The Aurora Public Library District (APLD) is constantly driving home the message that the Library is more than just books, but we still love talking about books and suggesting titles to our customers! When the COVID-19 Pandemic forced many customers to stay home, we needed to find new ways to get books into the hands of our customers. Two new reader advisory services were created to fulfill that need: Staff Picks and Book Match. We have created a new staff position, Readers’ Services coordinator, to assist book discussion groups and customers with suggestions.
If you follow us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/APLibraryIL, you probably noticed our Staff Pick Saturday posts. Library staff members highlight titles of a certain theme or genre for different age groups. “We started this service during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue serving our community virtually at a time when we couldn’t create physical book displays,” said librarian Cailín Cullen. Now that service has expanded from social media into its own dedicated page on our website www.aurorapubliclibrary.org/recommendations. “Customers looking for their next read can find out what books our library staff membersare enjoying! They can find current and past themed book lists for all ages,” said Cullen.
The Library’s online book recommendation service was created to help customers who suddenly found themselves with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no clue what to read. Public Services manager Angela Bennett launched the initiative, called Book Match. “You fill out a simple survey on our website that asks your likes and dislikes about books and reading, including what you are in the mood for right now. We wanted to be able to take more time finding title suggestions for people than we typically have when they stop by our desks, including taking time to ask suggestions from our coworkers who are more knowledgeable in certain genres. You will receive a list of 10 titles from our collection specifically chosen for you based on your survey.” Fill out your own Book Match survey at www.aurora
publiclibrary.org/bookmatch.
Now that you’ve found a book you love, you’ll probably want to discuss it with fellow readers. The Library offers six book discussion groups for adults. Our newly-appointed Reader’s Services coordinator, Becky Clark, has seen how the groups have changed since 2020.
“APLD has offered in-person book discussions for many years, but the pandemic had us look at different ways to hold book discussions while there were social distancing restrictions in place,” she said. “A lot of our groups went virtual-only for a time, but now that restrictions are loosened, we were able to bring back in-person meetings as some people really loved that or couldn’t participate virtually. We’ve found that a hybrid approach worked well for some of the Library’s groups, and we love being able to offer that flexibility to our readers.”
All our book discussion groups accept new members at any time. See the upcoming titles and dates at www.aurorapubliclibrary.org/bookdiscussions.
Do you have your own personal Book Club with friends or are you interested in starting one? Clark can provide Library resources to assist you. “I’m always willing to help with community book groups, whether it’s helping to choosing titles for good discussions, helping new groups get started, outreach to local book groups to talk about the Library’s services, or providing visiting book discussion leader services. And pretty much talking to readers and customers in general! I love being able to help someone find a book, whether it’s a read-alike for their favorite author, a suggestion for a new genre, or that new book they heard about on social media.”
We love books and will do whatever we can to instill a love of reading in the community. It is and will continue to be one of our main goals as an institution! We just hope that while you’re visiting the Library picking up your books, you take advantage of all the other amazing resources, services, and programs we have available.
Andrea Tiberi is the communications coordinator for the Aurora Public Library District.