Secret Shopper

For the Secret Shopper assignment, I asked the new librarian at my CPL branch for a Fantasy recommendation. The book I chose at the beginning of this class is a Patrick Rothfuss title that is 600+ pages long, and while I’m eager to read it eventually, I also wouldn’t mind a shorter option. I told Justin that I was looking for a fantasy novel for a class. I told him it had to be a book for adults and that I have very little experience with the genre. I read the Harry Potter series, but had trouble getting into Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I told him about the Rothfuss book and how I would prefer something shorter. His first question was, “what do you like to read?” He asked what I meant by “fantasy—do you mean dragons and wizards?” I replied that I was open to high fantasy but I wanted the book to be purely fantasy if possible, and not a blend of multiple genres. Thinking about the interaction from Justin’s point of view, it has to be difficult to “respond to the shifting nature of genre itself,” (Wyatt, N., and Saricks, J. G., 2019, p. xvi). No wonder he was trying to triangulate by asking more about what I meant by fantasy.

Justin’s first course of action was to search the Chicago Public Library’s website. He ended up on a list of fantasy books curated by the library. They were all the heavy hitters that I either already read, wasn’t interested in (Lord of the Rings), or were YA/children’s books. “Fantasy has long been a crossover genre, especially with adults reading YA and plenty of middle graders and older teens reading adult titles” (Wyatt, N., and Saricks, J. G., 2019, p. 146). Undeterred, Justin opened up a web browser and typed in “classic fantasy books” or something close to that. The first result was a list by by Penguin Random House, but he was unhappy with the books listed because it was “clear they are just trying to sell their own books.” Ha!

Next, he went to Goodreads. He came across a list of fantasy books that included an Ursula K. LeGuin book called Earthsea. He said “well, this is sometimes considered a children’s or YA book, but it was technically written before YA was considered a genre. Let me check if we have a copy in this branch.” Then he quickly pulled up the CPL website again and quickly found a call number. “Just in case it won’t count because it could be considered a book for children, here’s another idea.” He wrote down Earthsea as well as Mists of Avalon, saying “it doesn’t get more classic fantasy than King Arthur!” I wanted to talk with him more, but after I found the copy of Earthsea I came back to the desk and some little girls had practically dragged him into the children’s area to show off their LEGO creations.

Overall, it was not what I was expecting! I was surprised he used CPL’s website first, though I don’t know why. I was also surprised how hard it was to articulate what I was looking for. It was hard for me to choose a book from a genre I wasn’t familiar with, even presented with lists of options. I was relieved when it seemed like Justin sensed this and kept searching. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed he chose a book for children and an old book—I kind of wanted something new and exciting. However, I didn’t tell him that, so there’s no way he could have known. Justin didn’t ask any questions that tried to uncover my personal “appeal factors” (Vnuk, 2013, para. 1). I also think he could have spent a little longer describing what books were about. I felt like I was choosing on title alone, which might be why I wasn’t initially excited about Mists of Avalon. Once I got home and did a little more research, I learned it is told from women’s perspectives, which made it more appealing to me. 

This assignment led me to empathize with the patron in a way I didn’t anticipate. First of all, it takes a little bit of courage to ask a stranger to recommend you a book. There might be feelings of inadequacy or intimidation when you ask someone what they usually read. Not everyone is good at communicating what they liked or disliked about certain books, especially on the fly or several years after they first read them. I took a lot of comfort from Justin’s tone and demeanor, and it’s what I remember most when I look back on the interaction. When I left the library I felt like I had a good starting point, and the interaction was pleasant enough that I’d definitely ask Justin for help again in the future.

Resources

Wyatt, N., and Saricks, J. G. (2019). The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. (3^rd ed.). Chicago: ALA.

Vnuk, Rebecca. (2013). Jack of All Trades Readers’ Advisory: How to Learn a Little About a Lot. Public Libraries Online. Retrieved from http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/05/jack-of-all-trades-readers-advisory-how-to-learn-a-little-about-a-lot/