FYI

Linda H. Lord
Director, Library Development
Maine State Library
64 State House Station
Augusta, ME  04333
Telephone 207-287-5620
Fax 207-287-5624
E-mail [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Lynne Rohweder [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 1:09 PM
To: Diana Degen (E-mail); Dorey Conway (E-mail); Harris County Public
Library (E-mail); Jennifer Watson (E-mail); Joe Scorza (E-mail); Linda Lord
(E-mail); NC Live (E-mail); North of Boston Library Exchange (E-mail);
Philip McArdle (E-mail); Stephen Cunetto (E-mail); Susan Brown (E-mail);
Teresa Pare (E-mail); Terry Plummer (E-mail); Theresa Trawick (E-mail)
Cc: Duncan (E-mail); Roger Rohweder (E-mail)
Subject: NoveList Notes-October 2002: Finding Mysteries in NoveList

Please post to your respective listservs or distribution lists.  If there is
trouble with formatting, please let me know and I will send a text based
message. Thanks!

LynneRohweder
Director of Marketing - NoveList

  _____





NoveList Notes                                                   October,
2002


Please share by forwarding to any other colleagues who would benefit from
this content.

NoveList Notes is an eclectic collection of tips, tricks, or information
about how to use NoveList more effectively.  They are designed to be short,
quick, and practical.  Some topics will be more applicable to libraries,
some more applicable to schools, and some will be effective for either
environment. This note appeared couple of years ago and due to its
popularity, has been rewritten for the current version of NoveList.


FINDING MYSTERIES


Sometimes finding the right mystery to read is anything but elementary.
There are times when we all wish we could draw on some of Mr. Poirot's
"little grey cells" in addition to our own.  When it comes to solving your
readers' requests for new mysteries to read-you should think of NoveList as
added memory.

Using NoveList's Describe a Plot feature and understanding how NoveList
describes mysteries is one way you can find the perfect solution to your
patrons' reading needs.  Another is by using NoveList's Find a Series Name
search.  This approach will help you and your patrons find the next book in
that mystery series they love, or learn which earlier titles they might have
missed.

While NoveList provides you with information on many mystery titles, the
thousands of mysteries contained in the product can be overwhelming.  Here
are some ideas for helping your readers reach a deeper understanding of what
makes a particular title a good read for them.


USING NOVELIST TO FIND MYSTERIES BASED ON DETECTIVES

Although some mystery readers are drawn to this genre because they want to
solve the mystery, research shows us that many readers are drawn by the
title's detective and/or setting.  NoveList's many subject headings can help
you find just the right detective or location for your mystery fans.
Understanding how to use the subject headings in NoveList to describe the
detective and/or setting will help you narrow your mystery search most
effectively to the aspect of the story that is most important to the reader.


In NoveList, detectives can be described in a number of ways, including
character name, gender, occupation, or ethnicity.  Consider using and mixing
the following search strategies based on what your reader is looking for:

CHARACTER NAME:  Mystery readers often talk about their favorite detective
and share this information with their friends.  This sometimes leads readers
to the library with the name of a detective but little or no information
about the author of (or titles in) the series.  To crack this case, simply
enter the character's name using NoveList's Find a Series Name, such as
"Lincoln Rhyme" or "Stephanie Plum" in order to retrieve Jeffery Deaver's
and Janet Evanovich's popular mystery series.  The results of searches like
these show the books in order by publication date, which, while imperfect as
an indicator of placement in series, is often a good start.

NoveList also lets you find books for readers by searching on a detective's
name in Describe a Plot.  For example, you can find all of the books that
have Sherlock Holmes as a character by entering the words "Sherlock Holmes"
in NoveList's Describe a Plot function (including books that feature Holmes
as a character but were not written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).  This search
provides a list of about 250 books, including those titles by Laurie R. King
that have Holmes serving as a mentor to young Mary Russell.

GENDER:  Over the past several years, many titles have introduced detectives
who are women. While male detectives like Spenser and Robicheaux are still
around, they are sharing the space under the streetlight with the likes of
Kinsey Millhone and Blanche White.

Using the "women detectives" heading in a Describe a Plot search at the
adult level retrieves about 250 titles that have women detectives as
characters.

OCCUPATION:  NoveList's subject headings allow you to search for detectives
by searching by the occupation.  The formula to use is an
occupation/career/profession and the word "detectives" [NOTE:  Make it
"detectives" (plural) because you are searching for a class/group of
characters.]

Here are a few examples from our database:
*       Banker detectives
*       Bookseller detectives
*       Domestic-worker detectives
*       Lawyer detectives
*       Professor detectives


USING NOVELIST TO FIND MYSTERIES BASED ON SETTING

The location or setting of the mystery is another key appeal factor for
mystery readers.  Indeed, some series are known by the setting rather than
(or in addition to) detective name.  For instance, a search in NoveList's
Find a Series Name function using the words "cape cod" will retrieve Phoebe
Atwood Taylor's Asey Mayo Cape Cod mysteries.

Another way NoveList allows you to search for mysteries by location or
setting, regardless of whether they belong to a series, is with the Describe
a Plot feature.  You can search by country, by state/province or by city.
(NOTE: Regional headings like Southwestern United States are also sometimes
used but you will get better results by searching on individual states-New
Mexico, for example.)

To find mystery stories that combine a setting with a particular type of
detective, you can use the following models to search NoveList's Describe a
Plot function:

"Mystery women detectives california"-retrieves 250 mystery titles that
contain women detectives and that are set in California.

"Mystery detectives boston"-retrieves over 200 titles that involve
detectives from various walks of life who are attempting to solve crimes in
Beantown.


OTHER WAYS TO FIND MYSTERIES

There are other ways to help your readers find mysteries in NoveList.  These
include browsing the Mysteries and Thrillers portion of Explore Fiction
(book lists are arranged by sub-topics, such as Cozy Mysteries and Forensic
Detectives), and checking out the Mysteries and Thrillers Award lists in
Best Fiction (e.g., Agatha Award and Edgar Allan Poe Award winners).



PARDON OUR DUST - MYSTERY SERIES UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Meanwhile back at NoveList Headquarters, our data detectives are sleuthing
out existing and newly published mystery series, adding character names and
series names to all the title records in a series, and building subject
heading and series links that help you and your patrons identify detectives
and mystery series quickly.  Providing complete series information is a
large and on-going construction project for us.  (If there are 8 million
stories in the Naked City, we believe half of them are mystery series!)  If
we have not yet completed our work on your favorite series or detective, use
our Send Feedback option (located in the menu on the left-hand side of any
NoveList screen) to tell us; we'll move your favorites to the head of the
construction line.