Using Reddit as a Source for Passive Readers Advisory

 Reddit has a large number of communities or subreddits that focus on books, some of which are very specific and delve in subgenres that you may have never thought about. It can be a great way to find read alikes or to satisfy a patron who has very distinct tastes. You can also use ideas in the threads and posts there to launch a book display as well. 

Enter in a genre and search for communities. If you search for romance book, you will see the following communities: 

Romance Books

Spicy Romance Books

Contemporary Romance

Dark Romance

Romance Authors

Historical Romance

Fantasy Romance

Free Romance Books

MM Romance Books

Romance for Men

Queer Romance Lit

Wholesome Romance

Science Fiction Romance

Romantasy

Paranormal Romance

Sapphic Lit

Romance Anime Manga

Romance Anime

Reverse Harem

Mafia Romance Books

There are likely even more...

Search for a read alike and you will find readers who have posted their suggestions. I looked for read alikes for Sarah MacLean and found many posts with suggestions. While you might not agree with all of them, they can provide the start of a conversation as well as options for a book display. 

You can search Reddit without logging in which is helpful. Even the threads about books people dislike can help you out if they provide reasons why. Someone's hate read is someone else's catnip. 

It's a useful site to keep in your list of tools you have for passive and active readers advisory. 

Unshelve Your Collection Post Superbowl

 Superbowl 2026 is behind us now but you can use it to market your collection. The easiest thing to do is to harness the press about Bad Bunny and set up a display of books by Puerto Rican authors and books about PR. I will put a few lists below to get you started. The idea is to use a topic that is already on the minds of your patrons and use it to put some great books in front of them. 

Goodreads Listopia:Highlighting books written by Puerto Rican authors.

Indianapolis Public Library - Puerto Rican Authors

Reddit r/books: Literature of Puerto Rico

Barnes & Noble: Puerto Rican Fiction 

Don't forget to look for music by Puerto Rican musicians and to bring out your non-fiction about the island. You likely also have biographies of people from Puerto Rico. 

This is not an attempt to provoke those who might be mad about the halftime show but a way to bring out some great books that are hiding on the shelf. Use your best judgement about your patrons and community when it comes to signage. 

Another way to harness the Superbowl is to check the news today and see which advertisements landed well with viewers. Pull out books with titles that will remind patrons of those ads or are about subjects related to the ads. This kind of display can harness the creativity of your staff! 

Word of Mouth Recs vs AI

A quick follow-up to my previous post about AI vs librarian recommendations, this Dec. 11 article from Publishers Weekly, Word-of-Mouth Recs Best AI at Everand, Fable, 

The report, based on user activity data from both platforms and a survey of more than 1,600 U.S. adults using the platforms, found that "people I know personally" ranks as the top source of book discovery, holding its position even as AI-driven recommendation tools proliferated in 2025. That human connection extends to sharing a book with a friend or family member, which proved more popular then "saving to a shelf" as the most common action readers take after finishing a book.

Library workers would fall into people they know. Get into the habit of speaking to your patrons and encouraging staff to talk to them about books. Make it clear from your social media posts and the atmosphere in your buildings that you are a place for readers and the reading curious. Become the center for books in your community. 

Use interactive book displays to encourage your patrons to suggest books to each other. Have patrons suggest read alikes for a popular title. Have them suggest a favorite book based upon a theme, plot, location... I have a presentation called Book Displays That Do More if you are interested in more ideas for making your displays into passive programs. 

Staff favorites pulled from your shelves is another way to share books. Encourage your entire staff to participate in book displays. everyone is an expert in something! Staff who are comfortable can add their name to the display and create conversations with patrons with similar interests. 

Library workers will always give better readers advisory than AI could ever. 

Let Me Help You Unshelve Your Collection This Year!

A short introduction to me and what I try to do here. I have worked for my library system for 18 years as of this year. My time here has taken me from a branch library to reference to circulation and then to acquisitions. I updated our website, was an administrator for our ILS, and created and ran reports. As far as programming is concerned, I have created and ran programs for infants through older people. 

Basically, except for administration, I have done it in a public library. 

Before libraries, I earned a masters degree in religious studies with a focus on Holocaust studies and antisemitism. For a time, I was a manager at Barnes and Noble, ran a comic book store, and worked for a brokerage firm. 

I serve as Volunteer Coordinator for the Horror Writers Association and review (primarily) horror for both Booklist and Library Journal. I love promoting the books I love on my social media accounts. Spending energy putting a light on what you love is a better use of time than dragging books that didn't work for you online. I also add photos of displays I love to help give you ideas!

Now, I work to help library workers learn how to use passive readers advisory to market their collections more effectively. A well designed book display can help shine a spotlight on those titles that haven't received love from your patrons recently. Focusing on the books rather than decorations or elaborate signage, borrowing book store techniques can help your patrons find their next great read. This will likely be a book that they hadn't had on their mind when they entered your building. 

I have presented for a variety of state and national organizations including webinars for PCI. These topics include:

*Book Display Basics for Every Library Worker

*Book Displays That Do More - Interactive Book Displays with Passive Programming 

*Engaging Patrons With Better Book Displays

*Inclusive Readers Advisory for Any Library Worker

*An Introduction to Passive Readers Advisory

*Love Is In the Air : Marketing Your Romance Collection Using Passive Readers Advisor

*Marketing Your Collection, Services, and Programs with Better Book Displays

*Not Just In October: Marketing Your Horror and Dark Literature Collection with Passive Readers Advisory

* Using Book Displays and More to Market Your Winter Holiday Collection 

If you are interested in having me teach your staff my techniques for using passive readers advisory, please reach out to me - Lila.Denning (at) gmail (dot) com. 

Make Your Library The Center of Book Culture In Your Community

On her blog RA For All, Becky Spratford recently posted Listening to Library Users: A Wake-Up Call For Library Marketing via Super Library Marketing with a Bonus Becky Rant . What stood out to me was the fact that readers do not think about libraries as the place to go for book recommendations. This is a huge marketing opportunity for libraries to reach to local readers. Creating a culture of book recommendations and sharing of loved books is something that any library, regardless of size or budget can do. 

I encourage library workers to use expansive versions of book display themes because you don't know what will draw a reader in. People approach books from different and sometimes unexpected angles. To use a few horror titles, Grady Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House is also about a relationship between grown siblings and dealing with the death of parents. Cynthia Pelayo's The Shoemaker's Magician is about Chicago film history and parenting a child with special needs. These are in addition to the plot and horror themes in the books. AI will not help a reader find books that they might love beyond the obvious and simple examples. Talking to a library worker just might. 

Becky also emphasizes what I say when I talk about book displays - we should never assume that people know what we do and what we can offer them. Libraries need to tell their communities about their collections, resources, and services. It is something we need to do actively and often. 

Everyone should go to Becky's blog and review her free resources for booktalking and starting conversations. Have her train your staff on readers advisory as a conversation, not a transaction. Reach out to me if you are interested in more information about having me speak to your staff about using book displays and other forms of passive readers advisory. 

I will leave you with this anecdote - after I purchased a book by horror grand master Brian Keene, Amazon recommended self-help author Brene Brown to me. Maybe Alexa was worried about me but more than likely it was just a push for a best seller. A library worker trained in booktalking and conversations about books would not just hand a reader a best seller. A well designed display would not suggest that any best seller will do when you are looking for your next read. 

Unshelve Your Collection By Making Book Club Suggestions

 NPR Books recently released: Can't decide what to read next? Here are 20 recommendations for your book club.

This list consists of 2025 releases that are suggested for book clubs that need some ideas for their next read. This post can be used by your library by using your own backlist suggestions. Have staff check books that haven't been checked out as often as they could be and would make for a great book club suggestion. 

If they are available in your digital collection, include that information on the display as well. It's also a great time to promote your ill and hold services to patrons. We should never assume that everyone knows what services we offer. 

Your social media can also reflect these suggestions to tie your physical displays into your social media. Remember that books are our business and we should be working towards sending out the message that our community should come to librarians for suggestions, not AI. 

Using Best Book Posts to Unshelve Your Collection

There are plenty of "Best Books of 2025" lists online. They can easily be turned into a book display by focusing on the titles in your collection which haven't circulated as well as you would like and that would benefit from some attention. I would also include some read alikes from. your backlist for the most popular titles. 

Include the URL or a QR code to the site on your sign if you use one list. You can also combine them and post a list of various pages you used on your social media or website. You can also keep a list at your public service desk. There are some examples of Best Of lists below but I am certain that you can find many more.

 The Atlantic 10: The Books that Made Us Think the Most This Year

The Guardian: Best Books of 2025

LA Times: Best of 2025 

Goodreads Choice Awards

Library Journal: Best Books of 2025

Booklist Backlist: Best Personal Reading, Listening, and Watching.

AP: 10 Notable Books of 2025

Vulture: The Best Books of 2025

Chicago Tribune: The 10 best books of 2025

The Scientific American Staff’s Favorite Books of 2025

Smithsonian Magazine: The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

Town & Country: The 20 Best Books of 2025

Crime Reads: The Best Debut Crime Novels of 2025

NYT: Our Favorite Hidden Gem Books