Readers’ advisory as evolving practice

An idea that stood out for me this week for my studies in librarianship was the evolving practice of readers’ advisory (RA) to focus on the reader.

Traditionally, RA courses have focused more on “the study of genres, types of materials, RA tools and information retrieval techniques” (Dali, p. 374) but “We need to know just as much about the reader and how they’re engaging with the book” (Harrison, n.d., 13:37).

With that in mind, I was interested in how early readers’ advisory developed as a “gendered practice” (Brendler, 2014, p. 221), in which “children thought in terms of ‘girl books’ and ‘boy books’ and that girls tended to respond to texts via their emotions and feelings about the characters in books, while boys connected to what the characters did in the story” (ibid).

Brendler observes that societal changes over the last few decades have affected gender beliefs. She states that “The Millennial generation, born between 1980 and 2000, has been viewed as more ‘inclusive, empathetic and tolerant in their social outlook.’ This has paved the way for many of today’s teenagers to reject the idea of gender as a determinant of societal roles” (ibid, pp. 221-222).

Brendler (p. 222) mentions several works of Young Adult fiction that defy gender roles: Kristin Cashore’s Graceling series, Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, and Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, “all of which incorporate a strong heroine, science fiction or fantasy, action, and romance.”

Brendler acknowledges that the heroines in these stories “rarely stand alone. There are usually one or two male characters that provide motivation and conflict for the female protagonist” (ibid).

For the most part, Brendler’s article, which was written nearly 10 years ago, concerns heterosexual relationships. One exception is a reference to David Levithan’s In Every Day, which offers “a unique treatment of the concept of the soul” (ibid, p. 223). The story concerns a “genderless sixteen-year-old soul, called A, who spends each day in a different body. The conflict arises when A falls in love with a girl and has to find ways to spend time with her. This is a unique look at gender, the search for identity, and love” (ibid).

This prevalence of heterosexual pairings stood out for me because I recently read about a study, conducted by Charlie McNabb, of 150 people with LGBTQAI+ identities.

When McNabb asked survey participants about their experiences in adolescence, 51 participants said that they “lacked books and other media that provided positive representations of LGBTQIA+ people” (2020, p. 111). Among their concerns was the need for “less visible identities such as asexuality, bisexuality, and nonbinary identities” to be represented in books and media (ibid).

The popularity of works highlighted by Brendler touch upon qualities among “new ways” of considering readers’ advisory: the books’ appeal to readers irrespective of the reader’s sex or gender and the individual reader’s personal and social reasons for wanting to read a book (Harrision, n.d.).

Brendler (2014, p. 222) quotes YA author Scott Westerfield explaining the popularity of dystopian fiction among adolescents: “Teenagers’ lives are constantly defined by rules, and in response they construct their identities through necessary confrontations with authority, large and small. Imagining a world in which those authorities must be destroyed by any means necessary is one way of expanding that game. Imagining a world in which those authorities are utterly gone is another.”

Social exclusion and bullying are a source for anxiety among adolescents, and Brendler cites books that address these subjects head-on: Erin Jade Lange’s Butter, Julie Anne Peters’ By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead, andJay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.

Brendler similarly identifies other enduring themes addressed in YA literature, including “global environmental disasters, justice and individuality in an increasingly monitored world, social and mind control, technological advances and questions about what it means to be human, morality, terrorism, and the specter of war” (ibid, p. 223). From “within the safety of their own world” (ibid), readers can explore how they’d react if they faced such circumstances. This is surely an example of personal and social reasons for engaging with such stories.

References:
Brendler, B. M. (2014). Blurring gender lines in readers’ advisory for young adults. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(3), 221–224. https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.53n3.221

Dali, K. (2015). Readers' advisory: Can we take it to the next level? Library Review, 64(4), 372-392.

Harrison, A.E. (n.d.) Challenges in readers’ advisory [Slide presentation]. University of Central Missouri, LIS 5400.

McNabb, C. (2020). Queer adolescence: Understanding the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual youth. Rowman & Littlefield.