Readers' advisory

Readers' advisory (sometimes spelled readers advisory or reader's advisory) is a service which involves suggesting fiction and nonfiction titles to a reader through direct or indirect means. This service is a fundamental library service; however, readers' advisory also occurs in commercial contexts such as bookstores. Currently, almost all North American public libraries offer some form of readers' advisory.

"Setting a date for the start of what we now call readers advisory service, particularly readers advisory in the public library, is at best a frustrating, almost arbitrary exercise. Efforts at historical precision can founder on such basic issues as the absence of common definitions. For example, answers to such questions as 'What exactly is a public library?" or "What really is readers advisory?" have long been disputed." (Bill Crowley, from his 2005 journal article "Rediscovering the History of Readers Advisory Service")

The historical period divisions and merits of different types of readers' advisory services is a hotly debated topic among librarians.

Bill Crowley, in his 2005 article, "Rediscovering the History of Readers Advisory Service," breaks down the historical period divisions of the service into four eras:

Juris Dilevko and Candice Magowan question the merits of the current readers' advisory emphasis on popular fiction materials in their book "Readers' Advisory Service in North American Public Libraries, 1870–2005." They subdivide the history as:

Dilevko and Mogowan write about "readers' advisory systematically committ[ing] itself to meaningful adult education through serious and purposeful reading" up until the 1960s, when emphasis on "popular culture resulted in the 'Give 'Em What They Want' approach" and the "The Devolution into Entertainment."

In 1897, the ALA President stated that "the personal influence of librarians who assisted and advised readers was the most potent force in molding community reading."

Organized readers' advisory programs have been documented dating back to the 1920s. Between 1922–1926 readers' advisory programs were experimentally introduced into seven urban libraries (Cleveland and Detroit, in 1922, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago, in 1923 and 1924, and Cincinnati and Portland, OR).

The Adult Education Movement emerged in the 1920s in public libraries and was frequently discussed in American Library Association professional publications.

The 1924 report The American Public Library and the Diffusion of Knowledge by William Learned to the Carnegie Corporation sought to establish adult education as the focus of the public library, with personalized readers' advisory service to adult readers by "reference experts" who would make up a "community intelligence service."

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