NextReads is your source for reading options

Working at a library means that people will frequently ask you for reading recommendations.

And of course, even though you may have just read something incredible, exquisite, mind-blowing, etc., being asked that question at a moment’s notice often leads to an embarrassing mental blank. Or, you skim through your list of recent reads but assume that the person asking wouldn’t be interested in any of them. This can be a problem especially if your recent reads mostly consist of cookbooks or young adult fantasy novels, whereas your audience is more likely to crave something on the opposite end of the reading spectrum such as a deeply researched work of historical nonfiction or the latest literary bestseller.

So, apart from keeping a list of exemplary titles on your person at all times (which most library staff should probably do anyway), we have to keep a few other tricks up our sleeves. One of the simplest of these is a new addition to the Digital Library, called NextReads. While it doesn’t solve the problem of providing an immediate direction for the next step in someone’s reading journey, it does assist that someone in providing their own direction, by tailoring recommendations to them based on their own chosen preferences. These recommendations are sent via email as a simple list of books with brief summaries and eye-catching cover images.

If you are a truly voracious reader, you can subscribe to all 24 newsletters in one fell swoop, or you can pick and choose from among the selections. These range from “Armchair travel,” “Christian fiction,” and “Home, Garden, and DIY,” through the New York Times bestseller lists, to “Popular Culture'' and “Tween reads.” These lists also provide links to the Library catalog so you can check each book’s status. If you see something you want that the Library doesn’t yet have, you can submit a request from the “Request an item” form on our homepage at ebonnerlibrary.org.

To sign up for any of the NextReads newsletters, head to ebonnerlibrary.org/digital-library and click on the “NextReads'' button to select your picks. On the same page, you can also subscribe to our Ebonnerlibrary Newsletter to stay up to date on EBCL news. If you are one of those people who is always looking for their next great read, let NextReads do some of the work for you, and the next time you see a librarian, you can be the one giving a reading recommendation!

Vanessa Velez is a librarian with the East Bonner County Library District.