What Tamar Learned at PLA: "Reading Maps"

I have to first totally catch Leslie M.'s interest by saying that the concept of reading maps is interestingly similar to her famous (or infamous? haha) mind maps. I have longed loved the way a mind map works, and was very interested in seeing the same concept used to make maps of books, to map the way our mind thinks of books. What is a reading map? It's simple, really...To begin a reading map, first think of a topic, a person, or a concept. The example I'll use here is: The West (as in, the western US). So, from the West, you can immediately think of Western fiction. Then list some authors: Max Brand, Louis Lamour, and Ralph Compton. You can also think of travelling to the West, so throw in travel books, like Fodor's books on Texas, New Mexico, etc. Then consider people of the Old West, like Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Hickock, and Billy the Kid. Biographies of their lives would go on the reading map. There are lots of other directions as well, for instance, country-western music, Old West movies (John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, etc), non-genre fiction set in the West (Brokeback Mountain, Larry McMurtry), juvenile/teen fiction, romance set in the West...it's really never-ending. You can lay-out your reading maps on paper in any way that makes sense to you. Also, reading maps don't have to be limited to books. They could (and I think, should) include other formats. Reading maps can be used for book displays, promotion of some new and popular title, and they can also be used on the library website. Each title could be linked to the catalog, thereby enabling the patron to put holds on things right away. Reading maps are very fluid, I think they make sense and generate excitement for readers. They also encourage readers to try something new in their reading, for instance, if they never read biographies, but they loved a Western novel, they may be willing to try a biography in order to read about the real Old West. I'm in love with this idea, and I'm going to use it for book displays at the very least. (I think most of us already have, to a certain extent.)So, here's another little bit of info I'll be bringing to the next RQT meeting. Those poor souls!