Beyond the ‘Flick’ and ‘Lit’: Integrated Advisory for Readers of Women’s Stories

I’m at TSCPL’s Celebrate the Book Readers’ Advisory Conference today in Topeka. See Sharon Moreland’s notes from Nancy Pearl’s keynote this morning. Handouts from the entire conference are available online from TSCPL.

Kaite Mediatore Stove, Readers’ Services Manager

The Kansas City Public Library

Integrated Advisory Service — Book edited by Jessica E. Moyer.

Neal Wyatt has written a lot about this.

Integrated Advisory is doing RA beyond fiction. Film, digital collections, teen collection, and other format.s

New way of thinking about library materials. Finding connections between formats and genre.

Patrons are watching dvds, playing games, downloading podcasts, listening to audiobooks, reading magazines, reading graphic novels. These aren’t just separate collections. Integrated advisory helps patrons find connections in other parts of the collections they wouldn’t have made otherwise.

How does this work with Women’s Stories?

Women’s fiction has contemporary feel — modern issues and concerns of today. Women’s stories in other media are reflecting this as well. Women’s stories reflect on women’s relationships with family, work, world, etc.

TV Shows: Sex and the City, Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls. Large casts. Lots of dialogue. Lots of snappy dialogue.

Less over-the-top drama. Less glitz. More focus on political social issues.

Bones, The Good Wife, Criminal Minds.

Plots: Women in Love; A Woman’s Place; Different Cultures, Similar Lives

Characters: Mothers & Daughters; Sisters & Friends; Women without Men; Working Girls

Themes:

Birth, Death, and other Journeys

Coming of Age

Marriage & Family

Friendship & Community

Women of a Certain Age

There’s so much material out there on these topics.

Making Connections and the Future

Women make sense of their lives through conversation. Talking with each other. Make sense of our lives through story, no matter the format.

Media surprised at success of strong female role movies: Dirty Dancing; Eat Pray Love; My Big Fat Greek Wedding; The Help — shouldn’t be surprising!

Women want good story, likeable characters, realistic characters.

Handouts from Kaite from this session and previous ones.

I’ll finish linking to this content later today or the weekend.