Unshelve With Your Area Code

 The local tourism marketing organization for my county is among the groups who encourage locals to celebrate "727" on July 27. This is our area code and the idea is to celebrate the local culture, history, and community.  There are local deals and so forth available to those who live within the county. 

You can take this idea and pick a week that matches your own area code.  Use it to focus on books about local history, culture and food. For some places (Maine, New Hampshire) there is one area code for the state which gives you many options. For others, it may be limited to a city. 

Set up a display with signage that echoes the date (Celebrating [area code]). With some planning, it may be possible to involve local businesses. Local bakeries or coffee shops can recommend books or do pairings with different treats or drinks. This can be posted in the library as well as in their establishments. Ask local civic, government, and community leaders for their reading suggestions and use that as a social media post or display. 

This is a great theme to take out of your library, unshelving the library to your community. There are always people who need to be reminded about the services and items your library offers. Bringing information about your digital services is a great topic for this sort of unshelving. This will increase your users and those who are invested in your library. 

Don't forget to look outside of any special local collection you have to include fiction by authors from the area,  biographies of people from the area, and non-fiction related to your area. If you have movies filmed locally or about local issues in your collection, add them as well. 

Unshelve with the Upcoming Anthony Bourdain Biopic "Tony"

 The late Anthony Bourdain has become a cultural icon. With the upcoming release of the bio pic "Tony"  it's a good time to use his popularity to bring some attention to your collection. If you don't have his book Kitchen Confidential, I would order a copy or so before the August 7 release of the movie. On July 28, Bloomsbury Publishing will re-release his three crime novels in a single collection. 

Beyond checking your collection for his books and for No Reservations on DVD, you can set up a book display or online booklist focused on read-alikes for Kitchen Confidential. There are some suggestions on these lists: 

What Should I Read Next? 
Reddit - What should I read if I liked kitchen confidential?

                Books similar in themes to kitchen confidential

                Books like Kitchen Confidential but not necessarily related to the cooking world? Or like Tim Rogers' videos?

                 Other travel writers with a similar style to Anthony Bourdain?

 Instagram - Books Like Kitchen Confidential

Book Browse - Books Like Kitchen Confidential

Fodor's Travel - 10 Books to Read if You Miss Anthony Bourdain’s Writing as Much as We Do

Meet New Books - Books Like Kitchen Confidential

                                  Books Like A Cook's Tour

My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Anthony Bourdain

Chicago Public Library - Top Picks: Books by or Featuring Anthony Bourdain

A display like this can also include travel and cookbooks about the places which Bourdain featured on his show or books by and about other famous chefs. 

Unshelve With LibraryReads and Library Journal: Read-Alikes for ‘Whistler’ by Ann Patchett

 A regular Library Journal feature that is worth reviewing is their Read-Alikes for titles with top holds in public libraries. One example is Read-Alikes for ‘Whistler’ by Ann Patchett .

They provide three read-alikes: 

Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (Ecco)
 

This Is Not About Us: Fiction by Allegra Goodman (Dial)
 

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)

While this is not enough for a large display, this could certainly make for a pop-up display on a service desk for for a smaller display if your library lacks space. If you take these three books, you can look for read-alikes for these three and turn it into a bigger display. 

Keep an eye out for this feature and use it as a fill-in and to advertise your holds list. Patrons can find a great read while they wait for the hottest book. Create a sign that says "While You Wait for Whistler" and create a QR code to your online catalog. You can possibly inspire patrons to deep dive into your catalog and to place more holds. 

Unshelve Your Collection with Some Help from Netflix

 Netflix has released a new way to find book adaptations and you can borrow some of their ideas to promote your library's collection. In a post titled "Discover Your Next Book-to-Screen Obsession With Our New Dedicated Hub, " Netflix describes their new hub for book adaptations. While you can certainly assemble displays of adaptations, both movie and tv. 

However, if you look at Netflix's categories, it's an easy jump to see how easily they could become displays: 

• You Crave Amazing Characters
• You're into Immersive World-Building
• You Love a Great Plot Twist
• You Savor Swoonworthy Romances
• You're a Nonfiction Fanatic 
• You're a History and Period Piece Buff
• You Adore All-Ages Adventures
• You Collect Manga and Comics
• You're Wild About Web Stories

These are all generic enough that anyone on staff should be able to keep them filled in. They are also good ideas to keep on hand for when you need an emergency fill-in book display. They can be used for fiction or non-fiction. It might be worth reviewing which titles Netflix has in these categories to get inspiration!

Unshelve With Library Journal's Horror Preview

One of my favorite features in Library Journal is their genre preview. Obviously, I have a bias towards the horror preview which was published on July 15. In "The Art of Tales That Terrify," Becky Spratford details trends in horror. While the books she lists may be upcoming or new, you can use what she discusses to create your own Summerween display. 

While I encourage all of you to read the article to strengthen your readers advisory skills, I will list some of what she mentions along with her subheadings:

• Genre blends - especially horror with romance or science fiction
• Swoons and Screams
  
• Sci-Fi Horror Comes Down to Earth
• Evolutions in folk horror and art horror
• Folk Horror Expands Its Terrifying Reach
• Art Horror on Visceral Display
• Stories about motherhood
• The Macabre and The Maternal
• Stories about the sea
• Sea-Soaked Horror
• Stories that are terrifyingly relatable

Any of these can be used to launch a book display with suspense, thrillers, horror, and non-fiction. There are likely DVDs in your collection that can also be included. Look through your catalog and search subject headings. You can add titles that are not exact. For example, if you include romantic suspense along with your horror-romance blends, no one is going to mind. I'm sure you can find plenty of books, including true crime, about motherhood gone wrong in one direction or another. 

Remember that you don't always have to come up with ideas on your own; borror from publishers, booksellers, and the library press. 

Unshelve With Library Journal's Display Shelf - Summerween!

Yesterday, I spent most of the day catching up at work because I was on leave for several days.  We return to day with an idea from Library Journal!

One of my favorite features in Library Journal is their Display Shelf. They assemble books related to a theme and include a link to a spreadsheet with titles. The landing page does feature some of the titles, faced out. The current theme is summerween - for those readers who can't wait for spooky season. I would suggest that for many readers, it's always spooky season. You can search their site for previous themes and use them for inspiration when you need an idea. 

Borrow the layout and then you can include the display on your social media. The titles below include several that I have reviewed and given stars to including:

Molka by Monika Kim 

It came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman

RA For All- Small Displays as an Interactive Scavenger Hunt

 I’m traveling today so I will suggest that you check out Becky’s blog post today: 

Small Displays as an Interactive Scavenger Hunt

It clearly fits in with the main theme of my blog and if you haven’t checked out RA for All, I encourage you to read more of her posts while you’re there!