In many of our conversations with libraries, we are frequently asked about changes or updates that NoveList has made. I have now been with NoveList for over a year, and it’s amazing to look back and see how NoveList is constantly evolving and changing to meet the needs of libraries and readers. Here is our yearly round-up highlighting all the fresh new content you can find in NoveList.
Let’s talk books
First up, we have the launch of BookChat, our new readers’ advisory chat service, that is available as an add-on to NoveList Plus subscriptions. Our BookChat Specialists give on-the-spot recommendations to patrons but can also support your library’s staff during those busy hours or when you need a quick recommendation that might be outside of your expertise. Regardless of what your book needs are, our BookChat Specialists can help you dive deeper into the genres your patrons love or find that next series that meets your community’s reading needs.
New index and theme and genre, oh my!
NoveList Story Elements are a great way for you to explore themes, genres, and the different appeal terms that we use to help describe a book. To make it easier to explore these elements, the Story Elements Index pages have been added to NoveList and can be found in our Quick Links dropdown menu. Now you can thoroughly explore how the different terminology works together and view all the changes and additions we make to our story elements in real-time.
Speaking of exploring, we added a new theme, Dark Academia, for readers who like a story that usually takes place in an academic institution and involves secret societies, conspiracies, or deadly competition. Take a dive into our curated recommended reads lists for Dark Academia by searching UI 454027 for teen titles and UI 454028 for adult titles.
Let’s not forget our new genre Book Club Best Bets, has been added to titles, making it easier to identify if a book is perfect for a book club by either reviews, media outlets, celebrity book clubs or our NoveList experts. Be sure to use GN book club best bets in a search to easily pull books with this heading.
Strides in equity, diversity, and inclusion
There has been an abundance of work done to help improve our subject headings and character identities that make up the metadata you find in NoveList. The massive project to change more than 2,300 subject headings relating to Indigenous peoples and cultures of the Americas was done last summer to improve upon the culturally insensitive language used to catalog books. In addition, searching for underrepresented characters has become easier with the updates made to specific identity-related headings. Now if you are looking at a book that has a set of diverse characters, those character details will now include more specific details; instead of searching something broad like “physically disabled characters” you can now search “people with cerebral palsy”.
But wait, there’s more!
I can't wrap up this year in review without giving a shout-out to our NoveList team and advisor for their hard work in creating Core Collection en Español, our newest addition to Core Collections. If you are looking for guidance in starting or maintaining a Spanish-language collection, this is the perfect tool to help you select materials based on your community's needs.
This is just a snapshot of what is new and fresh in NoveList. We hope to continue to provide useful tools to help readers find the books they will love. Remember to sign up for NoveList News to stay up to date with all the latest updates and announcements.
Maria Fonseca-Gonzalez is a NoveList Consultant. She is currently reading (and giggling with her daughter to) Little Taco Truck by Tanya Valentine.
