A sign of a good book: readers’ methods of accessing fiction in the public library

Purpose – Lending novels is the major service provided by public libraries. The efforts in developing search systems have been focused on retrieving non-fiction. There is a need for designing systems to support fiction searching in libraries. The aim of this study is to analyze readers’ methods of accessing fiction in a public library for informing the design of fiction search systems. This study seeks to find out which attributes of books readers perceive as indicators of a good novel, and what kind of tactics they use for finding these good novels in the public library. Design/methodology/approach – The authors observed 16 adult library users by semi-structured interviews eliciting information about their literary competence, what characterizes a good novel and how they accessed and identified good novels in the library. Findings – Based on the data this paper developed a tentative reader typology, which differentiated the attributes of good novels and major tactics for accessing them. Practical implications – The typology was used for inferring user models and design ideas for systems supporting fiction searching. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study to inform how readers’ literary competence is associated with the tactics used and indicators recognized in books for finding and selecting good novels to borrow.