Secret Shopper

When I approached the information desk as a secret shopper, I started the conversation by asking for a good book and saying that I was hoping for a recommendation. I did this even though I wanted to approach it more specifically because it seemed like it would be important to see how others handle this question that is indistinct but common.

The librarian paused for a moment and I attempted to fill the silence by saying that I usually read Sci-fi and Fantasy, but I wanted to try something different. I thought this would show her that I was open to whatever she wanted to share, but it got the conversation off to an awkward start. After hedging that she didn't read the same kind of books and wasn't sure what would be different that I might like, she showed me some printed genre book lists.

Then, she showed me Novelist and Literature-map.com. This process gave us a chance to have a more comfortable conversation. She shared that she reads historical fiction and I told her that I might be interested in that.

In the end, the process was successful. The recommendation that I felt was a good fit was Kate Morton's The Lake House. It's a historical fiction book set in England that mentions fairies in local lore. I enjoy magical realism and many things British. From this interaction, I learned that literature-map.com is a pretty accurate tool. I hadn't yet used it for an author I liked until she and I used it together. I also saw that it is important for the person giving RA recommendations not to rush to an answer. Also, it isn't helpful to emphasize that our tastes are different. I am guilty of doing this because I'm self-conscious that the patron might judge my tastes or that they'll think my answers are "wrong." I see now that if we use the tools and RA questions thoughtfully, we can still be successful even if we don't have the same tastes.