Unshelve with Some help from Barnes & Noble: Great American Novel Picks from Our Favorite Authors

It's not necessary to create great displays out of thin air yourself. Use ideas that vendors and publishers send you in their marketing emails and browse their sites for ideas. Barnes & Noble has a list of Great American Novel Picks From Our Favorite Authors up on their site. You can browse the list of suggestions and find the titles in your collection, add a note with which author recommended them, and watch them get checked out. Library patrons love celebrity reading suggestions which is why I have used Barack Obama and Bill Gates' reading lists to great success. Clearly, B&N knows this as well which is why they have asked a variety of popular authors for their picks. The list is heavy on classic novels like The Great Gatsby. 

A more fluid display and one which would be easier to fill would be a display with a sign that reads Great American Novel Picks and have your staff fill it with their choices. The limitation would be that they need to be novels and by an American author. If you ask them to dig into your collection and avoid the obvious choices, you will have created a display that can be up for a month. The idea of a Great American novel is nothing that you need to clearly define. Pick diverse authors and avoid bestsellers and obvious classic novels. 

Bring in genre fiction and titles from smaller publishers. Your entire staff, regardless of title can participate. Allow them to have fun and try to not police what gets added aside from watching for diversity and as few obvious choices as possible. 

If you want to create something more innovative and a passive program, create a social media post and ask your readers what their choices for a Great American Novel. You can add some of those titles to the display. If you can't use social media for this, put a box up and ask patrons to write their choices down. There will be some degree of excitement as patrons come in to see which books made the display as they discover their next great read. At the end of the month, you can publish the list of entries on your website, blog, social media, or on a sign in your library. 

Unshelve Your Collection Using the Best of 2026, So Far

 It's midyear and there are many outlets who have published best of the year (so far) lists. This is a great idea to use for a book display for your library. There are a couple of different ways you can use midyear best of lists to promote your collection. 

One way is to review the lists and find the titles you own but which could use a spotlight to increase circulation. There is always a good chance that a critical favorite hasn't received the attention from your patrons that it deserves. You can put up QR codes with links to the lists so your patrons can see every title but focus your display on the titles you own but which haven't circulated as well as you would like. 

The second way is to involve your entire staff and have them nominate titles for the Best of (So Far) list. Add a sign that indicates that they are your staff's choice for the best of the year. The display can be filled in with any 2026 published title that needs attention. By not adding names and making it very general, the display can be filled in by anyone on staff. Don't forget to include fiction, non-fiction, and youth materials.

Here are some of the lists that have been created:

Attack of the Best Lists 2026: Half Year Check-In (updated w/ NPR Books on 6/30/26) - RA for All

Attack of the Best Lists Posts - RA for All 

NPR staffers share their favorite fiction reads of 2026 so far - NPR Books

Here are the nonfiction books NPR staffers have loved so far this year

The Must-Read Books of 2026 (So Far) - Penguin Random House

Reading roundup: Suggest me some of your fave books of 2026 so far! - r/suggestmeabook

The Best Books of the Year (So Far) - New York Times

The Best Books of 2026 (So Far) - Barnes & Noble

Most popular books published in 2026 - Goodreads

The Best Books of 2026 So Far - The New Yorker

Top 20 Books of 2026 So Far - Amazon.com

The Best Books of 2026 -  Vogue

The 17 best popular science books of 2026 so far - New Scientist

The best books of 2026 so far - The Economist

The best books of 2026 so far — picked by FT readers - Financial Times

Looking for Clues - Readers Advisory for Mystery Lovers

 I will be presenting Looking for Clues - Readers Advisory for Mystery Lovers for PCI webinars on Wednesday, July 8 at 2 pm ET. If your library consortia, state library, or other organization subscribes, I hope that you will join me!

I have embedded my slideshow below as well as my list of resources. 

Looking for Clues: Readers Advisory for Mystery Lovers - Resources
PCI Webinars

General Readers Advisory

RA For All (Becky Spratford) – Readers' advisory blog for librarians featuring book recommendations, genre resources, programming ideas, and professional 

Library Reads – Books chosen by US library workers 

NPR Books We Love – NPR’s guide to books
Passively Recommending Books – My blog which focuses on passive readers advisory 

Mystery Awards

Anthony Awards 

Edgar Awards 

Agatha Awards 

Barry Awards 

Awards of Excellence (Crime Writers of Canada) 

Dagger Awards 

Lefty Awards 

Macavity Awards 

Ned Kelly Awards 

The Eye Awards
Thriller Awards 

Mystery Focused Websites

CrimeReads 

Sisters in Crime 

Crime Writers of Color 

Stop, You're Killing Me! 

Mystery Writers of America 

Cozy-Mystery.com

International Thriller Writers

Malice Domestic
Mystery Readers International

Australian Crime Writers Association

Private Eye Writers of America

International Thriller Writers

Crime Writers’ Association

Left Coast Crime

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 

Crime Writers of Canada

List of Mystery Focused Organzations

Sisters in Crime

ALA Annual 2026 - Thoughts and Take Aways

 First thing is that you should all read Becky (RA for All) Spratford's post here. I agree with her, especially the details that made her angry. I participated in the Library Insights Preconference and watched many of the panels. One thing I noticed is that if you are not involved in libraries post-Baker & Taylor, you can't really understand how much the world of library book purchasing has changed. It would have been helpful to have someone who is working in that area now speak about that, rather than a consultant. There were acquisitions librarians in both public and school libraries in the room. 

A panel on what libraries wish publishers would publish emphasized gaps in different age groups. There is an unmet need for young teen lit, with appeal to those roughly 12-15. These books would have shorter chapters and exciting covers. Genres like mysteries and horror (spooky, not scary) are especially popular. There is also a gap in humor, especially that which has appeal to girls. On the other end of the spectrum, there are also not as many books which focus on older protagonists aside from mysteries. These readers want to see themselves and their experiences on the page. 

I echo Becky's disappointment with ALA's decision to allow Sharjah Book Authority CEO Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri a spotlight at the opening ceremony. There were other international library leaders in attendance who could have added to the call to end censorship and the restricting of the freedom to read, rather than giving the microphone to someone from a country which actively restricts the press and oppresses the LGBTQ+ community. It's ridiculous to celebrate that community with one hand while giving positive attention to someone who represents a nation where that community is criminalized. 

There were no panels on readers advisory that I saw. Becky and I hosted an ALA huddle which was clearly designed for 5-6 people to have a conversation. Over 20 people showed up and some unfortunately left as they could not hear us in the open hallway with a high ceiling. It was a great conversation and I hope that there are some panels on book display basics for attendees. If you are visiting here from that huddle, welcome! Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss book display or passive readers advisory for your library. 

It was wonderful to see horror authors like James Tynion IV, Tananarive Due, Cynthia Pelayo, and Daniel Kraus at the conference. There did seem to be an emphasis on YA and youth literature at the conference. I did have some meaningful meetings with vendors and learned about upcoming titles but overall, there did seem to be less offerings for those who deal in adult fiction.

Hopefully, I will see many of you in New Orleans next year!

ALA Annual Starts Today

I will be attending ALA Annual in Chicago this year. There will be recap posts with what I saw and learned but I don't have a firm schedule for that.
My appearances will be at Friday's Library Insight Summit and at a Huddle in the ALA Connect Zone on Sunday at 11 am. 

I have been looking at events in the ALA Annual app and marking which ones I have even some interest in. There is no way to see everything so I try to make the schedule more manageable by  marking anything that I might find interesting. While I sometimes end up with more than one panel or presentation selected, choosing between two or three panels is easier for me than a long list. 

Include time to look at the exhibit hall which is huge and will definitely take more than one visit to see what you are interested in. 

If you happen to run into me there, come up and say hello! 

Midyear - It's Not Too Late to Unshelve Using Reading Challenges

 It's not too late to use Reading Challenges to create opportunities to highlight your collection. Becky Spratford at RA for All talks about the NYT reading challenge which features ten items that are easy to complete. Read her post here. This challenge is a great one to focus on as a book display or online post. As Becky mentions in that post, you should have an adult summer reading program. One way to start is to highlight a variety of reading challenges in your displays and lists. Help your patrons complete or find a challenge. 

One thing to note in your signage is that your staff can help find titles to meet a challenge. Libraries should be the place where people come for reading suggestions. Not everyone in your community realizes that we are able to help patrons find their next great read. We need to shout that loudly and often. We know that AI suggestions are not able to provide the service that we can offer. (I have been suggested self-help after reading horror. Likely, this was an algorithm offering up something really popular.)

You can make an interactive display or post by having your readers make suggestions for a variety of prompts. Let your readers help each other. 

You can take this sort of marketing tool outside of your library and pair up with a local bookseller. They might have a book challenge of their own that you can help promote. Join with local businesses like a brewery, bakery, or coffee shop and create a local summer challenge in which you pair local fare with certain kinds of books. The businesses might be open to hosting/participating in an end of summer event for adults. 

Here are some websites with 2026 reading challenges listed. Pick a few to focus on and add suggestions to the display each month. If you have a website or blog, you can add suggestions there as well. Make sure you link to your catalog and digital collection. Create digital displays, shelves, or lists. 

Resolved to finish more books in 2026? Here’s your guide to the web’s best reading challenges. - Literary Hub

2026 Challenge Link Megathread - Reddit

Shelf Reflection 2026 Reading Challenge - Shelf Reflection 

If you search for 2026 Book Challenges, you can find a wide variety of challenges which should meet just about every readers' need. 

ALA Annual Conference 2026 - Huddle With RA For All and Me as We Discuss Book Displays!

The event that I am most looking forward to at ALA Annual is my huddle with Becky Spratford / RA For All. The topic is book displays! Becky posted about the huddle on her blog. Here are the details: 

Connect Lounge Huddle: To facilitate discovery and circulation, how can libraries make their reading collection displays more engaging?

Sunday, June 28, 2026

11:00 AM - 11:20 AM CDT

Location: McCormick Place, ALA Connect Lounge, Hall F2 Lobby

The humble book display is often not used to its fullest as the discovery tool it can be. And we often forget how much it can drive increased circulation. But in a world where patrons use the library as both a physical and digital space, and with an understanding that patrons crave interactive experiences, discussion leaders Becky Spratford and Lila Denning will share their decades of experience as librarians and trainers to help huddle participants break down how to create displays that spark conversation, bring patrons of all ages into the library, and have them leave not only with a few good books to read but also a plan to return soon to get some more.

Moderated by Becky Spratford and Lila Denning

Library workers from any kind of library are invited to come and discuss book displays and share ideas about how to make them pop while also helping your patrons find their next great read. To get started thinking about displays, check out this post with Five Book Display Basics.