Many patrons unfamilar with authors and titles have difficulty selecting fiction from library shelves with thousands of books. It's true that they can pull books off shelves and read book jackets, but which books do they look at first?

The "Aisle Read" Project * will provide "Aisle Reader's Guides" on shelf end-panels (and other places) to help patrons find that first book and continue browsing. Creating these reader's guides is a three step process.

1. Conducting a survey of your library patrons
2. Analyzing the surveys
3. Creating materials leading patrons to new books and types of fiction.

Libraries wishing to participate in this project should do the following things.

1. Let the board do the survey and then discuss whether the questions are clear and whether the survey seems doable. All surveys should be tested before actually giving the survey. The test helps spot problems and issues.
2. Librarians should ask themselves whether they understand the purpose of the survey and how it will be used. Can they answer patrons' questions about the survey.
3. Send the board comments and librarian's questions to Chris. Chris will modify the survey and answer your questions.
4. As September 1st approaches, print the survey and the instructions for conducting the survey. When September 1st arrives, hand out and collect the number of surveys needed to get a good sample. Mail the completed patron survey and the librarian's short survey to Chris for analysis.

Conducting the patron survey

Patron survey (Word document)

This is a two-page survey. The question are modified versions from surveys used in patron research in the 1980s and 1990s in the United States and Great Britain. This survey asks patrons how they:

• Currently select fiction
• Want their library to deliver information that would help them select books in the future.

How to conduct the survey (Word document)
How many surveys to collect (Excel document)

"How to conduct the survey" instructs when and how to give the survey. CKLS members attending the Spring Assembly in Russell agreed to begin the survey in September 1st.

"How many surveys to collect" allows librarians to calculate how many surveys they need to collect based on the number of patrons they reported in the 2005 Kansas State Annual Report. If the number of patrons given for a library is not correct, then librarians should decide how many patrons they do have and use the table to calculate how many surveys they should collect.

Librarian's form (Word document)

"Librarian's form" is a three question survey librarians should submit with the completed patron surveys. Mail the completed patron surveys and the librarian's form to Chris Rippel at the Central Kansas Library System.

Analyzing the surveys

Sample analysis (Word document)

When Chris Rippel receives the surveys from each library, he will tabulate the results and create an analysis similar to the "Sample analysis." The numbers in the sample analysis are real numbers from the research surveys mentioned above.

This explains why the options in the "sample analysis" are not the same options in our patron survey. Chris Rippel's survey presents more options. Chris Rippel's analysis will have the options in our patron survey. Nevertheless, Chris hopes the numbers given in the sample will intrigue you to wonder what your patrons will say.

Creating materials leading patrons to new authors and types of fiction

Using the analysis (Word document)

Chris and local librarians will use the analysis of the surveys for individual libraries and the surveys of all participating libraries to create materials that suggest authors for patrons to try. These materials will be placed on the shelves where patrons are when they need help choosing materials. "Using the analysis" describes several examples of these materials.


* "Aisle Read" is an ironic pun. My old linguistics professor claims written English and spoken English are different languages. "Aisle Read" is an example of this claim. My wife, Kathy Rippel, invented "Aisle Read." When she first showed me "Aisle Read" written on paper, I said "Ok." Then she demanded, "Read it aloud." When I said, "I'll read," I got the pun. Later I realized that promoting the reading of written English using a pun that works only in spoken English is amusingly ironic. I love it.