One week after she received her master’s in library science, Britt Maine began a new job at the Eagle Public Library in Eagle, Idaho. She manages “all the fun things” such as crafts, story times, and programs for teens.
"We cater to a lot of families, especially with young children, because we are a Family Place Certified Library,” explains Britt, who started work in circulation before moving to the role of programming specialist. “We're the only one in the state of Idaho, so we work on early literacy with a lot of kids from birth to age five.”
Eagle Public Library, located just outside of Boise, is a popular destination. Britt says they see patrons from neighboring towns like Meridian and Boise, who come to the library, “…because they like our board game collection, our puzzles, our little playroom, because of being a Family Place Library. So, we kind of cater to everybody in that sense.”
Providing outstanding service to readers from a variety of communities and backgrounds can be challenging, so Eagle Place Library purchased a subscription to Learn with NoveList so its staff can gain the skills and confidence they need to serve different types of patrons. Britt dove right in and has completed every single course in the extensive catalog!
"It helps me kind of fill gaps from library school, especially with the readers' advisory skills,” says Learn with NoveList superuser Britt. “There were some things that we glazed over really quickly when I was in library school. And it helps me try to have titles in my back pocket if I ever need to have a recommendation ready."
"The readers' advisory prescription from Understanding Your Reader: How to Recommend the Right Book at the Right Time is really helpful. I have it on my computer right now! It's kind of handy to be aware of who your readers are, and who you are as a reader and as a staff member.”
Britt says she loves the wide variety of courses that cover various challenging genres for adults, teens, and tweens, including Horror for Teens and Tweens and Be Genre Confident: How to Recommend Books in the Eight Most Challenging Genres. While she tries to expand her own reading to books outside her comfort zone, Britt knows some readers stick to certain genres, and she wants to be able to help them. The courses, she says, give her lots of titles that she can recommend to people in genres outside of what she normally reads. And recommending books is her favorite part of her job.
“That's what got me into libraries,” Britt remembers. “The teen and youth librarian when I was in middle and high school had a big impact on me, and he would recommend things to us. So, I love being able to make connections with people that way.”
Britt says she tends to gravitate toward recommending new and popular titles. But the Learn with NoveList courses help her realize that backlist titles are a perfect way to keep readers engaged while they wait for their holds to come in. She uses the skills she learns in the courses every day.
"A coworker and I actually had a grandmother come in with her granddaughter who was visiting, and they needed to try to find some books for the granddaughter,” says Britt. “We were able to use the questions we learned in the courses to get more information about what the granddaughter liked to read. We discovered the granddaughter liked books about adventures, so we were able to recommend backlist titles like Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain.”
The Learn with NoveList catalog includes a variety of course formats:
- Quick Lessons, which last less than an hour.
- Focused Sessions, which are about an hour long.
- Comprehensive Courses, which take two hours or more to complete.
The variety of courses makes it easy for Britt to fit coursework into her busy schedule.
“The long form videos are great because I spend a lot of time at my desk crafting, trying to figure out program ideas,” says Britt. “The courses with more reading and the quizzes are nice because I can do lessons one chunk at a time. I can always go back, and it'll be exactly where I left off.”
As we mentioned, Britt has completed every course in the catalog... and she sometimes takes courses two or more times to make sure the concepts really stick.
“I'm working my way through the readers' advisory course again,” shares Britt. “I'm still learning new things that I didn't pick up the first time!”
Angela Hursh is Manager of Library Engagement, Marketing, and Professional Development for NoveList. She is currently reading You Like It Darker by Stephen King.
