2.2: Online resources that promote reading to adult clients

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Identifying current reading experience and preferences
3. Criteria for evaluation of online resources
4. Evaluation criteria
5. Reader development initiatives for adult clients
6. Reader development websites for adult clients
7. Online resources for reader development for adult clients
8. Thematic approaches to reader development for adult clients
   1. Activities

Thematic approaches to reader development for adult clients

Thematic lists can be helpful if you have identified that the client has a specific interest. Such lists can stimulate interest in reading progressively through the titles, enabling the client to have access to a ready-made pathway to items which they would not have otherwise located.

You can find a number of thematic lists from different sources online. For example, it can be very helpful if your reader likes crime fiction but has run out of ideas, to know that the Penguin website has a Crime and Thriller section which features new titles. The Guardian website has a section which is divided up by genre. The Guardian offers a reviewer's evaluation of the book, whilst the Penguin website offers the publisher's information.

The thematic lists on these sites can be limited to literary and mainstream publishing, so it is worth taking time to think about alternative sources such as smaller local publishers or those publishing for specific audiences such as:

Obviously you cannot be expected to have an all-encompassing knowledge of thematic lists. However you should be able to use Internet search techniques to identify and locate appropriate resources. Library websites themselves often have thematic lists. A good example is Birmingham Libraries' Aspirasian collection promoting the writing of Black and Asian writers (www.birmingham.gov.uk and search for Aspirasian). Other useful sites include:

Now let's try some Activities on thematic approaches...