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Secrets of the Library:
A Handy Guide To Finding
The RIGHT BOOK

So, you want to read a book, and you don't have a whole pile of assignments from teachers to tell you how to spend your reading time.  And suddenly you realize--there are about twenty-five thousand books on the shelves of the Teen Room alone, and millions in the whole world!  How on Earth do you decide which one you're going to invest the next few hours in?

Luckily, there are any number of ways to find a book, and your friendly neighborhood librarian is usually more than happy to help  you with any of them.  We love books.  We love to match you up with books.  It's all good.

The Author Method
The most popular way to decide what to read next is to find a book you like and then read more books by the same author.  You liked Lord of the Rings?  Why not try The Hobbit?  Or maybe The Princess Diaries is more your cuppa... why not meet an All-American Girl next?  It's a great way to keep yourself entertained by someone you know can entertain  you.  If you don't know what else the author has written, a librarian can help you find out.

"But I already finished all of her stuff!"

It happens, of course.  But that's not the end of the author method, because every author is a reader first, and most of them are pretty open about what they read.  Sometimes, they'll have whole lists of books that they think are awesome.  You like Stephen King, Stephen King likes The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson...  why not give that a spin?  It's not quite as sure a bet, but it's often a good one.  You can usually find this kind of recommendation by reading biographies and memoirs of your favorite authors.

The Genre Method
So,  you're out of books by an author you like, and none of the ones she recommends sounds good to you right now.  You're not out of luck--you can also search by genre... the type of book it is.  What is it that you liked about the last book you read?  Was it the fast-paced action?  Why not try an adventure novel?  Or maybe you liked puzzling out the details to figure out what happened.  You could always try a mystery next.  Fantasy and science fiction are fun when you want to stretch your imagination.  Romance can be lovely to curl up with.   So... what do you like?  Many genres have bibliographies and websites and all sorts of resources to get you started reading through them.  Why not become a total know-it-all about one or another of them?

The Catalog Method
Not everything is sorted by genre, and sometimes, to find what you want,  you can look in the catalog.  This is the way you're usually going to do it for nonfiction, but  even fiction can have a catalog listing.  Maybe you really like to read fictional diaries... try typing in the subject "Diaries -- fiction"...  you'll be surprised how many there are!

The Booklist Method
The library keeps up booklists for teens, adults, and kids.  You can find lists with all sorts of themes, from books about serious health issues to books about opera to books about the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  And we're always making new ones--just keep checking.  You might find something you never would have thought of before!

The Contagion
The best of all ways to get a book the oldest way of all--pass it around like the common cold.  Readers love to talk about what they're reading, and try to sell you on their favorite books.  Let them give it a shot!  If  your friend says, "I've been reading the coolest thing ever!" then, hey... give it a try.  Peer pressure isn't always bad!  And when you've read it, if you like it, then you and your friend can talk about it as much as you want.  Be nosy--if you see a book that looks interesting, ask about it.  And don't forget... you can be "patient zero" as well.  If you find a great book some other way, pass it on!

Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?
And of course, never ignore the power of sheer luck.  I mean, why not? You don't know what you want to read, so why not let a book find you?  Go to the shelf in an area you like--genre, nonfiction subject, author, whatever--then close  your eyes, stick your hand out, and take whatever you happen on.  Give it a chance--read twenty or thirty pages.  The worst that can happen is that  you won't like it, and you can just leave it on a table to be re-shelved.  The best that can happen is that you'll find a great book that no one else has found ahead of you.

Notes for the nonfictionally inclined
Those of us who are fiction readers automatically assume that if people are going to read for fun, of course they're going to look for stories. We'll talk your ear off about genre and our favorite authors and that awesome plot twist that we just can't tell you about because it would spoil everything...

But maybe fiction doesn't do all that much for you.  It's okay!  We fiction types may be a little surprised and confused, but maybe you can teach us a thing or two.

The nice thing about reading nonfiction in the library is that it's all grouped by subject.  Find something  you're interested in, and just browse to your heart's delight.  There's always something that will catch you.

But what if you're not sure what you're interested in today?

That's an amiable sort of problem.

Want to read about someplace you've never even thought about?  Take down an atlas in the reference section, open it, and plunk your finger down on the page.  See what's closest.   Make it a project to find out everything  you can about it, just for the heck of it.  Yeah, that's right.  Just put some information in  your head for fun.  No grades, no pressure, just neat new facts to play with.  I did this and ended up finding out all about the island country of Tuvalu.

If countries aren't your bag, maybe you could grab a newspaper, open it up, and see  what sports are going on.  Go and learn a new one!  Or find out about poetry.  Or read a dictionary.  (Yes, that has its own pleasures.  I swear.)

Another place to get cool ideas is Wikipedia.  Now, as a librarian, I must tell you that Wiki doesn't always have perfect information--when anyone can edit, that means mistakes are prone to getting through, even with everyone doing his level best.  Never use Wiki as a final reference.  But as a first reference?  It's great!   What used to take hours of footnote chasing to accomplish, you can do in a few mouseclicks now--you can, in short, jump all the way into anything.  You can start on any subject at all, and just randomly click on links until you get to something interesting that you don't know about already, and then find out all about it.  This is how I found out about the fabulous Lake Vostok, which led me to Europa, a moon of Jupiter, which...

Er, getting carried away here. :)

Give it a try!