1. Results of HCL staff and CHS resident surveys

2. Process
 County Home School residents were surveyed as part
of June 2011 booktalk
 Print surveys were put into Survey Monkey tool by
Step-Up intern
 Hennepin County Library staff who participate in
booktalks program were surveyed in June 2011
 PowerPoint of most popular books during school year
compiled by Marilyn Johnson, Outreach summer 2011
Step-Up intern

3. Survey of booktalkers
How many times have you booktalked at County Home School?
1
5+
13%
31%
2
25%
4
6% 3
25%

4. Survey of booktalkers
How would you describe y our experience booktalking?
Poor Okay
Good 0% 0%
18%
Very Good
27%
Excellent
55%

5. Survey of booktalkers
How of ten do y ou use t he list of suggested t itles to choose books?
Never
9% Always
27%
Sometimes
64%

6. Survey of booktalkers
How of ten do y ou use t he database of previous booktalks?
Never
18%
Always
55%
Sometimes
27%

7. Survey of booktalkers
Whic h of these is t he greatest obstacle in preparing for booktalking at CHS?
(c hoose one)
Lack of training in
booktalking Finding fiction of
0% interest to CHS
Finding materials students
which are not Other 18%
restricted 18%
0%
Finding materials
with at least six
copies
Not enough time 9%
to prepare
55%

8. Survey of booktalkers
Whic h of these is t he most problematic when booktalking at CHS? (choose
one)
Other Students are
9% disruptive
18%
Distractions in
the classroom
27%
Students act
uninterested
46%

9. Survey of booktalkers
Wit h less students at the County Home School t han in previous years,
s hould HCL continue to booktalk monthly?
No
9%
Maybe
27% Yes
64%

10. Survey of booktalkers
Do y ou like having student choose from list titles or should t he booktalker
c hoose which titles to present?
No opinion No reponse
Let booktalkers 0%
choose 9%
9%
Let students
choose
82%

11. Survey of booktalkers
Did you use any book trailers in your booktalk?
No 0%
27%
Yes
73%

12. Survey of booktalkers
Do y ou feel t hat book trailers improve t he booktalks?
Yes
36%
Maybe
55%
No
9%

13. Survey of booktalkers
Would you recommend to colleagues that they booktalk at CHS?
Maybe
No
0%
0%
Yes
100%

14. Survey of booktalkers
Which statements best describe why you booktalk at CHS? (choose up to
three)
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
I believe in I enjoy I enjoy I enjoy I get personal I enjoy the I know the I get to use
increasing booktalking booktalking working in a and positive booktalks skills I often
access to outside of the in front of a team with a professional reaction I get have tangible do not get to
library library teen colleague enjoyment from CHS results / use in my
materials for audience for making a residents outcomes regular job
CHS positive
residents contribution

15. Survey of booktalkers
When do you read the books you use for booktalks?
On work time
10%
On my own time
90%

16. Survey of booktalkers: suggestions
 Continue to recommend new books that might be of
interest to CHS residents.
 umm, make me less nervous? Unless you have a magic
wand that erases stage fright, I think they are good as is.
The time commitment is definitely substantial, so it would
have been nice to get more off-desk time to work on my
book talks, but that's probably not possible.
 Have booktalkers complete a short report following each
visit that gets shared with other booktalkers so that we get
to share experiences and best practices, as well as
titles/authors they are really interested in.

17. Survey of booktalkers: suggestions
 Combining the smaller classes.
 It would be great if we could get the booktalkers together
once a year to share ideas, book that worked, etc. I think
that a lot of what we learn and use carries over to working
with other patrons.
 Somehow figure out how to have more time during the
work day to prepare the booktalks.

18. Survey of booktalkers: suggestions
 Sub funds – It’s increasingly difficult schedule-wise to be
able to go.
 Prepare the students more so they know how to behave and
have a sense of what to do.
 Recruit more booktalkers so we could all go in groups of
three.

19. Survey of CHS residents
About how many booktalks have you seen at County Home School?
0
12+ 9% 1
17% 9%
6
4%
4 2
4% 35%
3
22%

20. Survey of CHS residents
How would you describe t hese booktalks?
not so good
0% don't like them
8%
great
34%
okay
33%
good
25%

21. Survey of CHS Residents
Whic h of these things do you like MOST about t he booktalks (Choose no
more t han 2)?
They are different They are
than regular educational
They choose all school
types of books 5%
12%
20%
They are
entertaining
25%
They are
interesting
38%

22. Survey of CHS Residents
Whic h of these things do you like LEAST about the booktalks (Choose no
more t han 2)?
They are not
They don’t
interesting It takes too long
choose
10% to get the books
interesting books
19% 19%
That we can only
request a few
That we can only titles
have two books 16%
out
36%

23. Survey of CHS residents
Hav e you read books you normally would not have read because of these
t alks?
No
27%
Yes
73%

24. Survey of CHS residents
During t hese presentations, we should:
No response
9%
Cover MORE
Cover FEWER
books/give LESS
books / give
detail
MORE detail
77%
14%

25. Survey of CHS residents
What type of books do you like to hear about most?
No response
9%
Non-fiction / true Fiction / made-up
stories stories
48% 43%

26. Survey of CHS residents
What types of f iction would y ou like to hear more about?
50.0%
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
Fantasy Graphic novels Horror Mystery Romance SciFi Teen Fiction

27. Survey of CHS residents
What types of nonfiction would you like to hear more about?
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Art Biography Health Music Poetry Religion Self Help

28. Survey of CHS residents
Whic h of these things do you like best that the booktalkers do?
let us choose
use book trailers which books to
31% hear about
29%
read sections
from the books
12%
let us examine
let us participate
books
in some way
19%
9%

29. Survey of CHS residents: comments
 more urban books
 bring books about food
 More interesting books
 Booktalkers need to stand up more
 Booktalkers need to move around more
 Show more fantasy, romance, and horror
 Have peers/teenagers do booktalks
 More energetic presence.

30. Next steps / recommendations
 Share results with CHS
teachers
 Ask CHS teachers to
share results with
students
 Share results with HCL
booktalkers, and later all
HCL staff

31. Next steps / recommendations
 Booktalkers could  Create opportunities for
present their experiences audience involvement
and what they’ve learned within the booktalks to
to other colleagues to keep students actively
recruit more booktalkers engaged booktalks.
and gain support for the  Respond to audience
program. cues and adapt
 Choose more books that presentation style and
reflect the interest of content accordingly to
CHS students based on maintain interest.
survey results.  Suggest increased
teacher intervention with
disruptive behavior.

32.  County Home School
evaluation compiled by
Angel Gardner, Outreach
library school summer
2011 intern