Conversing with Readers: A Framework for the Reading Experience Conversation

ABSTRACT Based on the critical analysis and creative synthesis of the existing approaches to conversing with readers in libraries, this article proposes a new three-pronged framework for facilitating the reading experience conversation. The reading experience conversation goes beyond supplying reading and other leisure suggestions to readers and seeks to understand the desired reading experience holistically. The framework proceeds from general to specific, starting with open-ended questions eliciting narrative information about the reader’s history and the reading context; moves to exploring the type of story sought through factual contextualized questions; and ends with closed-ended or other concrete questions to narrow down a choice of possible titles, be it books, other reading matters, cinematic production, and so on. The changing library environment and the more informed reader frequenting the library call for a more strategic and sophisticated approach to discussing leisure and reading matters. By introducing the new framework, this article offers one possible way of helping librarians in all types of libraries to converse with readers more effectively.