Nonfiction - A Tutorial for Readers’ Advisors
Our Reader’s Advisory training thus far has primarily focused on working with fiction readers.
As we learned on the RA training day, Readers Advisory work has a long tradition that has
taken various forms over the years. In the last decade or so it has had a renaissance as
libraries once again focus on their not only a centre for information but also a centre for
reading.
The Halifax Public Libraries mission statement says:
Halifax Public Libraries is the life-long learning centre of the Community and the place people
turn to for the discovery of ideas, the joy of reading and the power of information.
Why non-fiction?
Good question! We’ve spent that last few years teaching about Reader’s Advisory and mostly
speaking of fiction. This has worked quite well, and we’ve really gone a long way to improve our
Readers Advisory Service. The pattern we’ve established actually mirrors general trends that
have been happening with Readers Advisory. Libraries have been reintroducing Readers’
Advisory to their staff - starting with fiction, but then noticing that many nonfiction readers can
be helped by the service as well.
When we think about the library’s nonfiction collection we can quickly find differences between
the types of materials that might be of interest to leisure readers and those that are more
instructional. A large part of our nonfiction collection is made up of materials intended to instruct
the reader in how to do something: write a resume, play a sport, rewire your house or train your
dog - these are not the sorts of books we would consider good vacation reading or the sort of
thing you’d like to curl up with by the fire.
What do we do with the 800s?
There are several terms that have been
launched to try to describe the sort of nonDewey classification puts literature in the
instructional nonfiction that readers’ advisors
800s. Poetry and plays have a logical
may find themselves trying to make
connection to fiction but are classified as
suggestions for. Some of the terms you
nonfiction. In terms of this tutorial, we will
might encounter are: narrative nonfiction,
largely ignore poetry and plays: they’re not
literary nonfiction, readable nonfiction or
quite fact and not quite fiction, and for the
creative nonfiction. Each term attempts to
purpose of what we’re looking at here, we
highlight the fact that there is something in
want to stick strictly with nonfiction.
the writing style of a particular sort of
nonfiction that makes it appeal to leisure
readers as well as fact finders. Recent
bestseller lists abound with this type of nonfiction that can be seen as a balance between fiction
and instructional nonfiction: giving factual information but drawing on elements of fictional
writing styles (pacing, character, setting, etc).
Through the 1990s publishing trends shifted in favour of nonfiction: publication of nonfiction
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increased and, while statistics related to fiction reading dropped ever so slightly, nonfiction
readership grew. Nonfiction book awards have gained more popular attention. Documentary
films have achieved unprecedented success. In general we are seeing more and more interest
in true stories. So what do we do with these people when they come to the RA desk?
Fiction vs Nonfiction
The more things change the more they stay the same - so you can feel comfortable knowing
you don’t need to throw out all the RA skills you’ve worked so hard to learn to adapt to providing
nonfiction RA service. Here’s a little review from the general RA training: the following key
points remain the same whether the person is looking for fiction or nonfiction:
•
Think of your RA Interview as a conversation rather than a question and answer
session. Asking open-ended questions encourages the patron to give you more
descriptive information about the type of book he is looking for.
•
Paraphrasing (or repeating the question back to the patron as a statement) is a
technique that helps you to be sure that you understood the question. It reassures the
patron that you have heard him and you are sure you have heard correctly. The patron
may then go on to provide more information.
•
Consult print and online resources. Show patrons how you’re searching and consult
with them. Show them the tools you are using so they can use them too down the road.
(More about sources later!)
•
Offer a range of suggestions Try to suggest 3 titles for the reader. Describe the book
so that the reader has information on which to base their decision.
•
Followup. The only way to be sure you’ve met the need is to ask.
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3 Keys to Nonfiction Readers Advisory
When approaching a Readers Advisory exchange that is based around Nonfiction, there are 3
key elements to consider:
Subject
When thinking about nonfiction, we have traditionally been trained to think about subject. This is
reflected in library catalogues, where subject searching is a major component. Readers
Advisory training moved us away from subject searching and focused on appeals. Nonfiction
Readers Advisory requires a blend of focus, considering both subject and appeal.
For nonfiction books, subject is often what draws a readers’ attention to a title, and when a
reader presents herself at your RA desk looking for Nonfiction RA she will almost certainly talk
about nonfiction reading experiences in terms of subject. When a patron identifies a nonfiction
title she enjoyed and you are trying to locate others for her, one of the first aspects of your RA
interview should be to determine if the reader is looking for more nonfiction on the same
subject, or if there is some other aspect of the title that appeals to her.
Genre (AKA type)
As you may remember from fiction RA training, genre is a helpful, if somewhat flawed, way to
get a start on providing Readers Advisory service, and the same holds true for nonfiction. The
Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library defines a genre as “any sizable group of
authors or specific titles that have similar characteristics and appeal..[and] are books written to
a particular specific pattern”1 By grouping like books together we can start to approach what a
person might be interested in.
In nonfiction, type offers a similar ability to narrow books to certain patters and thereby assist a
patron in making a selection. The types listed below follow a pattern and so you can have
certain expectations of the kind of reading experience you will gain from them.
Autobiography
Biography
Essays
Graphic Nonfiction
Memoir
Microhistory
Reporting
Travel Memoir
True Adventure
True Crime
(NB: more on type follows - including definitions!)
Appeals
Our previous Readers Advisory training introduced the concept of appeals as a way of helping
to determine what about a particular piece of writing was of interest to a reader. Appeal is a
way of discussing a book that allows us to determine the feel of the title and express what it
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was about a book that we enjoyed outside of the plot (or in the case of nonfiction, the subject)
of the book. When talking about fiction we looked at Story Line , Pacing, Characterization, and
Frame as our appeal elements. These same appeal elements can be applied to nonfiction with
surprisingly few modifications. The chart below outlines appeal elements and what to think of in
terms of nonfiction.2
Appeal
What it is
What to look for
Story Line
Plot, narrative levels
To what extent is there a narrative in the
presentation of this information? Is the
information presented as a story or as a
collection of facts?
Pacing
How it feels to move
through the story arc
Is the book a quick read? Is the pace
measured or leisurely? Is the writing dense,
lyrical, to-the-point, or something else?
Characterization
The degree to which
a character is
developed.
Are people presented abstractly or with
depth? If they are developed as characters,
how are they developed (quirky,
introspective, sympathetic, etc)?
Frame
The overall context
of the work.
Frame touches on many issues. How
detailed are descriptions, is setting an
important element, what is the tone?...
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Exercise: Articulating Appeals
Two popular works of narrative nonfiction are The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger (974.45
J95p) and Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (303.4 D537g). Although both are
examples of narrative nonfiction, they are very different books. Find the two books on shelf in
your branch (or use the “inside the book” feature at amazon.com) and read an excerpt from
each to experience their differences. In the chart below, make notes on each book and its
appeals. (See appendix A for a completed version of this chart)
The Perfect Storm
Guns, Germs and Steel
Story Line
Pacing
Characterization
Frame
In working with fiction, we have been given a whole range of vocabulary to describe appeal
elements (you can revisit the “Readalikes and Appeals” tutorial – archived on Intranet – if you
would like a refresher on this). In working with nonfiction, you may find that frequently you are
noting whether or not an appeal is present, rather than attempting to fine tune a description of
how it is applied.
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Resources for Nonfiction RA
Now that we have covered how to think about narrative nonfiction in a Readers Advisory
context, lets talk about how to make suggestions for readers when they come to the desk.
Once you have determined what kind of reading experience a patron is looking for, you’ll need
some resources to assist you in locating materials.
Using the catalogue to find narrative nonfiction
The catalogue is obviously a good place to start for patrons who are looking for suggestions
based on a subject, as subject searching is a major component of the catalogue’s design. If a
patron read one book on a particular historical period and is looking for another, a simple
catalogue search will get us there. However, this subject search retrieves a range of book
styles, many of which aren’t what the leisure reader is looking for (e.g. atlases, travel guides,
etc). If we know how to manipulate the searches we can make these results more relevant to
our needs.
Genre (type) Headings
For some time, we have genre searching has been an option for finding fiction in our catalogue.
We now have genre (type) headings for some nonfiction too! Search any of the following terms
in the subject browse field and see what comes up. Some will have only a few results but
others will have many. For those that have many, consider combining them in a general
keyword search with terms that apply to the subject you are looking for.
autobiography
•
A term applied to books that are written by someone about their own life and detailing
their entire life. (See also below re: memoir)
biography
•
A term applied to books that are written by a third party about the whole life of
individuals or groups of people (including professions)
essays
•
a short piece that often gives the author’s personal views on the topic presented. Can
be light or serious in tone.
graphic nonfiction
•
graphic novels that aren’t novels at all, but which tell a true story in the comic book or
graphic novel style. There are some instructional titles with this genre heading, but the
vast majority are narrative nonfiction.
memoir
•
An autobiographical piece that generally focuses on an aspect of a person’s life (career,
illness, relationships, etc).
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microhistory
•
This term has existed for a number of years and can be applied to several styles of
history writing. However it has recently come to refer to “in-depth studies that focus on a
narrow topic”3 a type of nonfiction writing that is increasingly popular. In our collection
these are exclusively histories of things as opposed to events.
reporting
•
Researched, first hand accounts of an issue or event. Books in the reporting type can
be light or serious in tone.
travel memoirs
•
A specific form of memoir that focuses on a person’s travel experiences.
true adventure
•
In fiction adventure is defined as a story where there is “a protagonist ... and a great
challenge”4, in nonfiction the definition is the same, but applied to true stories.
true crime
•
A book that details a crime, its investigation and where applicable, the trial that follows.
Exercise: If you haven’t already, do a subject browse search for each of these genres in the
staff catalogue.
Other Tips
The search terms that follow are not genre headings but when used in combination with topics,
will find results that are predominantly narrative nonfiction. Some of these may seem to
duplicate the information presented above, but will be helpful in finding older materials that may
not have had genre headings applied yet.
sw=anecdotes
•
a search term that indicates a short, often humorous story about a topic. Used in
conjunction with another search term to find
stories on that topic.
Exercise: search the following in the subject
keyword field
sw=case studies
•
a search term applied to an in depth
sw= “cats anecdotes”
study of a topic
sw= “organized crime case studies”
sw= “salt history”
sw=history
sw= “cancer personal narratives”
•
histories (specifically of things rather
sw= “france travel NOT description” (NB: the
than countries) are often written in a
word “NOT” must be in All Caps)
'novel' form.
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sw=personal narratives
•
a term applied to a personal account of an event or condition
sw=travel
•
a term applied to travel histories and narratives. However this term also appears in the
subject keyword “description and travel” which includes travel guides and other nonnarrative texts. Use the “not” operator when using this search.
It is important to note that these terms will not return exclusively narrative nonfiction, you will
still need to double check records to confirm that your results are appropriate, but they will
certainly narrow things down for you.
Online Resources
To start looking for suggestions based more on appeals factors - we have to move to more
specialized resources. Unfortunately, Novelist our major RA database, does not currently
include nonfiction and so handy searches by appeals are not available. However, some of these
websites can give you a hand in finding narrative nonfiction.
What do I Read Next? (This program is currently available from the library website readers
page and although our subscription will soon end, it is helpful while it remains)
This RA database contains some nonfiction titles, and is primarily useful for finding books on a
similar subject as a previously enjoyed book. From the main menu, select the option “Help Me
Find a Book”, follow the instructions and enter the title of a book you have enjoyed. Before
clicking search, look at the check boxes at the top of the screen. The default setting has all
boxes checked, but you can change this to select only fiction or only nonfiction, as well as
limiting your results to certain age groups. The database will conduct its search and display the
title or titles that most closely match the one you are looking for. Select the title and then use
the check boxes to indicate subjects you would be interested in other titles. When the list of
titles which have matching subject headings appears, you can click through to get a synopsis of
each.
Exercise: A patron reports that they enjoyed the book Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
because of the humorous way in which she presents historical events. Use “Help me find a
book” to suggestions for other adult, nonfiction titles they could try.
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Overbooked.org
This website “specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable
nonfiction”. Gives lists of titles with annotations that use appeal language.
•
The Starred Reviews and All Stars sections list books that have a star rating (indicating
exceptional merit) in major review sources
•
The All Stars section lists books that have been given stars by 3 or more major review
sources. There are star and all star lists for nonfiction, sorted by date.
•
Suggested reading lists for fiction and nonfiction. Narrative nonfiction lists are broken
down by broad subject .
Exercise: use the suggested reading lists to find a narrative nonfiction title that is funny. You
will have to click on each of the subheadings for Nonfiction to see if the annotations mention
humour. (NB: the keyboard shortcut CTRL+F is a handy tool here - it opens up the “find in
page” feature in both Explorer and Firefox and allows you search for words you are trying to
find in the page text.)
amazon.com
The online bookseller is a good place to turn for informal RA assistance with nonfiction.
Search by title, author or subject - the records for a book may include formal reviews, customer
reviews, a link called “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought”, one called “What Do
Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?” and subject headings. Much of the
amazon information is helpful in finding subject based suggestions as opposed to stylistic ones.
The customer reviews will frequently site other authors/titles that the customer as also read and
compares. However, it is important to note that these suggestions may be made for any
number of reasons (amazon comments are often manipulated by authors/publishers looking to
advertise their own books), so its important to further investigate any titles you want to suggest
based on amazon customer reviews.
(NB - use amazon.com not amazon.ca to get the full range of features)
Book Awards
Book prizes aren’t just for fiction anymore - well, not that they ever were, but nonfiction book
awards are certainly gaining more and more attention. Award winners are a great place to start
when suggesting reads for patrons: the following awards are all searchable in our library
catalogue. These awards are not given exclusively to narrative nonfiction, but again, they are
good jumping off point. You can find other awards and award winners through a google search.
•
•
•
Charles Taylor Prize - to Canadian authored “literary” nonfiction
Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction - to a Canadian book with a focus on Nova Scotia
Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-fiction - to a non-fiction book written by a Nova Scotian
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•
•
•
•
Governor General’s Awards - Canadian nonfiction (there is no specific subject heading
for the nonfiction award: sort your results by call number to separate nonfiction from
fiction winners)
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography - to a bio or autobiography by an
American author
Pulitzer Prize for History - to a book on American History or an aspect thereof
Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction - to a book by an American author
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Print resources
Print resources are available at some but not all branches. A book’s location is indicated with
the title. If you don’t have a copy of the books below at your branch, think about what you do
have access to that may provide you with the same information. If you have lots of requests for
nonfiction leisure reading at your branch, let your supervisor know that this might be a good
book for your collection.
The Real Story: a Guide to Nonfiction reading Interests (AG, CH, KG, SA, SG, W)
Part of the Genreflecting Advisory Series this book’s layout and style is immediately
recognizable to anyone who has used any of the others in the series (Genreflecting; Blood,
Bedlam, Bullets and Badguys; etc). Sections on Nonfiction genres, Nonfiction subject interests,
Life stories and stylistic genres. The book breaks these down into more specific types and gives
definitions, appeals and examples. With in the chapters, books that fit the type described are
listed with a summary, subject headings and a “now try” section of suggestions for readers who
enjoyed the first title. There are extensive indexes based on author, title and subject.
Exercise: Find three biography suggestions where the subject is a woman and not an
entertainer or a sports figure for a patron who is interested in a gentle read. (A hint: use the
chapter headings as well as the subject headings for better results.
Nonfiction Readers Advisory (AG, CH, KG, SG)
If you’re interested in Nonfiction RA beyond this tutorial, this is a great place to turn. Essays on
nonfiction materials, readers and RA advice from a range of authors. If you’re looking for more
hands on advice that will give you quick answers on the desk, chapter 12 (starting on page 213)
includes a list of narrative nonfiction titles in about a dozen categories and the 3 pages of
weblinks to try for futher searching.
Reader’s Advisory Guide to nonfiction (KG)
This book contains both essays on Nonfiction RA theory and lists of suggested narrative
nonfiction titles. The book’s chapters are divided broadly by type and within each type there are
narrower divisions. The lists are created based around these narrower divisions. Chapters
include focus on “Food and cooking”, “Science, Mathematics and Nature Writing”, “Sports” as
well as more traditional “History and Historical Biography” and “True Crime”. Lists are not
annotated.
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Although there is a Genreflecting Advisory Series that specifically focuses on nonfiction, several
other of the books in the series have sections that address nonfiction.
African American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests (CC, N, SGA)
Has a section on “life stories” that covers biography, autobiography and memoir. The focus of
this book is African American authors, and does not cover black authors from other countries or
non-black authors.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Literature: A Genre Guide (KG, N, SGA)
Has a section on “life stories” that covers biography, autobiography and memoir. The focus
here is on GLBTQ authors.
Graphic Novels: A Guide to Comic Books, Manga and Much More (CH, KG, SG-J)
Has a chapter on nonfiction that gives suggestions for readings looking to investigate history,
biography and other nonfiction topics in the graphic format.
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Appendix A - Appeals of two recent nonfiction bestsellers
The Perfect Storm
Guns, Germs and Steel
Story Line
highly narrative, reads like a novel
presents a series of facts without the
structure of a story
Pacing
fast paced, lots of action
it may be difficult to get this from
the amazon.com excerpt only
not fast paced, but the language is
very to the point
Characterization
characters identified by name,
descriptions of their personalities,
but fairly stock characters
no characters are used in telling the
story
Frame
detail of fishing life, setting well
defined
factual but chatty, a “big picture”
history
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Endnotes
1. Readers Advisory Service in the Public Library by Joyce Saricks. Third Edition. P 11-12.
2.Adapted from The Readers Advisory Guide to Nonfiction by Neal Wyatt. Pg 24-5.
3.The Readers Advisory Guide to Nonfiction by Neal Wyatt. P 177.
4. Genreflecting: a Guide to Popular Reading Interests by Diana Trixer Herald. Sixth Edition,
p208.
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