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.
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.
As many of you know, changes to laws in places like Arkansas and Florida are making passive readers advisory more challenging. There are legitimate reasons for library workers to be concerned.
The most basic way to deal with this is to follow what I wrote in RUSQ in an article called "Inclusion as the Norm: The Power of Diverse Book Displays." I posted about it here including a link to the article which is free for anyone to read. Every book display or other passive readers advisory tool should include a wide variety of authors and publishers. Patrons are as curious as we are and want to find great books. Many of them are written by diverse authors.
Promote the final book in the Harlem Trilogy, Colson Whitehead's Cool Machine , by putting up read alikes and books about New York City and 80's history. Add information about your holds lists and you will be spotlighting a book by an award winning author without mentioning anything that will draw activist attention. You can create a sign that says something about "While You Wait for This New Release" and a smaller sign with the name & author. Change it out regularly, using a wide variety of authors.
Being more general with signage is a way to promote books without creating negative situations for staff. Try using -
1960's History - There are likely many books on your shelves, fiction and non-fiction, that you can use. There are years like 1965, 1968, and 1969 in which there were many significant events.
Step Into Their Shoes - Focus on biographies and memoirs
Places Far and Wide- Use fiction and non-fiction by international authors and books about places outside the United States
Even a display like this one for The Day of the Cowboy could have books about the Black, Chinese, and Native Experience during the Western Expansion. Don't forget books about women and the West. By doing this you are including many experiences rather than just one.
There is also the option of not using a sign. Make your book displays mini-collections with lots of faceouts. The covers of the books will draw attention to the titles. I realize that creating signage is enjoyable for staff but if there is fear in your administration, it might be easier to forget it. Use easels on the shelves and focus on a book at the service desks.
The purpose of a display is to merchandise your collection and help patrons find their next great read. The battle over libraries and the freedom to read will continue in the courts and legislatures. We can still promote our entire collections and the wide variety of books in those collections.
Iconic songwriter, philanthropist, actress, and singer Dolly Parton died yesterday. When a famous person dies, patrons will often seek out materials by and about that person. On her website, she lists books she's written as well as her filmography and discography. There have also been books written about her. One relatively recent book that had many holds in my library system is Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life in Lyrics written by Dolly with Robert K. Oermann.
Over on RA for All, Becky Spratford has a comprehensive post about Book Riot's Best Adaptations of the Century So Far. We know that popular movie and TV versions of books drive patron interest as well as hold requests. I've addressed how to use excitement about a movie or TV show to market your collection before in this list of posts and here and here.
She includes links to her posts on the topic, including one on using them for book displays that you should definitely read.
These displays can focus on one currently hot show or movie. They can also be a generalist display of books that have been adapted. Pair them with DVDs to have patrons ponder if the book was better.
If you need more inspiration after reading Becky's posts, try these lists:
Goodreads - Listopia > Books Made into Movies or TV Shows
New York Times - Read These Books Before They Hit Your Screens in 2026
Reddit- r/suggestmeabook - Books that were made into movies or tv shows?
Reddit- r/booksuggestions - Book that have a movie/tv-show adaptation
Fulton County Library System - Movies and TV Shows Based on Books
The Booker Prizes - Booker Prize books that have been adapted for film and television
Enterainment Weekly - The 50 books we're dying to see get adapted
If you find a list online with a snappy title, you can adapt it for your displays. I give credit if I take something in its entirety. If you use "Was the Book or Movie Better?" or Entertainment Weekly's idea of what they wish was adapted, the display can easily become a passive program with patrons providing their answers either as comments to a social media post, on a bulletin board, or in a box near the display so you can preview their answers in advance. Know your community and pick the one that will work best for you.
September is the start of the autumn season and school is rolling into session. It's also the build up to spooky season for everyone who loves Halloween. I did a September post in 2024 and the information there is mostly still applicable. One change is that Islam, like Judaism, follows a lunar calendar. The holidays in Islam change months year to year. Malwid is in August this year.
Here is a general list of September celebrations.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are September 11 and 20, respectively. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It is the first day of the Days of Awe which end with Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. It is a time for self-reflection, introspection, forgiveness, and accepting forgiveness.
Books on these topics can be used to enhance a book display or fill in as titles are checked out.
Here are some book lists:
Chicago Public Library - Rosh Hashanah Books
PBS Kids- Picture Books That Celebrate Rosh Hashanah
Jewish Book Council - High Holidays
Hey Alma - 17 Books That Will Get You in a Reflective Mood This High Holiday Season
Library Card Sign Up Month is celebrated in September.
There are a number of food related celebrations in September. Beyond cookbooks, you can use fiction with that food in the title.
National Gyro Day - September 1 (You can expand this to any Greek food)
World Coconut Day - September 2
National Cheese Pizza Day - September 5
World Samosa Day - September 5
National Peanut Day - September 13
Fortune Cookie Day - September 13
Eat a Hoagie Day - September 14
National Cheeseburger Day - September 18
Ice Cream Cone Day - September 22
National Drink a Beer Day - September 28
National Coffee Day - September 29
With Celebrate Bisexuality or Bi Visibility Day on September 23, how you handle it depends on your community, library, and local/state laws. One way is to set up a romance display and focus on books with bisexual characters.
Arapahoe Libraries - Bi-Bi-Bi! Romance Books With Bisexual Main Characters
Meet Cute Romance Bookshop- The Bi(sexual)s Have It: Bi Characters in Great Romance Novels
Goodreads - Bisexual Romance Books
For those looking to expand this display, look at the Lambda Literary Awards which have bisexual fiction and bisexual non-fiction categories.
World Translation Day is September 30. Search your collection for books in translation. You can even have a tiny display on a service desk with an easel. Add a new book when one gets checked out.
September 30 is also International Podcast Day. Your collection may include books about how to start a podcast or editing. Add books from these lists to make a display:
Goodreads - Books By or Related to Podcasts and Podcasters
Bookshop.org - Books by women podcasters
Brooklyn Public Library - 20 Books By Your Favorite Podcast Hosts
Cambridge Public Library - Podcasts that wrote books
Reddit - Best books written by Podcasters
Podcasts that also have a book
Library Journal is here to remind us that when a movie the The Odyssey catches patrons' attention, we can use that interest to help draw attention to library collections. On August 5, they featured stories set in ancient times for fans of The Odyssey. The post includes a link to a spreadsheet with more titles than featured on their graphic. Don't do extra work when journals help you out with features like this.
The New York Times has a list of the 50 Best Thriller Books up on their website. (Should be a gift link) The list was compiled with the help of authors, librarians, editors, critics and Bookstagrammers. The list is helpful for collection development but I would suggest that you look at the read-alikes for each book that are listed below the description. You can use the list and the read-alikes to set up a generic thriller display. They are very popular now and some time on a display will help any titles that are lacking checkouts to find their reader.
Another way you can use them is to pick one of the titles and use it for a more focused display around setting, theme, or plot. There are books like Jar of Hearts with complicated, messy women or Tell No One with its story of a spouse who died (or did she?) You can search for similar books as the read-alikes in the description to come up with a full display.
A final idea for a display based upon this list is to look at how the authors and other book people voted and use their choices to create a display. Readers love recommendations from celebrities. Note the celebrities on the sign if you would like and update it if you have to change out the books. This sort of display would be a great idea for a small display on a service desk or near a catalog computer.
It seems as if every celebrity and news organization has their own book club. It is certainly possible to use them to create a book display - read alikes for the current pick and for past picks. If circulation has dropped off on the backlist of picks, you can display them as well. Today, I am going to focus on the New York Times Book Review Book Club that airs on their podcast with reader comments on an online post.
For July, they read John of John by Douglas Stuart. The book club post is here and the podcast post is here. You can use the book club picks as a way to create a book club, even if you don't have the staff time. Patrons could gather to discuss the book and even listen to the podcast together. The most useful part of the podcast for me is the read-alikes that the participants suggest. For John of John, the books mentioned were:
According to BookRiot, there is a new book trend which has developed on TikTok - Weird Girl Fiction. They describe it as:
In fact, there’s a new one that has recently emerged on TikTok, no less: weird girl fiction, or weird girl lit. Weird girl fiction is commonly defined as books that elicit “unhinged female rage” and “transgress social norms.”
While the terms can be problematic, these novels exhibit an unconventional, unhinged, or dark tone. In My Year of Rest and Relaxation, isolation and self-destruction are the central themes.
There are some books listed in their article but I will include some more below. Because it crosses and blends genres, it also is part of the greater trend of genre blending.
Reddit has a entire subreddit about it - https://www.reddit.com/r/weirdgirlliterature/ The image at the top of the subreddit can give you inspiration for your signage.
Here are some other lists to help get you started:
Daniel Boone Regional Library: Weird Girl Fiction
The Spinoff: What is ‘weird girl lit’ – and why is it trending right now?
Instagram: The Definitive Weird Girl Lit Reading Guide
Henrico County Public Library: Weird Girl Fiction
Crime Reads: Weird Girl Lit Galore: 10 Novels
Denver Public Library : Weird Girl Fiction
Goodreads: Weird Woman Fiction
The local tourism marketing organization for my county is among the groups who encourage locals to celebrate "727" on July 27. This is our area code and the idea is to celebrate the local culture, history, and community. There are local deals and so forth available to those who live within the county.
You can take this idea and pick a week that matches your own area code. Use it to focus on books about local history, culture and food. For some places (Maine, New Hampshire) there is one area code for the state which gives you many options. For others, it may be limited to a city.
Set up a display with signage that echoes the date (Celebrating [area code]). With some planning, it may be possible to involve local businesses. Local bakeries or coffee shops can recommend books or do pairings with different treats or drinks. This can be posted in the library as well as in their establishments. Ask local civic, government, and community leaders for their reading suggestions and use that as a social media post or display.
This is a great theme to take out of your library, unshelving the library to your community. There are always people who need to be reminded about the services and items your library offers. Bringing information about your digital services is a great topic for this sort of unshelving. This will increase your users and those who are invested in your library.
Don't forget to look outside of any special local collection you have to include fiction by authors from the area, biographies of people from the area, and non-fiction related to your area. If you have movies filmed locally or about local issues in your collection, add them as well.
The late Anthony Bourdain has become a cultural icon. With the upcoming release of the bio pic "Tony" it's a good time to use his popularity to bring some attention to your collection. If you don't have his book Kitchen Confidential, I would order a copy or so before the August 7 release of the movie. On July 28, Bloomsbury Publishing will re-release his three crime novels in a single collection.
Beyond checking your collection for his books and for No Reservations on DVD, you can set up a book display or online booklist focused on read-alikes for Kitchen Confidential. There are some suggestions on these lists:
What Should I Read Next?
Reddit - What should I read if I liked kitchen confidential?
Books similar in themes to kitchen confidential
Other travel writers with a similar style to Anthony Bourdain?
Instagram - Books Like Kitchen Confidential
Book Browse - Books Like Kitchen Confidential
Fodor's Travel - 10 Books to Read if You Miss Anthony Bourdain’s Writing as Much as We Do
Meet New Books - Books Like Kitchen Confidential
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Anthony Bourdain
Chicago Public Library - Top Picks: Books by or Featuring Anthony Bourdain
A display like this can also include travel and cookbooks about the places which Bourdain featured on his show or books by and about other famous chefs.
A regular Library Journal feature that is worth reviewing is their Read-Alikes for titles with top holds in public libraries. One example is Read-Alikes for ‘Whistler’ by Ann Patchett .
They provide three read-alikes:
Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (Ecco)
This Is Not About Us: Fiction by Allegra Goodman (Dial)
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)
While this is not enough for a large display, this could certainly make for a pop-up display on a service desk for for a smaller display if your library lacks space. If you take these three books, you can look for read-alikes for these three and turn it into a bigger display.
Keep an eye out for this feature and use it as a fill-in and to advertise your holds list. Patrons can find a great read while they wait for the hottest book. Create a sign that says "While You Wait for Whistler" and create a QR code to your online catalog. You can possibly inspire patrons to deep dive into your catalog and to place more holds.
Netflix has released a new way to find book adaptations and you can borrow some of their ideas to promote your library's collection. In a post titled "Discover Your Next Book-to-Screen Obsession With Our New Dedicated Hub, " Netflix describes their new hub for book adaptations. While you can certainly assemble displays of adaptations, both movie and tv.
However, if you look at Netflix's categories, it's an easy jump to see how easily they could become displays:
One of my favorite features in Library Journal is their genre preview. Obviously, I have a bias towards the horror preview which was published on July 15. In "The Art of Tales That Terrify," Becky Spratford details trends in horror. While the books she lists may be upcoming or new, you can use what she discusses to create your own Summerween display.
While I encourage all of you to read the article to strengthen your readers advisory skills, I will list some of what she mentions along with her subheadings:
Yesterday, I spent most of the day catching up at work because I was on leave for several days. We return to day with an idea from Library Journal!
One of my favorite features in Library Journal is their Display Shelf. They assemble books related to a theme and include a link to a spreadsheet with titles. The landing page does feature some of the titles, faced out. The current theme is summerween - for those readers who can't wait for spooky season. I would suggest that for many readers, it's always spooky season. You can search their site for previous themes and use them for inspiration when you need an idea.
Borrow the layout and then you can include the display on your social media. The titles below include several that I have reviewed and given stars to including:
Molka by Monika Kim
It came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman
I’m traveling today so I will suggest that you check out Becky’s blog post today:
It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to think about planning for August collection promotions. Exactly which displays, online posts, or other passive readers advisory themes you pick will depend upon your library and patrons.
From Web Holidays, there are daily, weekly, and monthly options. There aren’t any major holidays to consider so that leaves much of the month open. You may have to schedule your displays around the ending of summer reading for youth and adults.
Given that there are many food related celebrations, one option is to group together several of them and set up a display with cookbooks and fiction with the various food types in the title. This would be a great display to mirror with your youth collection. Cookbooks are popular with children in my library when they are promoted with a display.
Romance awareness month is a great time to promote your romances and love stories that need some attention. You can promote romance outside of Valentine’s Day. People may add certain kinds of fiction to their TBR based upon the time of year but fans of a genre read it all year.
You can use the above ideas for a month long display leading up to the start of school and fall. Add smaller displays, up for a week or less, to other parts of your library. Adding some shorter lived displays will allow for more staff to be involved and will create more interest for those who come into your building on a regular basis.
Harriet Quimby day is August 2. This day celebrates the day in 1911 when Quimby became the first woman in the United States to obtain a pilot’s license. In 1912, she became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel. Beyond fiction and non-fiction books about pilots and flying, include DVDs with the theme. I would expand the display to include titles about women’s firsts in a variety of areas. I would suggest this one for a week because it might become too time consuming to fill in for an entire month. More general ideas work better for that.
International Day of the World’s Indigenous People was established by the United Nations in 1994. Search through your collection for titles related to any of the indigenous peoples in the world. This is August 9th which will take you through the second week of the month.
The next week includes National Thrift Shop Day on August 17. This is a great day to use in conjunction with programming related to upcycling clothing from thrift shops. While teens will enjoy that program, don’t forget adults. Set up displays with books about thrifting, clothing design and alterations. If your library has a blog or uses social media, invite patrons to submit photos of their own thrifted outfits. You could even have a fashion show for attendees to strut their stuff in your library. Partner with a local craft or sewing shop to demonstrate the how to’s of clothing alteration and customization.
For the end of the month, there is an option with an easy passive program. One is to celebrate Find Your Inner Nerd Day on August 23rd. Set up a display about various hobbies and interests as well as fiction about people who have a particular obsession. Encourage your patrons to share what they nerd out about either by having a box or bulletin board or on your social media. This is an easy passive program and may help those who love bird watching, trains, or crochet to find their people
There are some more serious options for the end of the month such as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition also on August 23rd or Individual Rights Day on August 29th. You could combine these with side-by-side displays to encourage patrons to think about both the crimes and terror of the past while also considering the state of individual rights today. Know your community and library leadership when picking display topics. I think a best practice is to balance weighty and serious displays with more fun and frivolous ones. This may help your message get across.
Please reach out if you have ideas for August displays or if you would like to talk to me about setting up a display schedule for your library!
One question I have been asked in the past is what to do if you are a smaller library without fancy devoted to displays, what can you do to merchandise your collection. There are opportunities within any library to showcase books that need some more attention. If you have interest in a webinar devoted to this, please let me know! I will soon post some pictures here and on my instagram account that smaller libraries can use.
One thing to use are simple wire easels. They are available from library specific vendors as well as mass merchandisers. Here is an example from Demco. You can place these at the end of each shelf and showcase one title. This is something we do at my library & it has the benefit of being fillable by any member of your staff. It’s easier on the book than standing it up without an easel, especially for thinner books with paperbacks. You can do this in every part of your collection, including youth.
Any place in your library with a flat service can be a display. I have used simple bookends & have placed a themed collection of 3-5 books near printers, catalog computers, and on top of fixtures. Place a sign if there is room. Even a small sign that says “Check these out!” Rotate them through each part of your collection. Don’t forget to use space on your service desks.
Add a place near your service desks with small sign that says “Ask me about this book.” Staff who are willing to participate can add a book during their shift. It’s a great way to learn to book talk as it’s a book they have picked and are familiar with. Not every patron will ask but it’s way to promote books throughout your collection. After they become more comfortable, staff may need to bring more than one book with them!
Finally, don’t forget book carts. They can be moved anywhere in your building. I share the recommendation than many readers advisor experts have to bring a book cart into your program. (Don’t forget books for parents in your story times.) You can create a cart with any theme that interests you and place it around your building. You will eventually find the places that get the most attention from your patrons. If there is an event or another reason that the space needs to be used, the cart can be moved.
If you have ideas for small libraries or techniques that you have used, please let me know!
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.
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
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
Awards of Excellence (Crime Writers of Canada)
Mystery Focused Websites
International Thriller Writers
Malice Domestic
Mystery Readers International
Australian Crime Writers Association
Private Eye Writers of America
International Thriller Writers
Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
List of Mystery Focused Organzations
Many independent bookstores promote their top sellers even if they promote the New York Times Bestsellers. This photo is from my local, amaz...
