Game On: Providing Readers’ Advisory Game of Thrones Style

            The Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library (MPHPL) is a mid-sized library system that serves over 85,000 residents of Penn and Harris Township (“About Us”) of which 66% are registered card holders.  A reciprocal borrowing agreement with the St. Joseph County Public Library as well as nine other area library systems expands the library’s user base (“Reciprocal Borrowing Guidelines”).  The Mishawaka Library is open 52 hours per week; the Bittersweet Branch and Harris Branch are each open 46 hours per week.  The Mishawaka Library is located in a downtown setting and sees a fair share of homeless and lower income patrons.  The Bittersweet and Harris Branches are located conveniently by subdivisions and patrons tend to be fairly well educated and middle-to-upper class.

            MPHPL has a well-rounded popular collection of fiction titles.  The fiction collection is sub-divided out into fiction, mystery, fantasy, romance, science-fiction, urban fiction, and western.  A large print section offers similar sub-sections. For those patrons who prefer digital services, MPHPL offers the 3M Cloud Library as well as Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 for eBooks.  For those that enjoy listening to books on audio, all three MPHPL locations have a wide selection of Books on CD and eAudiobooks via One Click Digital and Hoopla.

            Fantasy books and fantasy-themed graphic novels are two extremely popular collections at MPHPL, especially at the Mishawaka Library.  With the fifth season of Game of Thrones premiering on HBO in April 2015 as well as plans for an upcoming themed library program, the idea for a Game of Thrones display was conceived.  One of the Reference Librarians discovered an old chair in the library’s basement and took it home for her dad to convert into the throne.  I suggested that this could dub as a great way to display the Song of Ice and Fire series.    

            The decision was made to create a bookmark listing all of the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series, a George R.R. Martin bibliography, and a read-a-like pamphlet.  The form these three items would take was one of the earliest factors considered in the process.  The series is not large, even with the inclusion of the two books not yet published, so we felt that this information would be best displayed in a bookmark format that a patron could use for reference and also for its intended use as a place marker.  George R.R. Martin has an extensive bibliography, so a columned handout was planned for patrons to easily grab and fold if needed.  Rather than include every single short story Martin has ever written, a link to Fantastic Fiction, a great RA tool, was to be included on the handout.  Lastly, the need

for read-a-likes was necessary due to the fact that the Song of Ice and Fire books are almost always checked out and we don’t like to see patrons leave empty-handed.  Also, many patrons have recently caught up with the series and they are looking for something to whet their appetite as they wait for the next book.  With space at a premium, a three-fold pamphlet with annotated read-a-like suggestions Song of Ice and Fire series seemed to be the most attractive format to use to encourage patrons to pick up and stick in a book or purse.  Each annotation would focus on at least one thing that patrons enjoy about the

            All materials were created using Microsoft Word (see external attachments).  NoveList was used to create the bookmarks as well as the annotated pamphlet.  Amazon.com was also referenced for the annotated pamphlet. The bibliography was created with information retrieved from Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/).  The fonts Calibri and TeXGyreAdventor were used across all materials to maintain consistency.

            Selections for the annotated pamphlet were chosen from NoveList’s series read-a-likes. I did a search for Game of Thrones and then went down through the list.  I also found room in the pamphlet to include some author read-a-likes.  I had wanted to include at least one young adult crossover series on my list and was happy to see that NoveList already had one (Half a King trilogy by Joe Abercrombie).  Rather than do an MLA formatted list, I organized the pamphlet alphabetically by series name.  This way, a patron can go to the shelves and browse for each series under the author’s last name.  The Reference Services staff will also be able to look up each book in the series using Fantastic Fiction or NoveList if a patron needs more information.  If the library does not own a series, most of the series are old enough that interlibrary loan service can be used.

            The most difficult part of this assignment was the annotations. I have not read Game of Thrones and I’m not a big reader of fantasy.  I wanted to make sure the annotations were original enough, yet gave the reader an idea of what type of story to expect.  I found NoveList’s characterization and pacing notes to be extremely helpful as I put everything together.  Another thing that I noticed when putting the pamphlet together was that synopsis for fantasy books are extremely long due to the complicated settings and plots.   Creating synopsis that give the reader a general idea of the story without going overboard was at times a challenge.

            In conclusion, I found this to be a very useful exercise.  Even though our program was unexpectedly delayed, the materials created for this class will be used with promotion for the program and also for anyone that asks about what to read after Game of Thrones.

Works Cited

“About Us.”  MPHPL.  Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, 2015.  Web.  15 Apr. 2015.

“Reciprocal Borrowing Guidelines.”  MPHPL.  Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, 2015.

Web.  15 Apr. 2015.