Secret Shopping Experience

                First, to set up the situation, I’ll describe me. I like science fiction and fantasy. I also like YA and juvenile titles, provided that the titles are science fiction and fantasy. The textbook by Saricks says this about science fiction fans (about me):

Science fiction fans are among the most elusive yet outspoken readers who use our libraries. Elusive, because they often spurn our offers of assistance and certainly our suggestions; outspoken because they know what they are seeking and the feel it is unlikely that we can offer them new directions – unless they see us as fellow fans… They know what they like – the “good” Science Fiction—and ignore, reject even, everything else (251).

This is perhaps accurate – allowing for the fact that I also read fantasy. However, I am probably not an easy patron to help with reader’s advisory.

                The library I visited for my secret shopper assignment was a nice library, but it was difficult not to draw comparisons to my home branch and system. The library is a one branch system, and as such the library was bigger than my home branch, but smaller by far than my home system. That necessarily places a few limitations on the library: it has a limited selection (which all libraries do at some level) and there was only one librarian on duty that I could see. He was the children’s librarian according to his tag.

                When I asked for help finding a book to read, he asked what I like to read. I mentioned that I like science fiction and fantasy. He then mentioned that he was not familiar with science fiction, and he added the science fiction and fantasy was mixed into the normal fiction, and that it made it difficult to browse the collection. But, he said that he would be happy to take a look.

When he asked, I then mentioned two examples: Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance and Midst Toil and Tribulation. He quickly found that both are parts of series. (Actually, both are the most recently published books in their respective series.) He mentioned that the first book was by Lois McMaster Bujold, and that they had a fantasy title by her: The Curse of Chalion, and that that was the only title they had by her. I added that I had read that as well. The second title was by David Weber. He mentioned that this author was familiar to him. He also said that they had several titles available. I mentioned that I had read the books he mentioned. (In fairness, this was more than one series.)

He then mentioned John Ringo as another possibility. I mentioned that I had also read books by him. (David Weber and John Ringo wrote a series together, and I had discovered him in that way earlier.) However, he did mention that there were several titles by him.

He then mentioned Edgar Rice Burroughs and the series including Princess of Mars. This I had not read. I forget exactly what I said, but I might have asked if that was old enough to be in the public domain (or something like that). At this point I did ask where he was looking for his info. He mentioned that he was looking at tor.com (the publisher web site). I had looked at Baen’s site before, but not Tor’s site.

He also mentioned David Feintuch. Neither of us had heard of him, and they didn’t have any title by him, but he did say that both authors were mentioned as suggested authors for him. He also mentioned Elizabeth Moon, for whom they did not have any titles. However, I have actually read and enjoyed several books by her.

He then took me over to the shelves and pointed out the titles that they did have and the unprocessed science fiction (which was separated). He then left me to browse. I was struck by how much of a difference it made that the science fiction and fantasy were not separated. I believe that I had read all of the books available on the shelf by the authors he mentioned. I was sort of stuck at that point; I could either look through all the fiction or give up. At that point I  left without picking out a book.

However, interestingly, my system does have a couple of e-books available by David Feintuch, the first of which is Midshipman’s Hope. I might give it a try. So, I’d have to say he really may have helped me find a book. If I were a librarian at that branch, I would likely find the size of the collection frustrating.

The biggest thing that struck me during the interview was that he told me that the books were arranged in a way that made browsing difficult. As a secret shopper, that really made an impression. I mentioned this back at my branch because I have had to say something similar before: the urban fiction is not separated out at our branch. I mentioned this impression to my branch manager and we discussed it for a bit. The other category that some of our patrons occasionally ask about is Christian and Amish fiction. I was left wondering what the effect of categorizing the fiction (even imperfectly) might have on the patron experience.

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Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.