"Snack: A mere bite or morsel of food, as contrasted with a regular meal; a light or incidental repast," (One of the definitions of the noun 'snack' in the Online Oxford English Dictionary.)
I am a reader—a dedicated reader. I read for work, I read to learn, I read for the pure enjoyment of discovering a good book; and, often, I read to relax. To me, there's nothing like curling up with a light, frothy genre read just for fun.
I consider them "snack books". They satisfy my appetite without gorging me with a full course of plot and characters. My preferred snack is often a romance, but sometimes I crave a biography or a mystery. Other readers prefer to nibble on true crime, dip into "beach books", or savor some armchair travel. What we book devourers all have in common is that we're looking for enjoyment without major commitment. We want a book that fits the mood we're in now.
As librarians, helping readers indulge their cravings is often a challenge for us. We need to question carefully, so patrons don't feel we're judging what they want. We must refrain from the temptation to impose our tastes, or to broaden the reader's taste. If the patron is in the mood for something light, he or she is perfectly entitled to relish the book of choice. What is important is that we help readers find what they're looking for right then.
Determining mood can be tricky. We ask open-ended questions, starting with the basic "tell me about a book that you've read and liked". But questions like this often elicit responses that just dish up basic plots or the characters or the pacing. We can find books that fit those criteria, but if readers aren't in the mood for the menus we create, we haven't served them well. Of course, once we know those preferences, we can keep them on hand, and combine and season with moods later, to help find the book du jour.
To me, the key to determining mood is discovering how the reader wants to feel when consuming a book for pure relaxation. Here are some questions that might help patrons tell us whether they're looking for a snack or for a full meal.
- Do you want a book that you can read quickly, or one that is longer?
- Do you want a book that's easy to read, or one that's more challenging?
- Do you want another book by an author or in a series you've read before?
- Do you want to experience some thrills or do you want to feel comfortable?
- Are you looking for a book with a happy ending?
- Are you looking for a book that makes you feel good?
After we discover which ingredients of mood and plot the patron hungers for, we can put the whole recipe together and find a book that will satisfy the taste for a delicious read. If we're doing our job right, we'll have an assortment of readers' advisory tools in place that provide a broad spectrum of access to the different reading treats we have in stock.
Do snack books have value? Of course! They satisfy readers, give total enjoyment, and often whet appetites for more. Happy readers come back to our library's lavish buffet again and again. Sometimes they want a full course; sometimes they seek comfort food. And sometimes they just want a morsel. It's our job to feed our patrons' cravings, whether it's for a meal or simply a snack.
Mary Wilkes Towner is an Adult Services Librarian at The Urbana Free Library, Illinois. She is also adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and
Information Science, where she teaches Adult Popular Literature, a course highlighting Readers' Advisory and managing/marketing popular reading collections.