Both insightful and comprehensive, this matchless guidebook will help librarians become familiar with many different fiction genres, especially those they do not regularly read, and aid library staff in connecting readers to books they’re sure to love.
Neal Wyatt is a contributing editor and the readers' advisory columnist for Library Journal. She has served as President of The American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), chair of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section, and as chair of the Readers' Advisory Research and Trends Committee, The Notable Books Council, The Reading List Council, and The Listen List Committee, the last two of which she founded. She was instrumental in the creation of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, the Sophie Brody Award, and the Zora Neale Hurston Award and is the founder of the Readers' Advisory Research and Trends Forum. She won RUSA's Margaret E. Monroe Award (2012) and the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award (2013). She is the author of The Readers' Advisory Guide to Nonfiction as well as numerous articles and several book chapters. She holds a PhD in Media, Art, and Text.
From 1977 until her retirement in 2004, Joyce Saricks worked at the Downers Grove Public Library and developed and directed the readers’ advisory department which involved working with fiction readers and books. She is the author of three books: Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library, The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, and Read On: Audiobooks. In her retirement she taught Readers’ Advisory at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, served as Audio Editor for Booklist, and consulted for Ebsco’s NoveList. She has presented workshops on readers' advisory for public libraries and library systems across the US and abroad and has spoken at state, regional, and national library conferences. She won the Public Librarian Association’s Allie Beth Martin Award in 1989, was named Librarian of the Year by the Romance Writers of America in 2000, and won the Reference and User Services Association’s Margaret Monroe Award in 2011.