Tina, the secret shopper spy!

I would not be a good spy!  As a “secret shopper” I felt very conspicuous, although it is quite obvious no one questioned my purpose at all.  So, the intrigue was entirely one-sided, but I enjoyed it anyway.  I visited a large public library on a Friday afternoon at around 1:30.  It was not very busy in the library; I saw only a few other patrons.  I chose a library that is close to my own library both in distance and size of population served.  I thought the comparison would be a good learning experience for me.

I entered through the front door and saw the circulation desk immediately to my left.  I wandered slowly through the large atrium looking around.  There were two or three staff members behind the circulation desk, but all of them were busy and didn’t seem to notice me; no one spoke to me.  I continued on through the library, venturing into the stacks.  I did not notice any readers’ advisory signs, but there were several booklists and bookmarks with read-alike titles listed.  I wandered the stacks for 5 minutes or so.  As I didn't see any staff members, I wandered by the reference/info desk, which was easy to find.  Both reference librarians seemed busy – one was on the phone and the other on her computer.

I decided to try to look lost, checked out a Valentine display case that was close to the reference desk, and wandered a bit more.  Since no one asked if I needed help, I decided that approaching the reference desk was my best bet, so I went over and stood in front of the librarian who wasn't on the phone.  She looked up and smiled – whew!  I said, “I’m looking for a book.”  She asked what she could find for me.  I told her I needed something to read; I had been reading the In Death series by J.D. Robb and was sad because I had finished the entire series.

She first asked if I was on the holds list for Obsession in Death (the next book in the series) and I told her I was.  She said she was, too and mourned the fact that she was seventh on the list.  She maintained eye contact with me as she said this.  This made me comfortable with her and encouraged me to chat about the books, characters, etc.  She then asked me what I liked about the series: the romance, the mystery; articulating the books’ appeal for me.  (So far, she’s doing very well!)  I said I liked the characters, the relationships and interactions between them, following them through the series and getting to know them. 

While she talked with me, she was on her computer, consulting a source, but she did not say anything about it to me, just kept chatting with me about Eve and Rourke (the main characters in the In Death series) keeping the conversation flowing.  She asked me if I’d read any of the Sue Grafton mysteries.  I replied that I’d read them through R is for Ransom and they began to seem all the same to me, so I'd lost interest.  She mentioned the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, and I said I’d read all of them as well.  Still smiling, she typed away.  She then asked if I’d read anything by Carol Higgins Clark and I told her I had not.  She thought I might like her Reagan Riley mystery series.  I nodded, willing to try, so she checked the catalog for availability.

                She mentioned that I might want to start at the beginning, I agreed, and she said they had the first book in the series available in Large Print.  I said that was fine, so she took me to the shelf and pulled the book, Decked for me.  I checked the description on the back, and told her I thought it sounded good.  She asked me if I’d like a list of the series in order, so I could find the next book in the series when I was ready.  I said that would be wonderful, so she went back, printed the list and handed it to me.  I thanked her and left. 

I learned several things from this experience that I will use to help sharpen my readers’ advisory skills.  I appreciated the way the librarian handled the interview, but might have enjoyed some additions.  I would have appreciated being asked if I needed help. I would also have enjoyed, as a patron, following her process, and gaining knowledge about the tools she used so I could use them later to find a book for myself.  I used this knowledge recently when a staff member’s daughter came in looking for a book.  I showed her Novelist and how to use it instead of just finding a book to suggest for her.  She loved it!

                All in all, I felt it was a good experience and that she did a great job.  It would have been nice for someone to have asked me if they could help me with anything.   Once I initiated the interaction, however, the librarian was very helpful and stayed with me until she found a book that interested me.  She followed the readers advisory interview steps, asked me what I liked about the books I’d been reading, and then used an online resource to search for items with similar appeal.  When her first couple of suggestions were books I’d already read, she kept searching until she found something new that interested me.  I really appreciated the printed list of the series in order for future reading.  I felt good about the interview.  The librarian was friendly.  She respected my reading choices and was definitely not condescending.   I can’t wait to start reading Decked! 

                My experience did give me a renewed conviction to greet each library guest as they walk in the door, to not be hesitant to ask patrons I run into in the stacks if they need any help finding something, and to share my RA tools and methods with patrons.