Personal Librarian

I work in different branches of my library system and don't really get to develop a relationship with our patrons. However, as I continue to think about what we as librarians can do to match our patrons and hopefully, people who are not regular patrons, with titles that they can enjoy I have been thinking about different methods of recommending or highlighting books.

For example, book displays are great but only work for patrons who come into the library. I also like the idea of a library blog that features new titles but I wonder whether this has been studied and if it is effectly. Clearly, this would depend on a number of things: Is the blog updated frequently? Does the writer have an interesting voice?

Hairdressers keep index cards on file about their customers. They update it when the client requests a new hair-do or comments about considering a new style. They probably add information about how the hair looks during very hot or cold weather and makes a note to themself to suggest that they recommend a treatment or style to the client next time. I would imagine that they also update the cards with personal information about the client so the next time they see the client they can be sure to ask questions about an event the client recently attended or ask about a member of the family that they discussed in a previous visit. It makes the client feel that the hairdresser listens to them and remembers what was said.

So, why can't we do this for patrons? In a larger library, this would be difficult but even in a larger library there are patrons who are regulars that you develop a relationship with--can't we be more proactive about recommending titles for them? In one of the branches, a patron who identified herself as an infrequent reader and user of the library, came up to me at reference, showed me a book that she had just read and asked for one that covered similar topics (women in the Middle East). I found a book for her and she was delighted and told me how much she enjoyed the previous book and was looking forward to reading this one. At the end of our conversation, she asked me to start thinking about the next title that I would recommend. The transaction was quick and I did not get her name, but I think about her often whenever I see a book that I think that she would like.

Blogs, displays and programs are great, better yet we could be the patron's personal librarian, the one who calls them or communicates with them when something that we think they would like come in or is ordered. Personal shoppers do this and I think that it is a model that could be tried in libraries, one patron at a time.