Unshelving October - Making a Plan in Advance

 It's time to plan for October already. There are many days, weeks and month-long celebrations in October. Halloween is the big deal in October. I have some posts about horror, The Bram Stoker Awards, and why you should not limit horror just to October. I think that what you should consider with your spooky book displays is to be as broad as possible as far as the authors, publishers, and level of scares you have on display. Stephen King is popular and finds his audience without our help so set him aside unless you want to use some of the books he has blurbed and do a display on that. There are roughly 100 so you likely own some of them at your library. 

There are also opportunities to take authors like King and come up with read alikes. One of the most common readers advisory questions I get is "What should I read if I've read all of Stephen King and Dean Koontz?" There are lists here, here, here, here, and here. I find Reddit useful for searches like this because you are getting answers from readers. Because King has written so many books, there are many options. For Dean Koontz, try here, here, here, and here. 

Hispanic Heritage Month crosses over into October. 

Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples' Day is on October 12. There is plenty of horror written by Indigenous authors if you want to take your spooky theme and go in that direction. I would suggest that you know your community and your library administration. Use that knowledge as a guide for setting up a display. A balance between both themes is always an option. It's also National Indigenous People's Month which could be a separate display. 

It's also Italian-American heritage month which is a quick display to set up. You can use fiction, non-fiction, and DVDs in a display. 

With October 1 being National Poetry Day in the UK and October 15 in the USA, setting up a poetry display when it is not April is a great idea. While the 800's are sometimes a hard sell, I find that poetry will get checked out if you put it face out and in front of people. 

National Cookbook Month is also in October. There are the James Beard award winners but don't forget local cookbooks. If you partner with some local chefs and restaurants, there is an opportunity for programming as well. Do a book talk in a cooking store or a library card sign up outside a local restaurant. 

If it all seems overwhelming as you recover from summer reading and prepare for the winter holidays, note the various food related celebrations and put up a display with a sticky note on various titles which notes the celebration day. That can be continuously filled up. 

World Space Week is October 4-10. This is a UN designated week to highlight exploration in space. There are tons of fiction, non-fiction, and DVDs in every library that could fill a display for this week. Don't forget children's books.  It's fun to echo an adult display with youth materials. 

October 14-16 is also Sherlock Holmes weekend in Cape May, New Jersey. How much you focus on the Holmes books would depend on how they circulate in your library. There are also books not written by Doyle which you can find in many collections. Find read-alikes for the Holmes books here, here, and perhaps even books which have won the Agatha Awards. 

Finally, I will suggest Punk for a Day Day on October 25. This might be fun and unexpected for your patrons. Beyond whatever is in your non-fiction and DVD collections, try books on these lists: 

r/punk: I'm looking for books about punk
r/punk: Any good punk coming of age books to check out? 
r/punk: Fictional Punk Rock Literature?
r/booksuggestions: Books with punk characters/culture?
Goodreads: Best Punk Books
Goodreads: Best YA Books With Punk Rock characters
LitHub: Read These If You Aren’t A Poseur: Books That Embody The Punk Ethos

Unshelve With Read Alikes for Your Library's Top Reads

Many independent bookstores promote their top sellers even if they promote the New York Times Bestsellers. This photo is from my local, amazing independent bookstore, Tombolo Books. Publishing a list online or in your library of the top titles will certainly draw patrons' attention. The best way to use it as a book display is to add information about how to place a hold. Then look through your stacks for read-alikes for them to check out while they wait for that book with all the holds. 

 

Unshelve those Independent or Small Press Titles

 I really love when stores like Tombolo Books in St Petersburg, FL shine a spotlight on small press and independent press titles. This is a great theme for a book display. Search your ILS for titles with small press publisher or that were independently published. Add them to a book display and encourage your patrons to suggest more. 

More and more bestselling authors these days have gotten their start with small publishers or by self-publishing. There are series that are popular, with many reader reviews, that aren't by one of the huge publishers. 

I can't recommend all of the presses to check out but RA for All Horror does have a list of horror publishers recommended for libraries. 

Unshelve with Mini-Reviews from Your Staff and Patrons

 

Another great idea from my local indie bookstore, Tombolo Books, is something that you might find in other indie bookstores. These shelf readers have a paragraph with a brief review including a tiny bit of plot and why the reader loved it. This is a way to provide passive readers advisory with even staff who work behind the scenes involved. Put the title of the book, the author, and a QR code to your online catalog so patrons can place a hold. If you own the book in your digital collection, add a link to that to the card as well. 

Spread the shelf readers around your collection - include non-fiction, youth, young adult, & large print as well. Don't forget to spotlight some of your A/V collection as well. 

Because these are written in advance, they can be reviewed before they are posted, anything that needs to be corrected can be changed before the public sees them. This would include your patron written blurbs. Either set up a an email address where patrons can review their favorite reads or have a box where they can drop their written reviews. You can either put them on the shelves or set up a specific display where your patrons can see what others thought. 

As with all passive advisory tools, remember that bestsellers and authors/titles in high demand don't need our promotional help. Have staff make shelf talkers about titles they loved which need some more help finding their readers. Staff who are fans of specific subjects or genres can help readers with similar tastes find hidden gems in your stacks. 

 

Unshelve Yourself for Labor Day

(The menace known as Stuffing)

 Today is Labor Day in the United States so I'm spending the day at home with my bunnies and some books. Tomorrow we will continue to look at some ideas from my local independent bookseller. 

Unshelve With Help from LibraryReads

 What is LibraryReads? From their website: 

LibraryReads is the monthly nationwide library staff picks list for adult fiction and non-fiction. Our goal is to help connect readers to as many books as possible, while drawing upon the incredible power that public library staff has in helping to build word-of-mouth for new books, and the important role that libraries play in creating audiences for all kinds of authors.

Anyone who works in an American public library is eligible to vote after they register with either NetGalley or Edelweiss. The monthly list of winners is published on their website. That list can be used to promote your holds list and to encourage patrons to place holds on upcoming titles. (This helps your library see in advance which titles will be popular.) This is something that we can definitely borrow from independent bookstores. St Petersburg's Tombolo Books features upcoming titles on their website. 

(Tombolo Books upcoming release wall)

NoveList provides readalikes for each title on the Top Ten list. Those can be used to build out a display of backlist titles similar to the upcoming titles. Remember that each book can be approached in different ways so be creative. A book with similar vibest is close enough. 

You can also use their archive to find backlist titles for a display. 

Since the monthly list is a national staff picks list, pair the list with your own staff's picks for a given month. Make sure that you encourage everyone to participate, regardless of where their work or what their title is. Gibson's Books in Concord, NH features staff picks on their website and so does Tombolo Books. 

Unshelve With Help from Booklist - Body Horror

Editor Susan Maguire at ALA's Booklist has a piece up about body horror. 

"Bodies are gross. They’re squishy and floppy, and that’s on a good day. In these horror writers’ imaginations, bodies—especially those of women and trans people—become something else entirely. They are transformed, mutilated, beset by eldritch creatures and unnatural appetites. These body-horror books are not for the squeamish, but those who dive in will be rewarded with thought-provoking, worldview-changing terrors"

Body horror is a great way to showcase horror by and about women, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized people, especially if your state or local laws make overtly focusing on these groups difficult. More extreme forms of horror are having their day and should be popular with your patrons. Use these titles as a starting point. 

Over on RA for All Horror, Becky Spratford has several posts on body horror with some other titles you can use for inspiration.