Just In Case Book Display Ideas

 There will be months when you are out of ideas for a book display or are too busy to invest a lot of time in creating one. For these times, keep a list of easy displays with premade signage that can be filled quickly and replenished by anyone. Exactly what these lists consist of depends on your collection and patrons but make sure that they can include titles from every part of your collection including youth titles. As always, keep the focus on backlist titles that are not from the same bestselling authors that everyone knows about already.

Having data available about which authors, titles, subjects, and series need some attention makes this type of display easy. If you are not the person in your library system who runs these reports, you will need to reach out to them. Having this information will help you have display ideas on hand. I have done a display with nothing but fiction that was due to be weeded if it didn’t get checked out. The face outs helped them get attention and many of them were checked out.

You, of course, don’t need a formal list but at least have a few ideas that you can use when there is a time crunch and you just need something up on the display. These ideas are also useful when a display empties out and must be pulled down because there are no more titles to fill it. This is a nice problem to have because you helped many readers potentially find their next great read. But that display still needs to be filled in.

Here are a few ideas:

Cookbooks are popular but I am sure that you have titles that have been overlooked. A “Look What’s Cooking” display will allow you to bring them to patron’s attention and can be filled by anyone. Have a list of titles with lower circulation available for any member of your staff to reference.

Look in your fiction for series that are not getting enough attention. Bringing a series forward for patrons to discover will be popular, especially with those heavy readers who have finished their favorite series. Try international mysteries for those mystery fans who read every bestseller. Romance readers can be voracious. Pick a series that could use more attention on and load up the display.

Poetry is something I find circulates well when on display but which sits when it’s not promoted. A quick display of poetry is something that anyone can fill and which will bring attention to part of your collection which may not receive the attention it deserves