RA for All: Flip the Script and Think Like a Reader (Colorado Library Staff Only)

Readers Advisory belongs in every library, no matter its budget. The implementation of this vital service is the responsibility of every staff member– from pages to directors, from those behind the scenes to the ones on the front lines. This program will remove the mystery behind providing great RA service. Using her “Ten Rules of Basic RA Service” as a guide, Becky Spratford will use your own love of your favorite books to show you how to help any patron find their next great read. It’s not as hard as you think. But more importantly, you will learn why a staff that can harness the power of sharing a great read will become a stronger team and improve service to all patrons, especially the hardest to reach ones.

This 90-minute workshop is the first in the “Readers Advisory Workshop Series” for Colorado library professionals.

Registration is required once for the entire series. Participants are encouraged to attend all three sessions – third Wednesday of January, February, and March 2025, from 2 to 3:30PM.

Series dates and events are:

1. RA for All: Flip the Script and Think Like a Reader, January 15, 2025
2. Booktalk Your Way to the Friendliest Library in Town, February 19, 2025
3. Demystifying Genre, March 19, 2025

All registrants will be provided links to recordings of each session regardless of their ability to attend.

About the Presenter

Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Readers’ Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database and writes reviews for Booklist and a horror review column for Library Journal. Becky is a 23 year locally elected Library Trustee [still serving], a former Board member for the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, and currently on the Executive Board of the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with horror readers, Becky is the author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021] and the forthcoming Why I Love Horror and You Should Too [Saga Press, Sept 2025]. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serves as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Library Committee. You can follow Becky on X @RAforAll.

RA for All’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement: RA for All’s programs are crafted and delivered with the understanding that increasing the collection, discovery, and circulation