Unshelving Your Collection Idea - Summer Scares Adult TItles

 Horror, like every genre, is read all year. Summer Scares is a joint reading program between the Horror Writers Association, Booklist, iREAD, NoveList, and Book Riot. It is focused on encouraging people to read more horror. Three titles in three categories (adult, young adult, and middle grade) are selected as well as a spokesperson. For 2025, the spokesperson is Kendare Blake. The selections are always backlist titles and include a diverse selections of authors and levels of scare.

The three adult titles this year are:

• Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca (Titan Books, 2022)
• Reprieve by James Han Mattson (William Morrow, 2021)
• The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (Harper Voyager, 2019)

The young adult titles this year are: 

• Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist (Greenwillow, 2018)
• The Getaway by Lamar Giles (Scholastic Press, 2022)
• Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen, 2023)

The three middle grade titles this year are: 

• Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable (First Second, 2022)
• Ravenous Things by Derrick Chow (Disney Hyperion, 2022)
• Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon (Scholastic Press, 2020)

 It is also a great book display idea to include in your summer book display schedule. Booklist hosted three webinars with the three authors in conversation with a moderator. They are free to view so you can recommend them to your co-workers. You can view the adult author webinar here, on Booklist's YouTube channel.

You can use this year's titles as well as those from previous years on a book display, of course. Add other books by those authors as well. If you have any horror short story anthologies, you add them as well. 

One of my favorite parts of these interviews with the authors selected for any given year is hearing the reading suggestions of the authors. People love reading suggestions from celebrities and authors. If you watch the video, you can hear these suggestions: 

The Dumb House - John Burnside

The End of Alice - A.M. Homes
Horror Movie - Paul Tremblay

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Hotel World - Ali Smith
In My Time of Dying - Sebasitan Junger
Dublin Murder Squad series - Tana French
Crushing Snails - Emma E. Murray

The Bone Mother - David Demchuk
Dead Collections - Isaac Fellman
Tripping Arcadia - Kit Mayquist

Authors: Hailey Piper, Gretchen Felker Martin, Joe Koch, Cina Pelayo, Christopher Buehlman,  Paula D. Ashe

This is a great list of authors and books to use to create a display! 

All the information and links related to Summer Scares is on Becky Spratford's blog, RA for All: Horror. 

The videos with the young adult authors is here and the middle grade video is here. 

Unshelve your collection - Finished Series

 I received Book Riot's newsletter for romance called Kissing Books yesterday. The primary topic was about different romantasy series. There was a subheading that I thought would be a great theme for a book display:  Finished Romantasy Series to Consume Immediately. This is a way to bring attention to some of those series that your readers may have missed. 

There are readers who would rather not endure the stretch of time between novels or even whether or not a series will be completed. Remember that part of the reason to have a lot of different kinds of displays is to capture all kinds of readers. 

You can obviously expand beyond romantasy. This is a fun project for anyone on staff who is a fan of a particular genre. Expand the search to include your eBooks collection. It can also be paired with a display of new series . You can create a sign with a message like "Get on board now!" I find that setting up contrasting displays is a fun way to reach more people and to showcase more titles. 

Don't forget to mirror the display with young adult and juvenile titles so that younger readers are not left behind. 

Here are some lists to get you started: 

Goodreads - Completed Series

Epic Reads - 40 Completed Book Series to Binge Guaranteed to Keep You Reading

My Heart is Booked - Must Read Completed Series

Owl Crate - Six Best Completed Romantasy Series For When You Need The Next Book

Unshelve Your Collection Idea: Book Club Picks.

A great choice for a fill-in book display or when your bucket of ideas has run low is to see what the various book clubs have chosen. Fortunately, Publishers Weekly has a list of more book club choices than one could imagine. 

You can check this page monthly and focus on a different book club each month. There are options beyond celebrities and booksellers like-

Black Men Read

The Jewish Book Council

Mocha Girls Read

Sapph-Lit

Subtle Asian Book Club

Good Morning America YA Book Club

Eclectix Book Club

Don't forget to include the book clubs at your library as well as your local independent booksellers!

Unshelve with help from journals - Publishers Weekly - New Historical Fantasies Reimagine the Past

Genre blends are everywhere and patrons are checking them out. Publishers Weekly recently featured an article about historical fantasies - New Historical Fantasies Reimagine the Past. The article includes a breakdown of some of the major trends in this blend as well as providing some titles. There is also a link to an article about historical fantasy with mermaids. This is a great idea to borrow for a book display or online book list. 

Some more places to check for titles: 

Goodreads: Historical Fantasy Books
Goodreads: Best Historical Fantasy

Penguin Random House: Historical Fantasy Books to Escape Reality
Hachette Book Group: Thrilling Historical Fantasy Novels 

Johnson County Library: The Past, But With Dragons

Reactor Mag: Five Fantasy Novels Set in Interesting Historical Times
Fantasy Book Review: Best Historical Fantasy Books

If your library subscribes to Novelist, you can check there for read alikes as well. 

Using this idea can be a way of promoting your fantasy collection outside of romantic fantasy.

Some lists, like the Goodreads one, include titles that might lean more to other genres like horror (Grady Hendrix's Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is included). Don't let that stop you from adding a book to a display. This isn't a test and there aren't really wrong answers. Go into your stacks and find some fantasies with a history angle that can be part of the display. 

You can include a link to the Publishers Weekly article if you post a book list online. Otherwise, you can include a QR code with a link to the article in your physical display. 

Unshelve With Love - Valentine's Day!

 Romance is the most obvious choice for a Valentine's Day book display. Just remember to include a wide variety of titles and authors unless you decide to focus on a subgenre like romantic suspense or trope like friends to lovers. Here is a link to my posts with information and ideas about romance and book displays. 

Kissing Books, the newsletter from Book Riot, has a list of suggestions in a recent newsletter. With the heading "Bad Romance: The Best Romantic Horror for Valentine’s Day." For more information on horrormance, they have a primer and a list of book recs.  They also suggest horror books for Valentine's Day.  Use their suggestions as a starting point. 

(I recommend subscribing to newsletters and browsing them to get ideas for book displays."

There are other options for "Bad Romance." Check your suspense and mystery collection for tales of love gone wrong. True crime and biographies also have options. Including some self help/relationship books is also something to try. You can place bookmarks around with information about local resources for victims of domestic violence or pair the display with information about your local shelters. Some shelters accept donations of items for those who arrive without anything. 

Dessert baking and cookbooks also can be a display for Valentines Day. If you start in January, you can set up a craft for your sweetheart display. People need time to create something! You can create adult and youth take- and - make craft kits with a simple valentine to craft and add that to the display. 

Getaways? Find travel books and books about exotic, romantic places. Include information about any local favorites. Dig into your fiction and non-fiction. I guarantee you have many books about Paris and Hawaii on the shelf. Check your movie collection for movies that take place in romantic locations. 

Some people choose to celebrate "Galentine's Day" and celebrate female friendship and independence. That's another great theme for a display. Find fiction and biographies about independent women and that feature great female friendships. Look into your self help section for books about living solo and friendship. 

Remember with any holiday that you can pair a display that is exactly what everyone expects with one that is outside of their expectations. So a romance display with some form of a Bad Romance display. A romantic getaway display with a trip-gone-wrong display. Show off more of your collection and introduce your patrons to something they didn't know they wanted!

Cross Posting w/RA for All - Unshelve Your Collection!

I wrote this up for the blog RA for All which is home to Becky Spratford, the best readers advisory trainer out there and the head Halloween Librarian. She knows the best ways to effective turn your entire staff into people who can recommend books and help patrons find their next great read. Becky is also a tireless advocate for library workers while also serving as the secretary for the Horror Writers Association. Find more information about how you can bring her into your library for staff training here. 

Shelves and shelves of book spines can create a great picture but it's not always the best way for a patron who is browsing your stacks to find their next great read. That's why this year I am encouraging everyone to unshelve their collections. All this means to find as many ways as possible to get your collection away from being lost in your stacks and out where it can be discovered by someone. 

There are simple ways to accomplish this. The easiest is to purchase some easels and put one book face out on every shelf. You will be amazed at what will be checked out simply because you put it face out on a shelf. This also is easy for any library worker to help keep filled; all that has to be done is a book picked from the shelf and placed on an empty easel. There is a sort of serendipity to this as everyone in your building will likely pick a different book so what’s faced out will constantly change. 

Book displays are another way to unshelve your collection by curating a small collection of materials on a theme and grouping them together. I cover basics and try to provide ideas on my blog and in my presentations for library workers. The magic behind book displays is that they the covers are faced out and can catch someone’s eye. Mix up fiction and non-fiction. Move materials to a part of your building that is far from where the rest of the collection is located. Add audiovisual materials to a display with books. Keep the signage and decorations simple. The focus should be on the covers.

Your eBooks and eAudiobooks are a treasure that not everyone in your community know about. You can unshelve them by setting up a book display with covers from the titles included in your digital collection. Add QR codes to the website and information about how to sign up for the service. You can mix the face outs on your shelves by adding signage on some shelves with suggestions for titles in your eBook collection. 

Whatever social media accounts that your library uses can also help unshelve your collection. One idea I have suggested is a “Five for Friday” series. Just pick five titles on a theme and take a picture. You can put them on a cart, table, or have a staff member hold them. A schedule can be set up and anyone who works in your library can have a chance to pick a theme and their five items. Add a short paragraph explaining the titles and provide information about how to put them on request. If staff are comfortable, you can have a short video where the staff member explains their choices. 

If a topic pops up in the news, use that as a reason to add a post with some titles that might be of interest to someone who wants more information. Find a theme similar to what you would use for a book display and create a grouping of covers for your social media. If someone has the interest and skills, you can create clever graphic or just use a series of book cover images. 

Don’t limit your unshelving efforts to your building. Partner with local businesses and get small posters and fliers out into your community that include titles and covers from your collection. You can use local celebrations and events for inspiration. Create bookmarks with covers that can be given away. Make some themed posters and book marks with coffee related titles for a cafe or pizza related titles for a pizza shop. There are pet speciality stores that are popping up. There are many pet related titles in our collections. Remind the people in your community who don’t regularly come into your building how amazing your library is. 

For the rest of 2025 I am going to try to discuss ways of unshelving your collection that can be used by libraries regardless of size or budget. Reach out to me if you have ideas that your library has used to show off the titles in your collection. I would love to share them! Let’s use this year to help readers discover what treasures are waiting for them on our shelves. 

Let Publishers Help You Unshelve Your Books - Bookcation Edition

 

I opened this email today from Simon & Schuster. It's a cute idea that you can definitely use to help promote your backlist titles. You can save it or repeat it in the summer just by switching the text around. You can use any fiction or non-fiction in your collection. I think that using travel books would be fun. 

This is a great display theme because it can be adapted to any part of a collection that could use a boost in attention. That also makes it easy to fill while it's up. This is a huge benefit to anyone who has smaller book displays or leaves them up for several weeks. It also means that anyone can help add books when needed. 

Make notes when a publisher email sparks an idea and use it to promote your collection.