{"id":65200,"date":"2015-02-09T10:15:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T16:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=65200"},"modified":"2015-02-09T10:10:18","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T16:10:18","slug":"the-8-best-readers-advisory-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=65200","title":{"rendered":"The 8 Best Reader\u2019s Advisory Websites"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Tischler
\npreviously published 3\/20\/14<\/em><\/p>\n

The 8 Best Reader\u2019s Advisory Websites<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"28770_10101121085467805_1252044556_n<\/a>As librarians, we\u2019re supposed to be familiar with all of the books so that we can make\u00a0recommendations, share new books and introduce our patrons to all these new and spectacular\u00a0stories. The only problem with that is that there is no time to read all of these wonderful books. So\u00a0we need to find other ways to be able to make recommendations without having read the books we\u2019re\u00a0recommending. Once of the best ways to do this is to use various book recommendation websites\u00a0where you can browse through the reviews and thoughts of all those people who have read the books.\u00a0So to help you out, here\u2019s my list of the 8 best book recommendation websites, whether to help your\u00a0patrons or yourself to find a new book.<\/p>\n

GoodReads<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Good Reads is one of the most popular book review websites on the internet (and Amazon bought it\u00a0because of its popularity), and is incredible for making book lists. You can see which books your friends\u00a0are reading and what they recommend, and track the books you\u2019re reading, have read, and want to\u00a0read. However, this website is completely based on user reviews and recommendations, which makes it\u00a0difficult to find, for example, authors that are similar to one of your favorites unless you wade through a\u00a0lot of user reviews.<\/p>\n

Fantastic Fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.fantasticfiction.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Fantastic Fiction is a great website when you want to look up an author\u2019s collection of books, and it even\u00a0lists the books of a series in order. You don\u2019t have to worry that you\u2019re missing a book in the series, or\u00a0that you\u2019re going out of order, and the website even lists new books being released by the author. Each\u00a0page even includes the books that the author would recommend as well as a section that lists other\u00a0authors that visitors also looked at after looking at a specific author. It is a fantastic resource, not just\u00a0for library use, but also for personal use. There are only a couple of issues with this site: first, with so\u00a0many sections per page, the organization can get a bit confusing, and secondly, the site focuses on the\u00a0popular authors, so unless you already know the name of that lesser know but wonderful author, you\u2019re\u00a0not likely to get introduced to them on this website.<\/p>\n

Literature Map<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.literature-map.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Literature Map is not only helpful, but it is a lot of fun to play with. The user types in an author\u2019s name\u00a0and the website generates a web of other authors that have similar writing styles and genres. The\u00a0closer the author\u2019s name is to another, the more alike the authors are. This can be a great tool to use\u00a0when you have patrons asking for help in finding a new author to follow, or to help find similar books\u00a0for someone to try. Unfortunately, the site only recommends authors and not books, so even though\u00a0the writing may be similar, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that they\u2019re going to be similar in the way you\u00a0want.<\/p>\n

What Should I Read Next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/whatshouldireadnext.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

What Should I Read Next analyzes the favorites list of all their members in order to recommend the\u00a0best next read for any book. You can either just get a book recommendation for free by going to their\u00a0main page and choosing a book title, and it will provide you a list of titles that others who have favorite\u00a0it have also read. Or, you can join for free and build your own list of favorites to add to their extensive\u00a0database. The analysis based on reader\u2019s lists is surprisingly good, but book recommendations is pretty\u00a0much all this website offers.<\/p>\n

Your Next Read (USA)<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.yournextread.com\/us\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Your Next Read provides book recommendations in two ways, and you can sign up and crate you own\u00a0\u201cMap\u201d of books. To find book recommendations, you can either browse reading lists, or you can type in\u00a0a title, and a web of 8 other books will appear (as well as Amazon reviews about the book you searched\u00a0for). You can then click on another book in the web and 8 more books will show up based on the book\u00a0you just clicked. You can also offer up recommendations of your own. Unfortunately, if you\u2019re looking\u00a0at a specific author or at a book in a big series, like Redwall, you run the risk of getting stuck in a book\u00a0loop, where no matter what you click on, you keep seeing that same books over and over again.<\/p>\n

Whichbook<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.openingthebook.com\/whichbook\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Which Book is another fun site to play with as it helps you pick a book based on your mood, which you\u00a0can do for free or sign up and create saved lists. The site provides a list of sliders, and you can choose\u00a04 of the sliders to indicate your mood (are you looking for something more Happy or Sad, Expected or\u00a0Unpredictable, Easy or Demanding, No Sex or Lots of Sex, etc\u2026). Once you\u2019ve indicated your tastes, it\u00a0will provide you with a list that fits your mood (or you can explore their mood book lists). But if that\u00a0way doesn\u2019t work for you, you can create book lists based on character, plot type and setting. This site\u00a0is great to help you find new books that you may not have thought you would like, but if you absolutely\u00a0love a specific author, you\u2019re going to have to think about why you love that author in order to find\u00a0similar books.<\/p>\n

Shelfari<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.shelfari.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Shelfari is a social cataloging website for books, which was acquired by Amazon in 2008. Users build\u00a0virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read, and can rate, review, tag and discuss their\u00a0books. You can also create groups that other members may join, create discussions and talk about\u00a0books, or even other topics. Recommendations can be sent to friends, but the website does not\u00a0produce its own reader\u2019s advisory recommendations, it depends on its users to recommend for others.\u00a0This website requires that you become a member in order to be able to do anything on their site, but\u00a0it does create a community as well as a personal library for individuals that you can sort and organize\u00a0based on tags and metadata, and you can even have different shelves for thing s like already read,\u00a0currently reading, planning to read, wish list, currently owned and favorites. The main issue with this\u00a0website is that it does require so much time and effort, although if you put in all of that time, you could\u00a0end up with something really useful.<\/p>\n

Library Thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.librarything.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Library Thing is a social cataloging service so that you can store and access your personal library\u2019s\u00a0metadata (the metadata is imported from other libraries and Amazon stores). You can share and\u00a0connect with others who share your tastes and the site will even recommend books based on your\u00a0library. While this is a very in-depth system with lots of great features, it does require a lot of time and commitment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Tischler previously published 3\/20\/14 The 8 Best Reader\u2019s Advisory Websites As librarians, we\u2019re supposed to be familiar with all of the books so that we can make\u00a0recommendations, share new books and introduce our patrons to all these new and spectacular\u00a0stories. The only problem with that is that there is no time to read…<\/p>\n

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