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What is a Reading Path

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 8 months ago

 What is a Reading Path?

 

The Reading Map (or Reading Path or Itinerary) was first introduced to the library community by Neal Wyatt, Nancy Pearl, and Cathleen Tovey at the Public Library Association Conference in March, 2006.  You can follow these links to see Neal's article in Library Journal (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6383011.html and to see Neal's Reading Maps (http://www.overbooked.org/neal_wyatt_reading_maps/) and Nancy's Reading Itineraries (http://booklust.wetpaint.com/page/Reading+Itineraries/diff/19,20?t=anon). 

 

The Reading Path (as I call it) is a way for the readers' advisor to make more creative connections between the reader and books of interest to that reader.  If the reader has just finished a book, you could ask "What sparked your curiosity in that book?"  The answer would provide other avenues (paths) for the advisor to pursue in acquiring more reading experiences for that reader.

 

In drawing up a reading path for a specific title, then, the RA team anticipates the answers to that question:  what would spark a reader's curiosity in this book?  Almost any book will offer a number of elements to create paths for a reader.  If you look at the path we have for Julia Child's My Life in France (http://wordsworthyreadingpaths.pbwiki.com/My+Life+in+France), and compare it to Westmount Library's Reading Path for the same title (http://www.westlib.org/Readingmaps/default.htm), you will see how different they are, and how individual each path can be, depending on who creates it.  But different does not mean better or worse; it just means different. 

 

Another interesting element about Reading Paths is how eclectic they can be.  A path leading from The Greek for Love can lead to Ann Brashares's Traveling Pants series, because of the focus on relationships, while someone reading Annie Dillard's An American Childhood could be led to Mary Lawson's novel, Crow Lake, because of the mutual interest in pond life.  The paths do not have to (nor should they) represent a homogeneous collection of "readalikes."

 

How Were These Paths Created?

 

The Reading Paths created here are a joint effort between Maureen O'Connor and the participants of workshops sponsored by both the Southern Ontario Library Service and the Toronto Public Library. At each workshop we brainstormed features of specific memoirs that would be of further interest to a reader, and created the various categories you will find in each Reading Path.  The participants also suggested some titles they felt would be appropriate to the category, based on their own reading of the book.

 

What Can You Do with Them?

 

You will notice that these Reading Paths are not artistically creative as some are, but the beauty of this tool is that it allows for much flexibility.  If you wanted to make a bookmark out of any of them, for example, you could simply pick and choose categories and titles as you please.  You can post them on your Web site, with links to your catalog.  Some staff thought they would create them as part of a Book Discussion Group.  Another staff suggested using them with teens--especially teen boys.  She thought she would pick one book to discuss, and then have the teens do a Reading Path for that book, thereby setting up the booklist for the remaining discussion sessions.

 

These Reading Paths are for both the reader and the readers' advisor to benefit from and enjoy!

 

Maureen O'Connor

WordsWorthy

Connecting Books and Readers

maureen@wordsworthy.com

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