Library Readers' Advisory- I was a Secret Shopper

What do you do when you go to a library, but you don't know what you want to read?  Ideally you go to a librarian and ask for help.  At least, in theory, that's how it's supposed to work, but does it really?  I went to a library where I'm not a known individual, and tried to find out.  

As you may be aware if you read a little bit about me,  I live in a remote location so to properly conduct a secret shopper readers’ advisory encounter I had to make an hour trip to a neighboring community library.  I do have a library card at that institution and frequent it on occasion, but it is large enough that I have not had direct contact with many of the librarians there.  Luckily, when I entered the library the librarian on the front reception desk was not someone I knew personally.  

            I stepped up to the reception desk and was greeted.  But the librarian did not ask if she could help me with anything, rather she waited for me to speak.  So, I said simply, “I was wondering if you could help me find a book.” The librarian did not immediately respond, but seemed to be waiting for me to continue while she looked a bit confused, or even annoyed at my asking.  It was not a terribly friendly beginning to the encounter.  The librarian was a bit older, but she was not a new employee, so I was a bit surprised at the fact that she didn’t offer a follow-up question of any kind.  Sensing some unease, I continued and said, “I just finished reading The Invisible Library Series that my friend lent me and was wondering if you could recommend something similar.” 

            She seemed a bit put off that I was asking her to recommend something, and guided me over to a public computer station saying, “Let’s see what we can find.”  She woke up the computer and went straight to the catalog, asking me who the author was.  I said I wasn’t sure, but that the first book in the series was called The Invisible Library.  She looked up the title and found the author’s name before going into a separate browser to pull up Novelist. 

From this point on, it became a bit like a computer lesson.  Without asking further questions or, or if I in particular had any genre or style desires she noted that the titles were Sci-Fi, according to Novelist, and showed me the tab that notated the read-alikes.  Then she said I could, “search around in here, and click the button under the book to find it in the catalog and see where it was located.”  At that point the librarian excused herself and went back to the reception desk. 

            Ultimately, I did not choose a title for myself based upon my interactions with this librarian, though I did come home with a couple books I found for myself by searching the stacks.  But the librarian did not check back in with me at all before I went to the stacks to see if I had found something suitable.  Also, she was no longer on the desk when I left the library using the self-checkout kiosk. 

To the librarian’s credit, she stayed entirely professional, and I believe she thought she was teaching me how to use the system and the Novelist tool.  Still, because the system was demonstrated to me with what felt like condescension, I am not sure I would feel comfortable asking that librarian for another book recommendation.  For a less secure reading patron, this sort of interaction could easily make them hesitant about asking a librarian for help because it would feel that asking for assistance would be interrupting or annoying them. 

Overall, this was a very useful exercise in how to approach interactions with patrons from a patron standpoint and to remember that sometimes interaction is more useful than tools in reader’s advisory than all the gadgets at our disposal.