Book Display Idea - Banned Books Week

 

Bookriot has a great article up about Building Good Banned Book Displays. While I encourage all of you to read the entire thing and to take their advice into consideration as you build your displays, there are two points that I want to highlight.

The first is to focus on contemporary titles that have been challenged. As Bookriot’s Nikki DeMarco notes “Be sure to include recent titles in your display of banned and challenged books. When people recognize a title or have a personal connection to it, then learn that it was banned, the impact on that person is even greater.”  While titles like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Catcher in the Rye have a history of challenges, we don’t want anyone to think that current books that they have enjoyed are not the focus of bans. Making them aware that books like A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas and Drama by Raina Telgemeier will highlight that bans have an ongoing impact. The ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom has an archive of the top ten banned books. Bookriot also has excellent coverage of attempts to ban books throughout the US.

The second idea that DeMarco brings up to make your display interactive. I have presented about this topic in webinars recently. Adding something for patrons to participate in will draw in some who might have walked by. Don’t forget to add an online interactive element to your website, blog, or social media. Younger readers can create bookmarks for banned books week. Patrons can submit lists of banned books that they have read. You can ask that local businesses including restaurants and coffee houses post your lists of banned books available at your library. Ask patrons to post a picture of themselves with a banned book on their own social media page and tag your library.

The ALA has information and downloads about Banned Book Week to help get you started.

Using Booklist and Library Journal for Book Display Inspiration

As I have mentioned before, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel when it comes to book displays or finding ideas. Both Booklist and Library Journal regularly have ideas you can borrow and reshape to fit your own library's needs. While it may not be up to you if your library subscribes or not to either or both, even the headline of an article can help you with book display ideas. 

Library Journal has a feature called Display Shelf on their website. Often curated by Editor Melissa DeWild, these shelves are a great way to get ideas about what kind of fiction and non-fiction displays your library can put up. Don't feel pressure to include every book they have up; use the idea as a jumping off point and search your own collection for titles that will work. 

Booklist has articles on Essential reads in a particular subgenre or subject. There are also trend alerts which include books with subjects like Love & Sports. Even if you don't subscribe, you can be inspired by the titles of these lists. Booklist Online is not as expensive as other library databases so I would encourage you to inquire about an institutional subscription. It's a great resource for readers advisory and collection development. 

Another resource Booklist provides is High Demand Read Alikes. With titles like Slow-Burn Love Stories and Women in War, you should be able to find an idea when you are pressed to create a display but don't feel especially creative. They are also broad enough that finding some read alikes in your own physical and digital collection should be easy. 

Theme to Explore - Blending Genre in Book Displays

 Setting aside any libraryland debates about genre spine labels, genre filing on the shelf versus interfiling and so forth, I thought I would talk about how to use books which cross several genres or are genre blended as a theme for an online list or book display. Many books have crossover appeal. You can use this to gently suggest to your readers that there are books outside their usual lanes that they will enjoy and perhaps create another entire world of books for that patron to explore. 

The easiest option is to do a "If you liked this... Try this" book display/list. You can go outside of the usual similar titles in the same genre and instead match up a memoir or biography with a fiction title. Pick someone who lived in the same era or a biography with a fictional depiction of that person. A recent idea from the news and popular culture would be a novel about the British royal family with a biography of a British royal. Pair a book like Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo with non-fiction books about Chicago, Chicago travel books, and DVDs about Chicago. 

The Chicago Public Library has a convenient list of fiction set in Chicago. 

This is a simple version of blending genres in a book display - pick a setting or character and grab materials from your location, regardless of genre of type. 

Another option using Children of Chicago?  It's also a police procedural so look for romantic suspense, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction which are also police procedurals in part. There are plenty of titles in other genres which focus on a single police detective. Try adding them to a display. The fact that some are romantic suspense while others are historical mysteries shouldn't matter. Let your patrons explore and trust their curiosity. 

The truth is that while it was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best novel, Children of Chicago is not only a horror novel. As was mentioned before it's a police procedural, urban fantasy, modern fairy tale, and serial killer thriller. There are plenty of books in your collection which share these descriptions. Gather them up and put them on a display. 

You can use this sort of display to introduce patrons to the idea of genre blending in novels. Use a picture of a blender on a sign and put up materials from your collection that cross genres. Romance fans are already familiar with this idea due to the proliferation of subgenres in romance  - romantic suspense, historical romance, inspirational romance and so forth. There are also mysteries which are also historical fiction, horror which is also comedic, and science fiction which has elements from thrillers blended in. 

One theme you can use is literary fiction/genre fiction. There are plenty of titles which combine aspects of literary fiction including complex language and a character driven plot. Literary fiction giants like Colson Whitehead (Zone One) have written horror while horror authors like Stephen Graham Jones and Andy Davidson would definitely appeal to literary fiction lovers.
 
While examples of literary genre fiction in all genres can be found, I would caution you that romance readers do expect a central love story and a happy (at least for now) ending. Books that have romantic elements could be called love stories on a display or list. 

Below I have some lists and articles that should help you in your exploration of genre blending and blended genres. Use them as a start to introduce your patrons to books outside their usual reads!

More resources: 

Goodreads has a list of genre blending fiction. 
Books shelfed on Goodreads as Literary Romance.
More from Goodreads with Best Literary Mysteries
Bookriot has several lists: genre-blending literary fiction, genre-blending historical fiction,      redefining romance in literary fiction, best literary mystery
ALA Publishing published The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends. 
This article from Writer's Digest talks about cross pollination which would be a cute theme for a genre blending display. 
Tor.com has Five Genre-Blending Young Adult Books. 
Five Books in Which Unexpected Romance Sneaks Up On You from The Atlantic
The Millions has The Case for Genre Fiction: A Guide to Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy

When Things Go Wrong Book Display

When Things Go Wrong book display with titles about disasters including some local/state titles. I borrowed this idea from ALA's Booklist. They have lists that are great jumping off points. This display could include fiction from any and all genres including horror, suspense, and thrillers.