shuffled and are redrawn for a different scenario.

Expert Rules If the players want a more challenging version of the game, add a third pile consisting of material types (IE DVD, Ebook, Audio, LP, print, items in common core, etc). When the “patron” draws for the round, they also draw from this pile as well. The players need to find a recommendation that is available in the drawn type of material.

Expert Rules (Cont) For example The patron draws “Fantasy”, “Children” and Ebook. The “patron” says they enjoyed the Harry Potter series. The other players need to find a recommendation that fits the criteria but is also an Ebook.

Examples of cards for expert (both are front) Children Adventure Has to be available on Kindle

Examples of cards for expert (both are front) YA Triller Movie

Blank template for cards FrontBack Reader’s advisory Around the table game

Suggested Tools

Chaos cards! If the players need to shake the game up, create chaos cards as a separate pile. Chaos cards are meant to add a twist to the normal game play. Whoever is in last place at the end of the round can draw a chaos card. This is to add some chaos to the game and help whoever is lagging behind. Try to come up with as many goofy cards as you can!

Examples of chaos cards FrontBack Chaos Cards Checked out! When the patron picks a book, you can play this card. The patron has to pick again, with their first choice excluded.

Examples of chaos cards FrontBack Chaos Cards Server crash! Play this card after the patron draws their card for the round. Choose one RA tool, it can’t be used this round. Must be specific, such as Goodreads.

Examples of chaos cards FrontBack Chaos Cards Letter test! Players can only recommend books whose titles start with vowels. Good luck!.

Leader board RA is an important skill for librarians which requires practice. To encourage staff to keep playing the game and sharpening skills, a leaderboard is encouraged. Set it for a certain amount of time that staff can play a reasonable amount of games (IE week, month, couple months, etc) and keep track of who wins. Whoever wins at the end gets some sort of award (free coffee, closest park spot. Keep it up so staff can show off their victories!

Leader Board example PlayerMonth/YearNumber of games won SaraMay KimMay JeffMay HannahMay 20141

Suggested Readings Readers' advisory. (2014, March 1). Retrieved October 19, 2014, from This website is a wiki run and edited by librarians and is an incredible tool for ideas, concepts or research. The wiki includes some basic how to on reader’s advisory, as well as some links to useful tools that librarians could utilize for gathering recommendations. Uecker, R., Kelly, S., & Napierala, M. (2014). Implementing the Common Core State Standards. Knowledge Quest, 42(3), The common core standards focus more on having kids reading nonfiction books and more titles they would want to have for fun. Librarians can use these new education standards as a bridge for getting students to read different books that could create lifelong passions in different fields. Anwyll, R., Chawner, B., & Tarulli, L. (2013). Social Media and Readers' Advisory. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(2), This article is about how librarians can use social media as a means of helping patrons with Reader’s Advisory. It can be used as a connection tool, where patrons will have a new means of contacting the library for help with materials, or a mean of publicizing books to the public.

Crowley, B. (2014). Time to Rethink Readers' Advisory Education?. Public Libraries, 53(4), This article discusses some of the ways the current mindset regarding Reader’s Advisory fails to bring out the best possible work for it. The author talks about how making education in this field should be more critical for the librarian educational field, as well as some possible ideas of how to revamp it for a better experience. MCDONALD, R. (2014). ADOPTING AND ADAPTING FOR YOUR READERS. Incite, 35(3), 15. This article discusses different techniques librarians can use to approach patrons regarding recommendations discovered after attending a new training session. The authors account their own experience at a library with helping patrons find materials they would enjoy, and different ways to start the dialogue. Saricks, J. (2014). What We Don't Need to Do. Booklist, 110(11), 21. This is another article that discuss techniques and proper mindset when helping patrons look for materials they will use or enjoy. Librarians should focus on more than the setting or the plot of book; they need to consider the pacing, word count, and other factors.

Image for cards kin_door_card_template_by_cornixt-d5cwcin.png kin_door_card_template_by_cornixt-d5cwcin.png

Good Luck! Image: