AV RA

Sidney Crosby ... can a 22 year old hockey player inspire a 50 year old Librarian? Absolutely.

One of the ALA sessions I attended was entitled What Do I Watch, Listen to, Play, or Download Next: Readers Advisory Techniques for the Digital World. As selector for Feature Films, I come under the "What Do I Watch" part.

It was great to see a session focused entirely on these formats. (It had crossed my mind occasionally that I should as Film Selector create a Film RA cheat sheet).

I won't go too into depth, since I will further down attach the Powerpoint presentation. But I will mention a couple of things:

The first speaker covered the reasons why AV Advisory is important, and I was sold at the first statement: "Many libraries report 50% of total circ stats are AV items".

Audio books:

From my own experience, it is true that serious users of audio books do have a "sound" preference. I have been asked for suggestions of audio books for example, with the additional request that it be in a woman's voice. As a Librarian in a rural area with a fair distance between Branches, I rely heavily on the Library's Overdrive. I lately listened to Resilience: Reflections On the Burdens and Gifts Of Facing Life's Adversity by Elizabeth Edwards. The author was the reader on the audio, and it made all the difference; I could hear the sadness, pain, melancholy in her voice. I don't think this audio version would have the same effect if it had been read by one not so emotionally involved. So, maybe now I prefer audio read by the author.

Movies:

For all the AV formats, the speaker recommended the retail model. For movies,that translates to movie posters and card board stand ups (of John Wayne for example): how fun! She also suggested that there be a web presence: a dedicated page on the Library's website for AV: a movie page would include blogs, links, embedded items (e.g. You Tube), reviews and links. Besides the Internet Movie Database which is the ultimate tool for reviews and movie information (oh gosh,John Hughes died ...), she suggested other sites, one of which provides an "If you liked..." type list.

Anyway, view on!: (it seems to be more efficient to choose "save" when asked rather than "view").

What Do I Watch