Since I've already mentioned The Krafty Librarian once today, I might as well give her another shout out. Yesterday Krafty mentioned an article from The Village Voice that you should definitely check out. The article discusses the impact bloggers have had on readers and the publishing world, mentioning notable blogs like Bookslut and Beatrice.

As a librarian I can't help but wonder if lit bloggers could become a replacement or surrogate reader advisor for patrons who are not having their needs met at their own public library. I hate to say this, but maybe some of these bloggers are a bit more authoritative and/or trustworthy in the patrons mind than their local librarian. Anyone who has ever worked a reference desk has gotten a reader advisory question for a genre that they are completely unfamiliar with. Sure we have tools available to us to help answer the question, but if we are being honest with ourselves are we doing as good a job as a person who reads books in that genre? Probably not. And while it use to be that librarians and book store clerks were the go to people when they needed help finding a good book to read, maybe we aren't anymore. If this is true, how do we adjust our services to meet our patrons needs? I know it definitely calls for us all to be more proactive, but in what way? And yes, those of you in my reader advisory class will be asked this question the next time we meet. Be prepared. :-)

--------------------------------------------------------------------