Staffed by librarians, the New York Public Library has added a “The Librarian Is In” booth. Located in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, it is there to provide book and reading recommendations. Instead of a ‘card catalog’, visitors will get real help from librarians. The booth will be open through the month of December.
Here’s more from the NYPL press release:
The New York Public Library is playing matchmaker this holiday season, helping members of the public find their one true… read.
The Library’s Readers Services department will offer personalized, one-on-one book recommendations throughout December at a booth located in the Fifth Avenue lobby of the iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street. Librarians Lynn Lobash and Gwen Glazer will staff the booth—called “The Librarian Is In”—during select hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Dec. 7 until Dec. 23, helping anyone find the perfect book for themselves or as a gift.
“Reading is a very personal thing, and the whole key to enjoying it is to find the right book, the one that gets you excited and interested and unable to stop turning pages,” said Lobash, manager of the Readers Services division. “Finding that book and experiencing that joy is a real gift. We’re here to help. This is what librarians do.”
The Librarian Is In booth will be staffed between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. It will be staffed between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Fridays.
For those who can’t make it in person, the Readers Services team offers recommendations in a host of other ways, including:
- Twitter office hours: Every Friday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Lobash and Glazer give book recommendations live on Twitter via the @NYPLRecommends handle and the hashtag #TheLibrarianIsIn.
- “What Should I Read Next” Web Form: Readers can log in here at any time of day, share some basic information, and get a personalized recommendation of three books emailed back in about three business days.
- Curated Browsing Tool: Once every three months, Lobash, Glazer, and other NYPL librarians recommend 100 books, which are placed in an interactive web tool. Visitors to the tool answer basic questions, and the tool immediately recommends books from that top 100.
- Book lists: Every week, a team of NYPL librarians creates multiple subject-based lists, which can be read here.
