Secret Shopper: Readers' Advisory Undercover!

My experience as a “secret shopper” requesting readers’ advisory was generally positive. I went into the experience feeling nervous that I’d immediately be spotted as a fraud. I suppose I’ll never know if the library staff suspected me of anything more than a curious reader!

I visited a library in a neighboring county, went to the information desk at and said, “I’m not a patron here, but I have a couple hours to kill and I’d like a good book to read while I wait. Can you recommend anything?” The employee asked me for a specific book I enjoyed in the past and then spent some minutes on her computer terminal before giving me a suggestion. She shared with me, after I asked, that she uses Amazon to find recommendations (the “Customers who bought this also bought ...” section near the end of each item’s page) and then picks one that she can also find in their OPAC. I was surprised that she doesn’t use NoveList – but I’ve worked at a library for three years, and I just heard about NoveList for the first time three weeks ago, so I can’t be too judge-y on that point. The only thing that really irked me about the interaction was when I sat down to take a look at the book she recommended and saw that it was the second book of a trilogy. I can’t be the only reader that avoids starting a series on any book other than the first, right?

(In case you’re curious, the title I gave her when she asked for a specific book I enjoyed was Wool by Hugh Howey, and the book she suggested to me was Agents of the Internet Apocalypse by Wayne Gladstone.)

This readers’ advisory interaction didn’t result in me finding my new favorite book, but the library employee was polite, didn’t brush off my question, and used the tools she was familiar with to try to find something I would enjoy. If I were a patron at this library, I might try their Readers’ Advisory again, and I will remember this experience (the good and the not-so-good) next time a patron asks me for a book recommendation!