The recent Barnes and Noble pre-order sale received a lot of attention from authors and book buyers. Pre-orders can be vital to a book's success, with strong pre-orders showing that there is interest in a title.Why mention it to library workers interested in book displays? Use the idea of pre-orders to market your holds list.
Assuming that every patron knows that you have a request service for physical and digital titles is a mistake. Because we spend so many hours at the library, it can be easy to forget that many things are unknown to patrons. Some patrons may have forgotten that they can place a hold request for a popular title, receiving a notification when it is available for them.
In many libraries, as soon as a title is "on order" in the ILS, patrons can start putting holds on it. Hold requests also give your acquisitions department an idea about demand for a particular title.
Create a display with cover photos, information about how holds work, ways they can be contacted, and information about how to access their accounts online or through an app. You can add other titles by the authors who have books upcoming as well. Copy the information onto your social media and website.You can also add bookmarks for patrons to take with them.
Hop onto the publicity and excitement about promotions like this and use them to sell your library's services!
