NoveList Plus is a Marvel resource I've used before, but this week's exercise is a good refresher on a very valuable readers' advisory tool. The "detail" and "brief" views of results seemed most helpful, offering brief plot descriptions that would be useful for patrons. It's also easy to spot what book comes next in a series, a common patron question. I've been using the What's Next: Books in Series database for that, but this may inspire me to switch to NoveList.
The options for limiting and narrowing results are useful. They might help pinpoint the title when a patron says, "I can't remember the name of the book I'm looking for, but I can tell you a little about the plot."
I could imagine using the author and title read-alike tools to build a book display. For example, Maine author Paul Doiron is very popular with our patrons right now. NoveList could help quickly locate read-alike authors and titles for a display that would promote similar books we have in our collection.
I don't have a lot of experience with readers' advisory, and when a patron does ask for a suggestion, I always feel like the clock is ticking -- very, very fast. Can some of you with more experience offer any tips on providing good readers' advisory service?