1. Discover! @ Halifax Public
Libraries
HPL’s New Library Catalogue and How It Can Be
Used As a Readers’ Advisory Tool
Laurel Tarulli
Collection Access Librarian
tarulll@halifax.ca

2. The catalogue as a Readers’ Advisory
Tool
 Uniformity in headings/access points not
found in other databases
 Personalized for your readers’ and library’s
needs
 Allows an RA to find titles for the reader that
we have in our collection
 The experts on this database are in-house –
us!

3. In the past, not a popular RA tool
 Mindset – “Myth” that the catalogue is hard to
use
 Lack of expertise for the different search
functions which leads to frustration
 Use and knowledge of subject headings and
genres
 Limitations of catalogue and its content
 Traditionally considered inventory list, not a
discovery tool

4. Why should we use the catalogue?
 We control the catalogue
 We are the experts
 Enriched content/description
 Reading lists
 Personalized annotations
 Local/specialized access points
 RA collaboration
 Narrative Non-fiction genre headings

5. Improving your RA skills in the
Catalogue
 Become familiar with the genres used in your
library catalogue
 Successful searches combine genre
headings with subjects
 How do I know what to search?
 Look at the records to see what is being used
 Adult fiction records usually include:
 Setting/Place
 Occupation of protagonist
 Genre

6. What is Discover?
 New catalogue using the product AquaBrowser.
HPL is calling it “Discover”.
 How many of you are familiar with Discover?
 How many of you have started/looked at the tutorial
on Discover that was recently sent out?
 How many of you have had training on Discover, in
addition to the tutorial?

7. Discover for RA Purposes
 Faceted Navigation
 Sort by feature
 My Discoveries

8. Faceted Navigation
 A reader comes up to you and tells you about a great book they
just read, “Beautiful Creatures”. Based on your RA interview,
you extract the main themes that the reader enjoyed about this
book. Let’s imagine, in this example, our reader enjoyed the
supernatural and imaginary feel or imaginary culture that was
created by the different characters in the book.
 With that information, how can you find similar titles that our
reader may be interested in? There are two components here:
 The Title “Beautiful Creatures”
 Two topics or themes: “Supernatural” and “Imaginary
Feel/Culture”

9. The easiest and most direct way to find similar titles to this book is
by searching the book itself, Beautiful Creatures.

10. Genre Read-Alikes
 A list of genres used for Fiction and Non-
fiction can be found on Catawiki
 http://192.168.17.8/catawiki/index.php/Main_Page
 Once you determine a specific genre or two
that you’d like to search, enter the genre(s)
into the search box on the main page of
Discover and Search!

11. Genre Read-Alikes
Let’s use the Genre Headings:
 Chick lit, Romance, Humor

12. Once you choose an
author, you can sort by
factors such as location and date

13. My Discoveries
 What is My Discoveries?
 Social, collaborative feature that allows users and
staff to tag, review and rate items within the
catalogue.
 Enables users to create lists (public or private
depending on preference) of their favourite items,
or to organize their reading, listening and viewing
interests.
 Users can interact and contribute to content in the
catalogue.

14. How can it be used as an RA tool?
 Allows a patron to “discover” another reader
with similar reading interests.
 Sharing or collaborating
 Reading lists
 Sharing through Facebook, Twitter, etc.
 Reviews
 Tags – with appeal factor terms?
 Fast-paced, Moody, Edgy, Bittersweet

15. Examples
 A book: Fallen by Lauren Kate
 2 Reviews
 Written by Community Members: Bookworm 95 and
Pepsicola
 Click on Bookworm95 and see a list of books also review
by the same user; or
 Type the username into the search box to find other
reviews or lists that community member has
created/contributed to the catalogue

17. Examples
 An Author: Stephenie Meyer

18. Local Examples
 RA’s can contribute content:
 Reviews
 Tags with appeal factors
 Searchable read-alike lists
 Example: SarainHalifax
 Lists created by one of our staff members at HPL

19. “Sarainhalifax” – Sara Gillis from
Spring Garden Library

20. Questions or Comments?
Laurel Tarulli
Collection Access Librarian
tarulll@halifax.ca
490-2704