Irving Public Library Introduces a New Reader’s Advisory Tool

The Irving Public Library offers a new service to help patrons find that next good book to read. BookNews, the new reader’s advisory service, provides access to free electronic newsletters about a variety of books via the library’s Web site or through e-mail. Each month, 20 different newsletters are published that highlight four to 12 books, displaying the book jacket and a brief description or review.

“This is a fantastic service to help readers find the next good book to read,” said Karen Wong, fiction librarian. “The newsletters cover nonfiction categories such as home and garden, business, and history and politics; as well as the latest fiction bestsellers and particular fiction genres like mysteries, romance, science fiction/fantasy and Christian fiction. We also have special interest newsletters covering audiobooks, book club picks, African-American authors, large print books, and teen and children’s titles.”

New editions of the newsletters are published monthly and customers can choose to sign up for all of the newsletters or a select few. While viewing the newsletters online, visitors can click a title of interest to link to the library catalog and place a hold on the book.

Included with the BookNews services is a list of “Authors on the Web” links to find out more about favorite authors. There also are several award lists to browse through, including the latest National Book Awards, Oprah’s Book Club selections and Pulitzer winners, which are linked to the library’s catalog. In addition, the “Next Good Book” feature allows visitors to browse for books by topic or genres.

To view the newsletters or sign up for the service, visit www.cityofirving.org/library.

Posted March 2