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Summer Reading

  Summer reading will be starting soon, and your book displays and lists can become part of the program. There are two themes that most public libraries will be using: Adventure Begins at Your Library from the Collaborative Summer Library Program and Read, Renew, Repeat from iRead. Either theme can be used to promote your backlist and bring your collection to your patron’s attention. Use them broadly and always include some basic information about your summer reading program on the displays. A QR code to your website will also help patrons find out more. Don’t forget to take Becky Spratford’s ( RA for All ) advice and put a cart of adult books in the youth programs. Most young children who attend storytime have a caregiver with them and those adults will appreciate having access to materials without having to bring a potentially tired or hungry child into the adult stacks. The cart can be easily filled with fiction and non-fiction popular titles. It can even be placed near the check
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Just In Case Book Display Ideas

 There will be months when you are out of ideas for a book display or are too busy to invest a lot of time in creating one. For these times, keep a list of easy displays with premade signage that can be filled quickly and replenished by anyone. Exactly what these lists consist of depends on your collection and patrons but make sure that they can include titles from every part of your collection including youth titles. As always, keep the focus on backlist titles that are not from the same bestselling authors that everyone knows about already. Having data available about which authors, titles, subjects, and series need some attention makes this type of display easy. If you are not the person in your library system who runs these reports, you will need to reach out to them. Having this information will help you have display ideas on hand. I have done a display with nothing but fiction that was due to be weeded if it didn’t get checked out. The face outs helped them get attention and ma
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Book Display Idea - Five Book Friday!

  Reoccuring social media posts can be a reason for people to revist your social media pages even when the posts don't show up in their feed. A fun way to involve all staff, regardless of position, in readers advisory and marketing your backlist is what I call Five Book Friday. Everyone who works in your library system can find materials about a theme they love including books and audio-video materials. The idea can even work with your eBook collection.  Announce the program and seek input from staff. With a calendar you can assign weeks and have part of your social media promotion set for the year. Allowing everyone to participate will add topics and titles that would otherwise be buried in the stacks to get a spotlight shined on them. Someone in your business office may love historical fiction. A member of your facilities team could love French cooking. A preschool storytime star may be an expert in space opera. Not only will this provide social media posts but it will encourage
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Book Display Idea Using One Book - Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

  One book can be the inspiration for a book display or list. Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (Marysue Rucci Books, 2023) flips the serial killer tale to focus on the victims and those left behind. The killer isn’t named although he’s based upon the most famous serial killer of the 1970’s who was eventually captured in Florida. There are two narrators, Pamela Schumacher who survived the killer’s attack on her sorority house and Ruth, one of the killer’s early Washington state victims, who disappeared from Lake Sammamish State Park. By leaving the killer unnamed and exploring the lives of the women who became victims, Knoll de-mythologizes the murderer and allow the women to be complex and fully human, apart from their connection with him. Fast-paced and disturbing, readers who enjoy crime stories told from a different angle will find this book compelling.   I mention several books below which would be read-alikes for this book. While one could go to the true crime section and just
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Ideas For Book Displays and Other Passive Readers Advisory - Horror Edition

Horror is very popular now which makes some library workers uncomfortable because it is a genre they personally avoid. There are plenty of resources out there to help you do don't be scared!  Remember that I am trying to avoid repeating resources in these guides. You will find horror information on some of the science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction guides.  One site you should have bookmarked is Becky Spratford's blog for horror fiction, RA for All - Horror.  She posts reviews, trends, and other vital information about horror fiction. There is plenty of detail about the major horror awards such as the Stoker Awards and the Splatterpunk Awards. In addition, it is the place to find information about Summer Scares . A project to promote reading horror in the summer, Summer Scares is a joint effort of United for Libraries, Book Riot, Booklist, The Horror Writers of America, and NoveList, a division of EBSCO Information Services. Three titles are picked for adults, young adults
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Book Display Idea - Annual Reading Challenge Suggestions

 If you need a good idea for a fill-in book display, you can always return to the many reading challenges that pop-up in December and January. These challenges sometimes have an overall theme based upon a genre and sometimes they are very broad. Each month, a prompt to read a certain kind of book is presented. "Read a book that takes place in [city/country]" or '"read a book There are months where readers will struggle to find a title. In addition, some readers will discover a reading challenge that they didn't know existed. This might be an idea you reserve until June when you can set it up a half way through the challenge theme. While I am on record as advising against too many signs and decorations on a display, remember to include information about the challenge and where patrons can find out more.  Your book clubs can use these challenges for those months where there is a struggle to agree upon a title. There are challenges which focus on books by particular
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May Book Display Ideas

  May has a variety of traditional and more adventurous reasons to set up book displays. Remember that you should use your programs and local events as inspiration as well.  Here are some suggestions for May book displays:  May Day- There are a variety of reasons to celebrate May day. It's the traditional start to summer. You could use Midsommer (the film) as an inspiration and include some non-fiction on wicca in addition to folk horror.  It's also International Workers' Day which would mean titles about the labor movement and work in general.  Star Wars Day: May the 4th be with you - Don't limit this display to just Star Wars films and titles. Look for other space operas in your collection which could use some exposure and put out some read alikes and watch alikes for Star Wars.  Mother's Day (2nd Sunday)- Besides the more obvious fiction and non-fiction about mother/child relationships and mothering in general, think about a "Bad Mothers" display. Books
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