Readers advisory training for staff, wanted a central point for all RA tools and resources
Seeing other blogs at reference seminar inspired us to create one of our own, but we struck various problems and decided to go with a website as an interim measure
Positives
Brought together several sections of our website which had previously been separated.
Author lists in various genres
Book club information
"Bestsellers"
NoveList database
Increased number of lists available
in "niche" genres eg. Vampire romance
in themes as well as genres
Co-operative effort of many staff
Submitting book reviews
Submitting themed guides
Creating author lists
RA training sessions inspire new contributors!
Higher level of interactivity
Open URL link to WebOpac - every book listed on the site is available in our library and customers can instantly see if the item is in or out
Link for customers to email their reviews
Links to other websites as springboard to WWW
Negatives
Only one staff member currently with access to update the site
Limited as to format and design of site by Council restraints
Moderate use of site by staff, small number of customers using and contributing at this stage
No ability to tag or search reviews
What's next?
Blog
Move site to a blog
IT concerns
Marketing the blog to customers - have marketed current site only through word of mouth and printed author bookmarks