Quick Summary:
- One library assistant used her readers' advisory skills to create budget-friendly personalized book gifts for her family.
- There are creative ways to match books to readers using genre, format, and story elements.
- Thoughtful book recommendations can strengthen family bonds and spark a love of reading.
Like most people who work in a library, Ren Ford is a resourceful person.
Ren works at the San Antonio Public Library as a library assistant while pursuing her master’s in library science. The library was a haven for her as a child.
"When I was in middle school, I had a lot of anxiety,” remembers Ren. “Being in the main cafeteria stressed me out. Luckily, the librarian there would be fine with me coming in during lunch and just relaxing in that third place, which was something that I hold very dear to my heart."
"In college, I volunteered at the library before I even knew that library science was a thing, but I just had such a great time getting to expand my horizons. Libraries have always been important to me. “
Ren loves her job at the library. One of her favorite parts of the job is matching readers to books. Last holiday season, Ren put her library skills to a new use, creating unique gifts for her family members.
"I was a little short on money, and I decided that I wanted to still make some presents for my cousins and brothers,” explains Ren. “We are really close. They all live in town and attend high school. At the time, my class was Recommending Books for Youth. And so that was something that I was working on hard at the time, and so I wanted to give them some recommendations to find more books that they liked.”
Ren knows that all readers want different things from books. Two of her family members were avid readers. Two were reluctant readers, and Ren says the last one would read pretty much any book handed to them! So, she came up with a plan to serve all five readers’ books that were suited to their individual wants and needs.
“I made a form for them to fill out,” explains Ren. “It included questions about what interests they have, what genres they like to read, their format preferences, and whether they like long or short books, and tropes. I also asked if there were any books that they know they like, any movies they like, and I encouraged them to explain why they like those books and movies.”
Once she had all the forms, Ren turned to NoveList Plus to help her find the perfect books for each giftee. She’d already been using NoveList Plus for years, even before she worked in a library, to find books for herself!
"For instance, one of my cousins told me that his favorite book is The Giver by Lois Lowry,” says Ren. “So, I looked that up, and it gave me a lot of information and read-a-likes. It helped me to understand that he really liked complex stories."
"Several of my family members really enjoy superheroes. And so, I looked up one book with superheroes, then combined all the story element tags that matched their particular interests, which was fun!”
“One of my cousins, who's an avid reader, really likes romance books, which is something I'm not at all. I was very much out of my depth in these recommendations, but she'd mentioned she loved To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. She was also a really big fan of enemies-to-lovers, which is a fun little trope tag that I found. That led me to the book I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang, which she's really been enjoying.”
Ren used the Story Elements tags to find books for one of her brothers, a reluctant reader who likes shorter stories, and a second brother who likes dinosaurs.
“I had such a great time going through all these lists and being able to give those to my family. They were very delighted to receive those personalized presents. I don't know if I'd be able to do without NoveList Plus.”
“I had such a great time going through all these lists and being able to give those to my family. They were very delighted to receive those personalized presents. I don't know if I'd be able to do without NoveList Plus.”
“I'd gotten them all silly cards that I knew that they would appreciate. And I printed out specially made QR codes that led to their personalized list. I'd checked out one book on each of their lists and wrapped it up. I knew they were on the holiday break, so they could start reading.”
“About two weeks later, I sent out a message asking if they’d returned the books yet, because they were on my library card. “One of my cousins said, ‘No, I still need this book!’ He ended up doing a book report on it because he loved it so much."
We turned some of Ren's book pics into a flyer you can use at your library! Download it here.
Ren has used NoveList Plus to find books for other members of her family, including her mother, who listened to the audiobook of The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.
"I pulled up Novelist Plus,” explains Ren. “I sent her a screenshot of all the tags that were available and asked her to pick the ones that were interesting to her."
"She loves audiobooks with full cast narration or multiple narrators in similar genres. I ended up giving her about 10 recommendations. Even though I don't really listen to audiobooks myself, I just love that there are tools like NoveList Plus that I can use to help people who do!”
Ren’s story is a beautiful reminder that the heart of librarianship lies in connection — not just between readers and books, but between people. Whether you're helping a patron at the desk or wrapping a book for a loved one this season, matching the right story to the right reader is a gift that lasts far beyond the holidays.
