Readers' Advisory Services - Recently Updated Pages

Meeting Agendas

updates — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:24:53 CDT

This page is the agenda for the next meeting of the Readers Advisory Working Group. It will be updated after each meeting so that this page continues to be re-used.

Agenda for the next Readers Advisory Meeting 9.30 til 4.00 ( at the latest),Thursday, 20th June 2013, at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, 30 Parke Street Katoomba. Morning tea and lunch are being provided on the day so please RSVP to Leisa Radford LRadford@bmcc@nsw.gov.au.

Morning of meeting will be:
Planning for the 2014 themed/twitter reading group.
Please add any themes/ideas you have to our 2014 planning for read watch play page (especially of you can't make the meeting).

Afternoon of the meeting will include the following areas:
Ebooks and materials advisory - standing item
How is your library using the themes for the twitter reading group? - standing item
Hootesuite for your tweets and facebook (plus discussion of facebook account for reading group)
23 mobile things. What is this? How can it work for RA in your library?
Around the room what we are reading - standing item
Date and venue for next meeting

Don't forget to go back to your workplace and share the ideas from this meeting. Make sure you tell others about it, including your manager.

2014 planning for read watch play

updates — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:46:09 CDT

2014 - Planning and suggestions

We will be deciding the themes for each month for the 2014 twitter reading group at the 20 June meeting at Katoomba. As we know everyone won't be able to be there (anymore than everyone being able to be at previous reading group planning) you can make your suggestions on the wiki, and they will be the starting point for the June discussion. We will continue using the #rwpchat hashtag.

Please put down the areas/themes ideas you would like covered, and any suggested hashtag for the month. If your suggestion is a good fit for a particular month, please say so. If you want to re-use some of the themes from previous years, please say so. Make notes about other people's suggestions (please try not to delete any information).

Please try and suggest themes which will work for children, yound adults and adults, as well as fiction/non-fiction, games and watching.

thanks

Suggestions for 2014 twitter reading group

#placeread - reading where the place is really important, because of description or story elements, would also work with food/recipes as well (could call a food one tastyreads/ or the pot thickens?).
#AsiaPacificread - books about our region of the world that's not our bit.
#technoread - books that highlight technology in the way they tell stories eg use IM, text message, twitter, powerpoint
#spaceread / #NASAread - not just sci-fi, but where the action takes place in space (nice link to games like Halo, etc) or is about space exploration etc
#goldenread - where main characters (books movies) are older or dealing with ageing, Could include off line versions of app games? e.g.
#Fangread - Vampire and werewolves- could involve fiction/non-fiction animal stories and even at a stretch some cooking (as eat with fangs)
#Fairyread - (flutterreads) Urban fantasy
#urbanread - combining urban fantasy and stories/histories of towns and cities
#Apocaread - End of world/civilisation stories
#Deadread - Vampires, zombies or books that feature death or narrators who are dead.
#StepoutRead - Reading something from a genre we have never read...
#RoadRead - books we "read" while driving!!
#Issuesread - books/articles etc that focus on a issue
#escaperead - literally or figuratively
#foodread or #munchread - eating, cooking, novels with eating and drinking, histories of food - and even titles like Douglas Adams with the Restaurant at the end of the universe
#classicread - building on from the current surge of movies from the classics - and what is 'classic' for different readers, watchers, players
#funread - something that made you smile or laught out loud
#WW100read - commemorating 100 years since WW1 in books, films, games
#redread - what makes you see red - passion, anger, red foods, red clothing, gory games/films (as a possible substitute for February), any book with red on the cover
#geekread - science fiction, science, anything geeky, Wil Wheaton
#scaryread - horror, natural disasters, frightening recipe books, scary biographies, scary books for children
#happyread - reading which makes you happy
#beardread - (not books about dreading bears but they could be included), but as a change from #moread still could be November, but focus on even more hirsuite authors and characters

added from threads

"I think this years themes are fantastic. I was just having another look through and was impressed by the diversity.
A few things I thought could be added

- A theme that focuses on place and setting, perhaps a specific location
- Seen the film? Read the book vice versa
- Read a recommended book/ swap with a friend/ read what your parents read/ what you read when you were a child
- Short read – we have so many short story collections in the library it would be cool to shine a light on them "

#bioread - biographies
#redread - murder/mysteries
#reelread - books into movies
#emoread - tearjerkers
#classicread - revisit the classics
#myread - sharing favourites
#aussieread - Australiana
#retroread - books with historical settings

maybe revisit

#moread

Home

helenc01 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:09:20 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Doorways or appeal charactertistics

CatyJ — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:13:31 CDT

Knowing that a person reads a particular author or genre does not give you the information about why they enjoy reading them. The why is important as the why opens up possibilities for other reading referrals, and for increasing the satisfaction of the reader with your selection for them. For example someone may like to read crime writing and they read it because they enjoy the detectives and their personalities (or the criminals and their personalities), or they read for how the language is used, or the descriptions of the locations of the crimes, or the actual story of the process of trying to solve the crime. They also might like reading about murders which are not described in graphic detail, or only ones with every last blood splatter carefully described.

Appeal characteristics are simply what makes the book, film, game or recording appeal to the reader, watcher, player or listener. It is the hook which draws people into the work, and which keeps them engaged. There are numerous ways of interpreting this, but the focus here is on the appeal characteristics suggested by Nancy Pearl.

Nancy Pearl divides appeal characteristics into four categories which she calls doorways as they are 'the doorways into the book'. They are character, language, setting and story. Just because someone is drawn to read something because of the characters does not necessarily mean they will have no interest in the language, setting and story of the work, and vice-versa. They may be interested in them or they may not. For some works each doorway will be equally strong, but for most one doorway will predominate.

Character
Language
Setting
Story

During the 2010 RA seminar: Murder in the Metcalfe we briefly discussed the difference between Genre as the structure of a book and Doorway as the effect of reading a book. What do you think?

2013 - Planning and suggestions

updates — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:47:36 CDT

We will be planning the 2013 twitter reading group at the 19 June meeting at Wagga. As we know everyone won't be able to be there (anymore than everyone being able to be at Manly or Bowral for previous twitter reading group planning) you can make your suggestions on the wiki, and they will be the starting point for the June discussion.

Please put down the areas/themes ideas you would like covered, and any suggested hashtag for the month. If your suggestion is a good fit for a particular month, please say so. If you want to re-use some of the themes from 2011, or 2012 again, please say so. Make notes about other people's suggestions (please try not to delete any information).

thanks

Suggestions for 2013 twitter reading group

Moreads- this is from 2011 and it seemed to work really well
fur reads (would capture the cat mystery novels, shapeshifters, some of the urban fantast/paranormal as well as books about animals?) - note idea needs work
places - reading where the place is really important, because of description or story elements, would also work with food/recipes as well (could call a food one tastyreads/ or the pot thickens?)
disability - November 2013 the Disability Discrimination Act is 21. Lets celebrate its maturity. What does it mean to be disabled in the 21st century?
Bank on it! - books about money, making it losing it, history of.
AsiaPacific - books about our region of the world that's not our bit.
Them's fightin' words? - books about the military, police forces, militia, etc
Indigiread - books about, by and from indigenous sources.
Bromance - books about male relationships of all forms, platonic, business, family, pixelated bits, westerns
Graphic - graphic novels and books that use visual elements
Egoreads - from 2011, biographies, autobiographies, semi autobiographical
2013 is international year of water cooperation - what about #wetreads books about water, set on near or under water, characters who don't drink water
#activereads - books about sport
#technoreads - books that highlight technology in the way they tell stories eg use IM, text message, twitter, powerpoint
#blogreads - reading blogs, blogs about reading, blogs that we follow, blogs we want otehrs to follow.
#magreads - Australia is one of the highest per capita readers of magazines, what magazines have you read this month, what stories/articles have engaged you, what do you get out of magazine reading?
Art reads - books about works of art, artists and all things related #brushstrokes?
Abroad - Experiencing new places without the safety of home - International reads (connection to AsiaPacific might be to big also connect to 2011 june Go reads)
Zen reads: For reads that bring you inner peace (not religious or highbrow)
Books - Books about books - Meta
Far Far Away - Once upon a time a month were dedicated to fairytales - old and modern... What makes a book fairytale to you?
Break ups - It's not you... It's me - Books about ending of relationships
Music - Books about music or what soundtrack would fit this book
Comics and Manga
Seniority - books with elderly central characters

Read your way around the world

updates — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:31:34 CDT

2013 RA seminar - Read Your Way Around the World Theme: Travel Writing and World writing #ra201310.00 Welcome to the State Library of NSW.

Tweets for the day, via Grabchat, SearchHash (please scroll to the end of the page to look at the attachments).

10.10 Travel Writing Panel:
Lance Richardson: Travel Writer, Sydney Morning Herald @lancerichardson
Michael Taylor: Photographer for Lonely planet and Getty images
Dominic Dunne: Author of “Adventures of a compulsive traveller”

10.50 Australian Fiction - Melanie Mutch, Warringah Library and Therese Scott, Ashfield Library @theresescott1

11.25 Read Watch Play - Tweeting about reading around the world. http://readwatchplay.wordpress.com/ Jenn Martin, Auburn Library @wateryone

11.45 10 slides in 5 minutes
1.Celebrating Walcha Historical Society 50th year - Donna Garred Walcha Library
2.Travelling book project for NYR2012 - Suzanne Micallef Parramatta Library

3.Club Celluloid - Amy Heap Riverina Regional Library @amyheap and Jessica Brown Wagga City Library

4.Travel podcasts/blogging - Jenn Martin Auburn Library @wateryone

5. The 200 year journey from Pride and Prejudice to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries - Vassiliki Veros @vaveros

12.15-12.30pm Pinterest and Rebelmouse for Readers Advisory - Amy Heap, Wagga Wagga Library @amyheap

and Ellen Forsyth, State Library of NSW @ellenforsyth Rebelmouse presentation

Lunch 12:30 to 1:10 - Macquarie Room
Reading maps (you can see the maps at this link, and read the titles by scrolling down the page and click on attachments - this will take you to another page)

1:10 Multicultural Readers Advisory Oriana Acevedo, State Library of NSW

1.25 Walter Mason - travel writer and speaker with a special interest in spirituality @walterm

2.00 Allyx Lathrope and Helene Byfield from Kinokuniya @KinokuniyaAust

2:50 Beth Yahp is an award-winning author, editor and creative writing teacher of adults and children. She has published short fiction and travel/ memoir feature articles in Australia, South-east Asia and Europe.

This seminar was presented by the NSW Readers Advisory Working Group

2012

updates — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:45:52 CDT

Collection health 2012

National year of reading

Previous events & activities

updates — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:45:00 CDT

Pages relating to previous events and activities have been moved here and sorted by the relevant year.

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Collection health 2012

updates — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:43:18 CDT

The Public Libraries Stock Quality Health Check (SQHC) is a practical tool which enables public libraries to undertake an assessment of the relevance, depth and range of collection stock in relation to the communities they service. More information about this project is available from here.

For the second phase of this project we need to identify 500 children’s and young adult fiction titles which together are indicative of a healthy collection. This is not a shopping list of titles, but an indicative list. There will be a very broad range of titles in this list from the very popular to the very literary. It will range from picture books to young adult novels, and will include formats such as graphic novels as well. This will provide a snapshot of your collection. It is planned to revisit this list in a few years time.

Your help is requested for compiling this list.

Have a look at the pages which are linked below and suggest titles and authors for consideration for this list of 500 titles. Look at who is there already, and add your suggestions. Keep in mind that the aim of the final list is to produce a list of 500 titles which are indicative of a healthy collection and cover the range from picture books, graphic novels, and other formats
.
We have not included authors who do not specifically write for young adults, although they may be read by young adults, which is why there are no Stephen King books on this list.

Some of the categories will lean more towards pictures books and junior fiction, for example animals. The paranormal list will be much more weighted towards young adult readers. The aim is for balance across the 500 titles not within each list.

The hundreds and hundreds of titles suggested will be whittled down to 500 titles (clustered in categories) at a meeting in July (date yet to be confirmed).

The aim is to have each title only mentioned once in the list (but it will be the job of the project team to sort this out). At present the project team needs help with suggestions. Please add your suggested authors and titles to the wiki in dark blue. Do not delete or edit (unless to correct spelling) the work of others as we need as many suggestions as possible so that the final list is indicative and robust.

Are there other categories which should be included?
Can some of these be collapsed together?
What titles do you think are missing from these lists? Please add these in.
Is the title in the right category? Please note next to it the list you think it better fits.
The series list is missing titles, please add in the titles you think are most representative of each series.
Does the whole potential list cover a representative range of readers in the birth to teenage age groups?

Please add these ideas and comments and the associated suggested titles on the page set aside for this.

The follow list shows the draft categories and the early suggests for inclusion in each category.

Adventure
Animals
Australian
Australian classics
Classics and modern classics
Family
Fantasy and magic
First experiences
Friendship
Historical
Humour
Indigenous
Paranormal
Realism?
Romance
Science fiction
Series
Sport
War and conflict
Suggestions for other categories

2012 National Year of Reading

updates — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:42:32 CDT

2012 has been designated the National year of reading in Australia.

You can start noting your ideas on the page especially for ideas for 2012.

And don't forget to join the love2read2012 twitter reading group.

Seminars

updates — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:03:24 CST

Every year the NSW Readers' Advisory committee, with the support of the SLNSW, organises a seminar to bring resources, information and tools to public library staff. The events are held at the SLNSW and attract over 100 people each year.

Keep watching this space for information about next year's seminar. The date is 6 March 2013, more information will be available closer to the date.

Previous Seminars:

Each of these contain links to information presented at the seminar.

Read your way around the world 6 March 2013

History in the Dixson, 7 March 2012

Dragons in the Metcalfe, 9 March 2011

Murder in the Metcalfe, 23 March 2010

Reality check: non-fiction readers advisory work, 3 March 2009

Romancing Your Readers, State Library of NSW, 4th March 2008

Read watch play

updates — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:21:33 CST

The twitter/themed reading group is called Read watch play. Please promote the blog directly to your community. Ideas for how you can do this at your library will be added to this page.

Here are the links to both our presentation and the full paper for the Twitter Reading Group, Best Practice for Library Programming Collaboration.

Twitter Reading Group
Best Practice for Library Programing Collaboration, presented at
Imagine the world
Public Libraries NSW Conference
24-26 July 2012

Twitter Reading Group 2012
Best practice paper for Library Programming Collaboration
Imagine the world
Public Libraries NSW Conference
24-26 July 2012

Really easy ways to promote this reading group to your community
If your library has a twitter account you can set up tweets for the rest of the year to promote this. Using a tool like Hootsuite you can write tweets and then select the time when the tweet goes live.

For each month use the relevent link from the themes page, use some catchy wording to tell the twitter followers of your library about the theme for the month, include the link to the description for each month (from the themes page), add the hashtag for the discussion #rwpchat, and the tag for the month as well (available from each of the month theme pages). You can set all of this up for the rest of the year, today.

For example the tweet for the first of the month could be something like "the theme for the twitter reading group this month is #[insert relevant hashtage here] #rwpchat [include link to relevant month http://readwatchplay.wordpress.com/monthly-themes/]"

An example tweet for the last Tuesday of the month could be "join us tonight to discuss your #[insert relevant hashtage here] #rwpchat [include link to relevant month http://readwatchplay.wordpress.com/monthly-themes/]"

Each library really only has to do two tweets a month, one to go live on the first of the month and one for the last Tuesday of the month.

Using your library twitter account, follow the @readwatchplay twitter account.

You can use Hootsuite to preset Facebook posts using the themes in the same way you can preset tweets. You could set up the tweets and facebook posts for the rest of the year in less than 30 minutes.

If your library has a blog you can use the information from the theme pages to write your own posts.

If your library has a Pinterest page, you can follow the Readwatchplay pinterest account, and promote it you your community.

Comics in the Library

eleisamonique — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:54:04 CDT

Do you have a graphic novel/comic collection in your Library, or would you like to introduce graphic novels to your library? Are you looking for new ways to promote your graphic novel collection? Dr Matt Finch and Kings Comics presented "Comics in the Library" offering some great suggestions of activities, events and why graphic novels/comics are valid, fun and indeed, an integral part of your Library collection.
This presentation was held at Penrith Library, 11th October, 2012.

Matt Finch, described in his own words, is an community outreach consultant with expertise in finding and shaping narratives for staff, stakeholders and the wider public. He is also a storyteller and leader of workshops to inspire readers and writers across the ages from four years old to forty. He teaches comic workshops to teens who would like to make their own manga.

His presentation covered a wide range of information pertaining to comics and graphic novels. He actively encouraged Libraries that don’t already keep a collection of graphic novels, to consider this format for inclusion. Here's why:

Graphic novels, or comics, are a valid form of reading, attracting a different demographic of reader.
It is a format that can encourage reluctant readers to read something.
The medium of comics range from the very simple cartoons to sophisticated adult comics, covering a wide range of subjects and themes.
Comics are often associated with the teenage boy market, but comics are for girls as well. Try Queen and Country by Greg Rucka with various illustrators.
Comics are different from conventional literacy using both words and images. They have drawings and speech bubbles. You think differently when presented with this format.

The diversity and influence of comics and graphic novels was illustrated by these examples:

Snoopy. Everyone knows this icon character from the peanuts cartoon. He never speaks, yet manages to convey a wealth of information to readers- the point being that a character doesn’t need words to be literate.
Preparedness 101 Zombie pandemic. Don’t panic, its not imminent! This was a promotion dreamed up by the US Centre for Disease Control, assist Americans to prepare for real life endemics. It certainly got their attention, with the CDC issuing a statement refuting the existence of zombies.
Comixology. Digital comics online. Comics are still easier to read in comic book from , rather that online.
Little Golden Books have Marvel Little Golden book Favourites, featuring The Mighty Avengers/The invincible Iron man/The Amazing Spiderman.
Movies inspired by comics, including Judge Dredd, Batman and Tamara Drewe.
Unusual comics: Bedroom Farce by Alison Bechdel.
Nick Sousanis is currently undertaking his PhD. written in comic book form.
Ubby’s Underdogs Australia's first Indigenous graphic novel, by Brenton E McKenna.
Commando comics
Guy Delise’s Pyongang, A journey in North Korea is described in this review as an “anticommunist manifesto”. Check out the book trailer.
Blankets an autobiographical graphic novel / Coming of age memoir by Craig Thompson.
Pop culture: Angry birds, which uses a comical style of stylized wingless birds, is an immensely popular and addictive game.
Colleges are using Comics to assist in learning.
Fresh Comics from Alfriston College
Comic book month at Auckland Library Service
Gotham Comics started by Gary Bishop (an ex-librarian), runs workshops, and publish comics.

To introduce or raise the profile of graphic novels in the library, Matt Finch presented some interesting and effective ideas he has used that could be implemented in the Library at low cost.

Comic workshop activities you can conduct in your library:
Teens are familiar with and enjoy online games. Adapting these to activities in the library may be appealing. This may also offer the participants the opportunity to try activities and new things that they may have a particular talent for, and may not discover any other way, including writing, cartooning, drawing and acting.

Try adapting Fruit Ninja, by adapting this to be a physical activity.
Adapt Angry Birds challenge to be a physical version of the game- get participants to act it out. Other games that can be adapted include Farmville, Plague inc, Dragon game- on facebook.
Try drawing fantasy creatures and showing books on this topic from your Library collection.
Tangled tales: A game called “cut the rope” can be found on Youtube, (just google it) that you may like to copy.

A fun activity that was undertaken by particpants in the presentation was Playing Panel Lottery.

Activity One
Playing Panel Lottery
Three characters, a penguin, a tall person in a stripey shirt, and a short person with a “x “on their chest were presented as cartoon images on the screen.
Each person is to draw one cartoon panel (consisting of three panels) from a greater story they have thought up, using the three characters.
Groups of 5-6 people then grouped together, and created a story using everyone's cartoon panels.
The groups then take turns to present their cartoon stories.
A variation on this is blue tacking the images to the wall, and just reading these in any order you like to create your own story. Maybe encouraging people to share their interpretations.
This activity is cost effective, as all you need is paper, pencils and your imagination.
Aimed at teens, this allows young people who are interested in this medium a way of expressing themselves by creating and interacting. They may discover a talent they didn’t know they had.

Activity Two
Great for Halloween, can be adapted for different themes.
Start with a darkened room, with tunnels made from tables, or tubes of some sort, allowing the participants to crawl through tunnels to emerge at different spots in the room where props have been set up. The props can be related to a theme. They may be pictures or objects. At each prop, participants are encouraged to tell stories inspired by the props.
At the end, after all props have been discussed, the group are set the task of writing a story.

Activity Three
A Basic Comic Workshop (Based on a Zombie Siege theme, can use other themes).

Setting: a darkened room with Zombie themed books scattered around. Two librarians dressed up as Zombies. Take the participants into the darkened room, and ‘barricade’ them in. The two librarians pretend to be Zombies trying to get into the room, as there has been a Zombie apocalypse. After this, a writing workshop could be held, with the theme “How to escape a zombie apocalypse”.

Kings Comics
Stephen, the Library Liason from Kings comics, came along to the meeting to offer some assistance with the management and promotion of Library graphic novel collections.

Comics, and popular culture are crossing over concepts, with comics being adapted to gaming, movies, and television. A lot of comics are aimed at the male reader, with a 60% male, 40% female audience. The audience age is primarily between 18-40 years. The rise in Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror have affected this, with the creation of comics such as “The walking dead” ( A post apolyptic zombie series, also a television series). this is because more females watch horror movies.

There are a wide range of genres of comics/graphic novels. Consider which genres would be best for your borrowers. Genres include:
Superhero
Horror
Fantasy/Supernatural
Historical
Game related
Crime
Sci Fi
War
Media related tie ins
Young Adult
Post apocalyptic
Alternate realities
Cartoon and strips
Comedy
Adaptations
Social Issues
Autobiographical
Manga
Independant

Suggested Comics for younger readers
The Simpsons
Sonic
Young Justice
Batman Strikes
Xelda-a video game
Star Wars
Digests: smaller books, less pages, a popular example being Archie.

In selecting graphic novels and comics to keep in your collection, look for particular well-known/popular writers and artists. Examples:
Alan Moore: The fortyniners, Neonomicon, Promethea. a league of extraordinary gentlemen.
Robert Kirkman: The walking dead, Super dinosaur, Marvel Zombies, Marvel with Ultimate X-men, Thief of thieves.
J. Michael Straczynski: Babylon 5, Amazing Spiderman, Rising stars, Dr Manhattan.

Graphic Novels and crossover into other formats.
Reading of graphic novel versions of books can encourage crossover to the original text only version of these books. Stephen King’s Graphic Novel series, include The stand and Dark tower stories. Orson Scott Card ‘s Enders game has also been adapted into graphic novels. other formats that encourage crossover include movies, video games and gaming.

Movies:
Often movies have been made of comic books. Examples include: Comic: Batman, Knightfall- the movie: The dark Knight rises. Watching the movie may encourage the customer to want to read the graphic novel/comic, which may lead to other reading experiences.

Video games/Gaming:

Both graphic novels and games are primarily based on visual storytelling. Both have introduced colourful characters into mainstream. Both have also been accused of being pointless entertainment and harmful influences. They are both successful fixtures in pop culture, and a major influence to both film and television. A customer may be familiar with a video game, which may spark an interest in reading the graphic novel version.
Gaming graphic novels(tie- ins) add to the gaming content and are integral to building the game universe for players. They can be considered a storyboard for the game, an example being Halo.

Free Comic book day
Held each year on the first Saturday in May. Kings Comics participates in this, giving away free comic books to customers. The major publishers tie in their comic book releases to tie in with movie releases.
Kings Comics are happy to work with Libraries, assisting them with the promotion of comic books in the Library, holding workshops or events, and/ or advising them of suitable items to include in a Library collection.
An example is a children's cartooning workshop. At the end of the workshop, a competition was run to select the best cartoon. Add to this with children dressing up as favourite cartoon characters and trying to attract media coverage.
A Graphic Novel expo could be held, where Library customers are invited to look at a selection of Graphic novels (brought along by King’s comics), and placing post it notes in the books they would like added to the collection. This showcases graphic novels and lets the customers who want to borrow them, have a say in their selection. This should result in more borrowings of the collection.

Useful Links
Diamond Comics Great place to find previews, and there is a section designed for Libraries to assist in the set up of a Graphic Novel collection.
Australian Cartoonists association keep up to date with the latest news.
Kings comics Contact Kings comics for help in setting up a graphic novel collection in your Library. Check out the latest news in the comic book world, and find new material for your collection.

NSW Readers' Advisory Working Group

eleisamonique — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:03:50 CDT

This working group comprises New South Wales public librarians who provide readers advisory services in their libraries.

Mission Statement
Promoting enjoyment of reading and our library collections

Minutes from previous meetings
Please see Attachments at the bottom of this page.

Readers' Advisory Steering Committee
Jenn Martin - Auburn Library Service
Cathy Johnston - Coffs Harbour City Library & Information Service
Vassiliki Veros-Elliott
Helen Cowen - Wingecarribee Library Service
Amy Heap - Wagga Wagga Library
Therese Scott -Ashfield Library
Monique Akauola-Sutherland Library
Ellen Forsyth - State Library of NSW

ALIAread is an e-list for people who wish to discuss readers advisory services in public libraries. This is list is open to anyone who wishes to participate in a discussion about readers advisory services. To join ALIAread click here

NSW Readers Advisory Blog is a new blog for all NSW Public Library Staff with an interest in Readers Advisory. Visit the blog here. If you would like to contribute to the blog, please comment on the blog using your google account with 1) your name and 2) the public library you work for and we will send you an invitation to join the blog.

NSW Readers Advisory Forum. As well as contributing to book lists and knowledge about book groups and authors events etc here on the wiki, NSW Public Library Staff can also contribute to discussion about Readers Advisory at the new NSW Reference and Information Service Group Forum. Readers Advisory is the second to last topic on the main page, right under Library 2.0!

War and conflict

updates — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:20:51 CDT

What other authors and titles would you suggest for this category - please add your ideas in blue.

For this project we need to identify 500 children’s and young adult fiction titles which together are indicative of a healthy fiction collection. This is not a shopping list of titles, but an indicative list. There will be a very broad range of titles in this list from the very popular to the very literary. Find out more about the project here.

Please add your suggested authors and titles to the wiki in dark blue. Do not delete or edit (unless to correct spelling) the work of others as we need as many suggestions as possible so that the final list is indicative and robust.

A rose for the ANZAC boys by Jackie French
Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
Litte brother by Alan Ballie
Memorial by Gary Crew
My granddad marches on ANZAC Day by Catriona Hoy
MAUS by Art Spiegelman
Pavanna by Deborah Ellis
No guns for Asmir by Christobel Mattingly
Rabbits by John Marsden
Refugee by David Miller
My dog by John Heffernan
Grimsdon by Deborah Abela
The arrival by Shaun Tan
Once, Then and Now by Morris Gleitzman
Tomorrow series by John Marsden - Tomorrow when the war began
The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
The Boy in Striped Pajamas - John Boyne
The Henderson Boys by Robert Muchamore
Potato music - Christina Booth
Tomorrow when the war began - John Marsden
Jacko Moran, sniper - Ken Catran
Diary of a young girl - Anne Frank (not fiction but a collection must have)
Midnight zoo - Sonya Hartnett
Boy overboard - Morris Gleitzman (also sport)
Diary of a young girl by Anne Frank
The One that got away by Chris Ryan
Hitler's daughter by Jackie French
War's end by Victoria Bowen
The Book thief by Marcus Zusak
Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 - Joe Sacco (gn)
Palestine - Joe Sacco (gn)
Footnotes in Gaza - Joe Sacco (gn)
Notes for a War Story - Gipi (gn)
In Flanders fields - Norman Jorgenson & Brian Harrison
The Staircase cat - Colin Thompson & Anna Pignataro
The prisoner - Robert Muchamore (Henderson's Boys)
A Day to Remember - Jackie French ; Mark Wilson.
My grandad marches on ANZAC Day - Catriona Hoy.
The refugee - David Miller
A journey -
The Island - Armin Greder
The navigator - Eoin McNamee
The little refugee - Anh Do ; Suzanne Do
Life: an exploded diagram - Mal Peet.
The spies of Gerander - Frances Watts
The grumpy little king - Michael Streich
Home and away - John Marsden

Sport

updates — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:15:24 CDT

Specky McGee by Felice Arena (AFL)
Fighting Ruben Wolf by Marcus Zusak
Western wildcats by John Larkin
How did Tyrannosaurus Rex plays table tennis by
Marngrook by Titta Secombe (AFL/indigenous)
Grandma loves the All Blacks by
A big ball of string by
The deep end by Ursula Dubosarsky
Nips go national - Ruth Starke (cricket)
Boyz Rule (several titles) Felice Arena & Phil Kettle
Mascot madness - Andy Griffiths
Little lunch games - Danny Katz
Power of one - Bryce Courtenay (young reader edition) (boxing)
The Undys by Michael Wagner
Hover car racer - Matthew Reilly
Whip it /Shauna Cross (also known as 'Derby girl' this could also fall into the life issues catergory).
Queasy rider - James Roy
Bend it like Beckham - Narinder Dhami (soccer)
Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen (AFL)
I hate sport by Prue Storer (all sports)
Starfish sisters by J C Burke (surfing)
Whacked! - Michael Wagner ; illustrator Terry Denton. (Max Rumble)
Cowzat! - Bruce Atherton ; illustrator Ben Redlich.
The striker - Deborah Abela & Johnny Warren. (Jasper Zammit, #2)

Series

updates — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:09:55 CDT

Zac Power by H I Larry (suggest a title for this list)
Geronimo Stilton ((suggest a title for this list)
Rainbow magic by Daisy Meadows (suggest a title for this list)
Elizabeth the jubilee fairy (2012)
Warriors by Erin Hunter (suggest a title for this list)
Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda (suggest a title for this list)
The Three Doors trilogy by Emily Rodda - The Golden Door, The Silver Door (The Wooden Door due 2013)
Rangers apprentice by John Flanagan (suggest a title for this list) - The Ruins of Gorlan; Erak's Ransom
Brotherband Chronicles by John Flanagan (The Outcasts; The Invaders)
The Spook's Apprentice (aka The Last Apprentice or The Wardstone Chronicles) by Joseph Delaney - different versions of the series will have different titles
Cherub by Robert Muchamore - The recruit (#1 in series)
Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz (Stormbreaker)
Conspiracy 365 by Gabrielle Lord (suggest a title for this list) - January
Our Australian girl (suggest a title for this list)
My story (suggest a title for this list)
Nancy Drew (suggest a title for this list)
Hardy Boys (suggest a title for this list)
Max Remy (suggest a title for this list)
Pokemon (suggest a title for this list)
Thomas the tank engine (suggest a title for this list)
Billie B Brown (suggest a title for this list)
Too cool (suggest a title for this list)
Boys rule (suggest a title for this list)
EJ12 (suggest a title for this list)
Goosebumps (suggest a title for this list)
Secret seven (suggest a title for this list)
Famous five (suggest a title for this list)
The naughtiest girl in school by Enid Blyton
The series of unfortunate events by Lemony Snicket
The mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Lady Grace mysteries by Grace Cavendish
Royal Diaries (Various authors)
The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence
'Just' series by Andy Griffiths (Just disgusting, Just Macbeth etc)
'Animal Stars' by Jackie French (#1 The goat who sailed the world)
Horrible Histories by Terry Deary
Selby, Duncan Ball
Pearlie the Park Fairy by Wendy Harmer
39 clues by Patrick Carmen
Captain Underpants by Geoff Pilkey
The railway series - Wilbert Awdry - Thomas the tank engine
The Eddie Dickens - Philip Ardaagh
Animorphs - K.A. Applegate
Spot - Eric Hill - Spot goes to school
Maisy - Lucy Cousins - Maisy goes to the library
The famous Five - Enid Blyton
The Secret Seven - Enid Blyton
Noddy - Enid Blyton
Paddington Bear - Micheal Bond
Spy High - A.J. Butcher

Science fiction

updates — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:07:27 CDT

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
Phantom menace
Mortal engines by Philip Reeve
Jumpman by James Valentine
Hunger games by Susanne Collins
Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody
Eye to eye by Catherine Jinks
The boffin boy and the invaders from space by David Orme
Astro boy (graphic novel)
For the win by Cory Doctorow
Graphic novel suggestions??
Inside Out by Maria V Snyder
Hacked by Mur Lafferty and Ryan Payne
Monster Blood Tattoo by D M Cornish
Worldshaker - Richard Harland
Ship breaker - Paulo Bacigalupi
Juno of Taris - Fleur Beale
Weslandia - Paul Fleischman
Un Lu Dun - China Meiville
Ghost in the Shell - Masamune Shirow (gn)
Y the Last Man - Brian K Vaughan - (gn)
Hardboiled - Frank Miller (gn)
Akira - Katsuhiro Otomo (gn)
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore (gn)
Watchmen - Alan Moore (gn)
Transmetropolitan - Warre Ellis (gn)
Genesis - Bernard Beckett
Originator - Claire Carmichael
History’s a mystery - Dell Brand
The enemy’s lair - Max Chase. (Star Fighters, 3)
Guardian of Earth - Michael Dahl. (Green Lantern)
The gifting - Sophie Masson
Elemental - Steven O’Connor
Alien invaders: Infernox the firestarter - Max Silver. (Alien invaders)
Space Scout: the gas giant - H. Badger ; D. Greulich. (Space Scout)
Mission to Malgor: the junior novel - Lauren Alexander ; Kirk DeMicco. (Space Chimps)
Zac Power -
Guardian of Earth - Michael Dahl. (Super DC Heroes - Green Lantern)

Romance

updates — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:04:31 CDT

Guess how much I love you? By Sam McBratney
About a girl by Joanne Hornaman
Guitar highway rise by Bridget Bowrey
Simple gift by Stephen Herrick
Peter by Sue Walker
Beetle meets destiny by Gabrielle Williams
Angus Thongs and full frontal snogging : Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
Love Story by Jennifer Echols
Lilli-Pilli: The Frog Princess by Vashti Farrer (pb)
The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate by Jo Cowley (pb)
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Love match - Melody James (Signs of Love)
Touch me - James Moloney
Passion - Lauren Kate. (Fallen series)
Graffiti Moom - Cath Crowley
The three loves of Persimmon - Cassandra
All I ever wanted - Vikki Wakefield
The Statistical Probability of love at first sight by Jennifer E Smith
Slice by Steven Herricks
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Unraveled by Gena Showalter
The Girl in the steel corset by Kady Cross
Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

Realism? Life issues?

updates — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:02:27 CDT

Does my head look big in this by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Kill the possum by James Maloney
Don’t pat the wombat by Elizabeth Honey
Nips eleven by Ruth Starke
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Grafitti moon by Cath Crowley
The island by Armond Greder
Mirror by Jeannie Baker
Raw by Scott Monk
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Not like Georgie by Scott Hatcher
Flame Stands Waiting by Corinne Fenton
One Blue Sock by Emily Ballou
Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn
Waiting for Mummy by Tae-Jun Lee
Toppling by Sally Murphy
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Jarvis 24 - David Metzenthen
The Messenger by Marcus Zusak
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuccelli (gn)
Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day - Judith Vrorst & Ray Cruz
All cats have Asperger syndrome - Kathy Hoopman
The short and incredibly happy life of Riley - Colin Thompson & Amy Lissial
I lost my mobile at the mall - Wendy Harmer
Ziba came on a boat - Liz Lofthouse
The party - Carrie Randall. (Dear Diary, #1)
Matilda - Roald Dahl ; Quentin Blake
Now - Morris Gleitzman
The Flying Orchestra - Clare McFadden
The Hunger Games -Suzanne Collins
Lord of the Flies -
About a girl - Joanne Horriman
Piper’s son - Melina Marchetta
Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta
Flyaway
Nat’s bridesmaid blues - Kate Costelloe. (The Breakfast Club, #2)
Knight - Helen Greathead. (Tough Jobs )
The true tale of the monster Billy Dean telt by himself - David Almond
Pan whisper - Sue Lawson
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Henry Hoey Hobson - Christine Bongers.
Pearl verses the world - Sally Murphy ; illustrator Heather Potter.
Sarindi’s dragon kite - Janine M. Fraser ; illustrator Elise Hurst. (Sarindi)
Taller than before - Bernard Ashley.
Fairy Four-Eyes - Penny Matthews ; Emma Quay. (Aussie Bites)
Chantelle’s cloak - Lorraine Marwood ; Jocelyn Bell. (Aussie Nibbles)
The dog stole my brain - Katherine & Mary K. Pershall. (Aussie Chomps)
Eight keys - Suzanne LaFleur
One dog and his boy - Eva Ibbotson
We can be heroes - Catherine Bruton
The ghost of Annabel Spoon - Aaron Blabey.
All I ever wanted - Vikki Wakefield
Stuck - Oliver Jeffers.
Sunday Chutney - Aaron Blabey
Violet Mackerel’s natural habitat - Anna Branford ; Sarah Davis.
A bus called Heaven - Bob Graham.
The carousel - Ursula Dubosarsky ; Walker Di Qual.
Look! A book! - Libby Gleeson ; Freya Blackwood.
Cloud tea monkeys - Mal Peet & Elspeth Graham ; Juan Wijngaard
The red cardigan - J.C. Burke
Starfish sisters - J.C. Burke
The party - Carrie Randall. (Dear Diary, #1)
Matilda - Roald Dahl ; Quentin Blake
Now - Morris Gleitzman
The Flying Orchestra - Clare McFadden
The Hunger Games -Suzanne Collins
Lord of the Flies -
About a girl - Joanne Hoerriman
Piper’s son - Melina Marchetta
Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta
Flyaway -