p.13 - ‘Toolkits of Sure Bets’ is a module in the Readers’ Advisory Expansion workshop which was co-presented with Jane Graham George at the 2015 LIANZA Conference (Wellington, N.Z.) on November 11, 2015.

p.14 - The mechanics for List Strategy execution in libraries. 7 interlocking gears which should be omnipresent and obeyed by list practitioners. 

p.15 - Librarians = Designers. Quote from Chip Kidd, Go. A Kidd’s guide to graphic design (2013) p6

p.16 - But, before we begin, understand that librarians are designers; designers of experiences of people. As designers, we have been intermittently negligent (flippant?) of the guidelines that govern great design. As a result, we often succumb to ‘Emperors New Clothes Syndrome’ and mistake mediocrity for something of higher quality. This quote is from David Juror, typographer, in Design elements: understanding the rules and knowing when to break them, 2nd ed., (2014) by Timothy Samara, p11. The full quote reads –
“Every time an attempt is made to cite rules governing what constitutes quality…people are bound to get their underwear in a knot: “That’s so limiting!” To those people, I’ll say this: Get over it! The importance of knowing which rules are considered important, and why, is understanding the possible consequences of breaking them so something unfortunate doesn’t happen out of ignorance. If everything is ‘good’, then nothing really can be. Relativism is great, to a point, and then it just gets in the way of honest judgement; the result is a celebration of ubiquitous mediocrity.” 

p.17 - The libraries responsible for manufacturing these lists have not been named (shamed?!) to protect their identity; it’s a kind of library-witness-protection-programme thing.
a New and recently Released list. 16 books presented in a black and white, vertical arrangement on 4 double-sided A4 sheets of paper
b Most Popular DVDs this Summer list. 50 DVDs on tri-folded white paper (half A4 size)

p.19 - Resources – 
‘Remix’. The Hierarchy of Reading at http://derekneighbors.com/2012/01/hierarchy-of-reading/
‘Create’. The Hierarchy of Thinking at http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
‘Meaningful’. The UX Hierarchy of Needs at Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (2011) by Stephen P Anderson

p.22 - Quote by Umberto Eco from http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/spiegel-interview-with-umberto-eco-we-like-lists-because-we-don’t-want-to-die-a-659577.html

p.24 - ‘Topos’ – n. from the Greek, literally ‘place’
‘Ineffable’ – adj. too great or intense to be expressed in words

p.25 - Author and surgeon, Atul Gawande, championed lists in his book, The Checklist Manifesto, and particularly in three complicated fields of organized human activity (medicine, business and aviation) arguing that the high-pressure complexities of modern professional occupations overwhelm even their best-trained practitioners yet a disciplined adherence to essential procedures - by ticking them off a list - can prevent potentially fatal mistakes. A simple surgical checklist from the World Health Organization designed by following the ideas described in his book has been adopted in more than twenty countries as a standard for care and has been heralded as “the biggest clinical invention in thirty years” (The Independent). Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/randomwire/4256039581

p.26 -  An interactive, online music list which can be found at http://static.echonest.com/popcorn/. This list provides audio samples and descriptions for every musical style which features on the list. Simply, click and go. http://static.echonest.com/popcorn/

p.27 - For an introductory overview of ‘Evergreen Content’ visit http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/10/16/guide-to-evergreen-content-marketing

p.29 - Quote from YA author John Green, ‘The future of reading. Don’t worry, it might be better than you think’ in School Library Journal (January 2010), p24 - 28

p.30 - Librarians talk a lot about ‘Customer Experience’ but it is often like hammering smoke to a tree when they are asked to define it. Well, here it is, as defined by experts in the field. So now we (should) have a clearer idea of what we are aiming for.  Furthermore, “Ideally, all of your library’s touch points – the places where your users come into contact with your library – will be aligned and well designed. This means that creating a holistic and positive user experience includes designing great print materials…” (Putting the user first: 30 strategies for transforming library services (2014) by Courtney Greene McDonald, p36), Quote from X: The experience. When business meets design (2015) by Brian Solis

p.31 - Quote by Piers Blofield in The Bookseller, 17 June 2011, p12. Piers Blofeld is a literary agent at Sheil Land Associates where he represents a number of high profile, prize winning and internationally bestselling authors.

p.33 - Quote from Heather Booth, Serving teens through readers’ advisory (2007). Sure Bets lists offering books which have been selected for their wide appeal may seem like obvious choices but their appearance in such a list adds credibility and trust for the target readership (while the list should also expand into less familiar areas of the library’s collection, identifying titles which link to the core group; importantly, vital connections have been made between products of comparative popularity).  The signifiance of including high-rating, populist material can not be underestimated. As Joyce Valenza, school library media denizen of Neverendingsearch (blog) fame contends, popular c Culture trumps everything and eats all other strategies for breakfast. Lesson learnt: cultural preferences and likes should be infused into library products for their increased relevance AND MEANING to targeted audiences.

p.34 - And “Content is perfectly appropriate for users when it makes them feel like geniuses on critically important missions, offering them precisely what they need, exactly when they need it, and in just the right form.” 

p.35 - Quote from Heather Booth in Serving teens through readers’ advisory (2007), p19

p.36 - Quote from Maria Popova continues, “Until we pay attention to them – because someone whose taste and opinion we trust points us to them…information discovery plays such a central role in how we fuel our creativity and thus in our creative output…information discovery is a form of creative labor in and of itself.” Quote from http://www.brainpickings.org./2011/08/01/networked-knowledge-combinatorial-creativity/

p.37 - Essentially, reading maps are heavily curated lists, visually attractive and data rich successors to the perfunctory read-a-like style of recommendation which has commanded our attention for so long. Their production is guaranteed to test the integrity of even the most capable public library service laying claims to being ‘innovative’. Yet, undeniably, the focus has shifted from ‘Content’ towards ‘Context’; fuelled by the imperative of ‘find-ability’ in a pervasive and cluttered informational landscape it is ‘Context’ where the biggest ROI for both the library and the reader now resides. And reading maps comprise the highest visible vindication of our capabilities in the field of readers’ advisory work. Quote by Neal Wyatt, ‘Re-create a book's entire universe online, and transform readers' advisory’ in Library Journal, November 1, 2006. See also, Paul Brown’s presentation at the 2013 ALIA Conference at Slideshare.net: It’s the stuff around the stuff that’s important contextual readers' advisory presentation alia 2013 version 2

p.38 - 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. A Reading Map v2.0. A selection of 19 books which take the reader beyond the wonderments of the 'reality' of 1Q84 and its two moons. 
You can read this map at http://issuu.com/readingmap/docs/1q84_by_haruki_murakami_a_reading_m_fac8194183bf49

p.43 - Part of the solution to a problem confronting our audiences is presented here. Not receiving the message? Ta daaa! That is precisely the problem for many library audiences. As is too often the case, the noise is drowning out the signal (or, volumes of products are obscuring the meaningful and the particular). Don’t worry if you can’t read the message, the noise has been removed in the next slide so that you can receive the message. Quote from Roger Martin, Rotman on design, p17.

p.47 -  This presentation would not have been possible without the contributions of these personal mentors, who I have chosen to let into my professional world and inspire me. You are very welcome to let them do exactly the same for you.
1 Austin Kleon - artist, author of Steal like an artist. 10 things nobody told you about being creative (2012)
2 Maria Popova - ‘Interestingness hunter-gatherer’, writer, and curator of the beautiful website, brainpickings.com
3 Stephen P Anderson – author of Seductive interaction design. Creating playful, fun, and effective user experiences (2011)

4 Chip Kidd - designer, author, chipkidd.com
5 Jan V White – communication design consultant, author of Editing by design. The classic guide to winning readers (2003)

6 Umberto Eco - writer, literary critic, essayist, semiotician, author of The infinity of lists (2009)
7 Nick Kellet - co-founder of list.ly
8 Shaun Usher – author of Lists of note (2014), listsofnote.com

9 Robin Good - master curator, curation.masternewmedia.org
10 Kirby Ferguson - writer, director, kirbyferguson.com
11 Steven Rosenbaum - curator, entrepreneur, filmmaker, author of Curation nation. Why the future of content is context. How to win in a world where consumers are creators (2011)
Mike Walsh – futurist, global speaker, author of Futuretainment (2010), mikewalsh.com

13 Heather Booth - librarian, author of 
14 Cynthia Orr – author, consultant, lecturer (Kent State University)
15 Nancy Pearl – author, readers’ advisor extraordinaire
Neal Wyatt – author, readers’ advisor

17 Derek Neighbors - serial entrepreneur, derekneighbors.com
18 Brad Getty - author, I was an awesomer kid (2015)