SECRET SHOPPER

I finally managed to do my secret shopper assignment today.

I thought I could kill two assignments at once since I've formed a bit of a mental block on a thriller/suspense novel (yes, the first genre of the semester!) and thought maybe I could get some librarian recommendations.

When I was finished with the other homework I was doing at the library I headed over to the fiction area and made a lap of the room, had to scope things out. There was a librarian (I don't know if she was a librarian librarian or not) at the desk so I approached her and said I was interested in reading something suspenseful and if she could point me to something good since it isn't a genre I usually venture into.

The first thing she did was take me over to where they have some reading lists for different types of books. She pulled out lists of authors who write "Legal Thrillers" and "Heart Pounders". At this point I really thought this was going to be it and I was going to have to give her a massive failing grade but then she was able to think of an author who wrote thrillers that she had read and she took me over and showed me those books. We looked at those and then another author came to her so she took me over to see those books too.

She left me browsing the two authors she had mentioned and the lists she gave me and said they have resources on the computer that she could utilize. I think it may have been NoveList, but I'm not positive. She spent some time on the computer looking up some things (I don't know what though since I was over feigning interest in some books). When I thought I had spent enough time browsing the author she had pointed out and re-shelved the books she had pulled out I went back over to the desk. She was looking some things up and she wrote down three names on a piece of paper for me to check out. I thanked her for her help and made my way over to check out the three authors she had written down for me.

The whole process maybe took ten minutes. I was a bit disappointed that she did not ask me any questions about any specific time of suspenseful books I was looking for or if there was a type I was trying to avoid (yes, there was). So the RA interview was completely lacking in our exchange but I was happy that she made an effort besides just sending me on my way with the two reading lists.

I do think I've managed to get a book for my final annotation though, so a beneficial experience for me at least.