The Singular Pilgrim: Travels on Sacred Ground by Rosemary Mahoney was published in 2003. It was published around the same time as Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and it was not as popular. Mahoney details several pilgrimages, in Spain, in India, in Britain and in Ireland. It is a tale of walking, and more walking but embodies the classic religious or spiritual need to test the body and through that find faith or peace or in today's world, we may view this as a way to find oneself.
Beautifully written Mahoney struggles with her belief and the search for God. It is also a memoir describing the end of a relationship and her life as a writer. A simply wonderful book.
Who should read it: Readers who loved Eat, Pray Love and were drawn by its discussion of spirituality. The Singular Pilgrim focuses mostly on Christian pilgrimages but Mahoney does describe a pilgrimage by the Ganges.
Showing posts with label recommendations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recommendations. Show all posts
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday Feature
One of my interests is in moving the backlist in libraries. Netflix talks a lot about this and identifies it as one of the big contributors to its success. Essentially, moving the backlist refers to rentals coming from older DVDs. Recommendations play a large role in moving the backlist as do the wealth of unusual titles available to Netflix subscribers because otherwise some of the titles may be "lost" to the customers unless their presence is pointed out to the customer.
Libraries are like Netflix in that they have a tremendous backlist--a lot of wonder books, movies and CDs that are gems but undiscovered ones or ones that simply need to be rediscovered by today's patrons.
Friday is going to be Rediscovering Gem day. Each Friday, I will feature a title that I think would appeal to today's readers if they only knew it existed. I will also point out ways that I think that these books can be publicized by the libraries.
Libraries are like Netflix in that they have a tremendous backlist--a lot of wonder books, movies and CDs that are gems but undiscovered ones or ones that simply need to be rediscovered by today's patrons.
Friday is going to be Rediscovering Gem day. Each Friday, I will feature a title that I think would appeal to today's readers if they only knew it existed. I will also point out ways that I think that these books can be publicized by the libraries.
Labels:
backlist,
best books 2007,
Libraries,
recommendations
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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.
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.
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