Tag: readers’ advisory

161: Grady Hendrix and Becky Spratford

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Steve chats with bestselling horror author Grady Hendrix and Readers’ Advisory Specialist Becky Spratford about how Grady grew up with libraries, the legitimacy of genre fiction, lessons learned from Stephen King, and the Summer Scares program.

Grady Hendrix is a best selling author whose novels include Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism – which he describes as “basically Beaches meets The Exorcist” — and most recently, We Sold Our Souls. He’s also the author of the Bram Stoker Award winning, Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the horror paperback boom of the ’70s and ’80s, and Mohawk, a horror movie about the War of 1812.

Becky Spratford is a Readers’ Advisory Specialist in northern, IL. She trains library workers all over the world on how to help leisure readers in the public library. Becky runs the popular and critically acclaimed RA training site RA for All and its evil twin, RA for All: Horror. She is a regular contributor to Booklist, EBSCO’s NoveList database, and Library Journal. Becky is the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd edition [ALA Editions, 2012] and is currently at work on the 3rd Edition. She is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, whose membership recently elected her Secretary. You can connect with Becky on Twitter @RAforAll.

SHOW NOTES:

Summer Scares FAQ / Resource List
Ladies of the Fright

This episode of Circulating Ideas is brought to you with support from Mometrix. Through their eLibrary portal, Mometrix offers study guides and practice questions for over 1800 different exams covering college entrance, graduate school, nursing, medical, teacher certification, civil service, and many other careers or fields of study, all fully customizable and at a fraction of the cost of printed books. It’s like having an entire library of test prep materials…. all at your fingertips. So, save space, save paper, and save money; with Mometrix eLibrary. To learn more, visit GOeLibrary.com and use promo code PODCAST to get a free demo and save 10% on your first purchase.

146: Danielle Borasky

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Steve chats with Danielle Borasky, Vice President of NoveList, about her path to librarianship, the differences between working at a vendor vs. working in a library, the importance of books and reading, and some powerful features in NoveList.

DanielleBorasky_headshot

As Vice President of NoveList, Danielle Borasky leads a team working to help readers find their next favorite book. For the last 20 years, NoveList has developed innovative solutions for connecting readers, books, and libraries. Prior to her current role, Danielle was the Director of Sales & Marketing for NoveList. And before NoveList, she worked in several different kinds of libraries including public, academic, and special libraries. Even though she has worked in many different settings, she always feels most at home when browsing the stacks with a pile of books in hand.

This episode of Circulating Ideas is brought to you with support from Mometrix. Through their eLibrary portal, Mometrix offers study guides and practice questions for over 1800 different exams covering college entrance, graduate school, nursing, medical, teacher certification, civil service, and many other careers or fields of study, all fully customizable and at a fraction of the cost of printed books. It’s like having an entire library of test prep materials…. all at your fingertips. So, save space, save paper, and save money; with Mometrix eLibrary. To learn more, visit GOeLibrary.com and use promo code PODCAST to get a free demo and save 10% on your first purchase.

120: Becky Spratford

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Steve chats with Becky Spratford, creator of RA for All and RA for All: Horror, about getting respect for reviews of genre titles, her upcoming work in IndiePicks magazine, and how to do readers’ advisory in genres you don’t personally enjoy or understand (also, Carrie vs. Pennywise??).

DSC_4825. BeckySpratford. HighRES. BobBriskeyPhoto. 708.829.4490

Becky Spratford is a Readers’ Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up.  She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the popular and critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All and it’s evil twin RA for All: Horror and is on the Steering Committee of the Adult Reading Round Table. She is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database and writes reviews for Booklist and IndiePicks Magazine. Becky is also known for her work with horror readers as the author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Second Edition [ALA Editions, 2012] and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association who honored her as a special guest of honor at StokerCon 2017 for her contribution to the genre. You can follow Becky on Twitter @RAforAll.

SHOW NOTES:

The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror
IndiePicks

Circulating Ideas is produced with support from the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science and listeners like you. Find out how you can help here.

53: Becky Spratford

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Steve chats with Becky Spratford, author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, at the Illinois Library Association annual conference.

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Becky Spratford in YS

Becky Spratford [MLIS] has been a Readers’ Advisor for patrons ages 13 and up for over 14 years at the Berwyn [IL] Public Library. She has taught at the graduate level and trains librarians all over the world. Becky runs two popular and critically acclaimed blogs, RA for All (raforall.blogspot.com) and RA for All: Horror (raforallhorror.blogspot.com) and writes content for EBSCO’s NoveList database. She is the author, mostly recently, of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror (ALA Editions, 2012) and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association.

29: Nancy Pearl

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Steve speaks with Nancy Pearl, author of the Book Lust series, frequent NPR contributor, and model for the librarian action figure.

Read the transcript.

Thanks to my successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, I was able to attend the ALA Annual Conference this past summer in Chicago to speak with a number of librarians, and the key promised interview was with Nancy Pearl. Nancy was gracious enough to agree to the interview and gave me some of her time to talk about her books, the rise of makerspaces, and readers’ advisory.