ALA Collection Development Crash Course

I'm excited to be presenting for ALA Continuing education again. On Thursday, September 3, I will be presenting one part of the Collection Development Crash Course. You will learn the fundamentals of adult fiction collection development including information about genre, how to find titles, purchase them, and promote your collection. 

• Developing the Adult Fiction Collection with Lila Denning: Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific
  
  
• Developing the Youth Collection with Julie Jurgens: Thursday, September 10, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific
  
  
• Developing the Adult Nonfiction Collection with Stephanie Sendaula: Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific
  
  
• Weeding Popular Materials Collections with Karen Toonen: Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific
  
  You can find information about the entire series here. I hope to see you in class!

ALA Annual 2026 in Chicago - Library Insights Summit 2026 - Connecting Publishers & Librarians

 On June 26, I will be participating in the Library Insights Summit, presented by Foreword with IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association), BISG (Book Industry Study Group), and NISO (National Information Standards Organization). It is a day-long conference with breakout sessions targeted at publishers, author-publishers, and librarians as well as sessions for the entire group. The registration price does include breakfast, lunch and an exhibits only badge to attend ALA Annual which follows. 

I am a participant on a panel called Smarter Marketing for Maximum Library Impact, moderated by Becky Spratford. Kaycie Hoffman Blaylock, Library & Resource Coordinator, Alexandria City Public Schools, and Rebecca Vnuk, Executive Director, LibraryReads, are also panelists. The description, from the website: 

As library supply chains and discovery systems evolve, publishers are facing new challenges in getting their titles seen and ordered. At the same time, librarians are navigating a fragmented marketplace to find trustworthy, complete information on forthcoming books. This session brings together marketing and distribution experts to show how publishers can sharpen their strategies, stretch their budgets, and strengthen relationships with this vital audience. Learn how to optimize metadata for library visibility, coordinate publicity with wholesale and discovery platforms, and build long-term awareness among collection development professionals.

I hope you will consider joining us. After Baker & Taylor's implosion, it is vital that libraries understand the publishing industry and update policies so that they can purchase directly from publishers when needed. Many of my local library systems are still dealing with shockwaves from B&T's closure, including adding in-house processing. With social media platforms, like TikTok, driving book sales, there is more of a need than ever to include small press and independently published books in our collections. 

For more insight, check out Becky's blog post about the event: Join Me and Others at the Library Insights Panel in Chicago on June 26th

I hope to run into you at ALA Annual as well as the LIS preconference!

Upcoming - Collection Development Crash Course from ALA eLearning

 In September 2026, I will be joining three colleagues to teach a four part crash course in collection development. The four parts are: 

• Developing the Youth Collection with Julie Jurgens: Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific

• Developing the Adult Fiction Collection with Lila Denning: Thursday, September 10, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific

• Developing the Adult Nonfiction Collection with Stephanie Sendaula: Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific

• Weeding Popular Materials Collections with Karen Toonen: Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific

We will cover the basics of genres, where you can find information about titles, how to find diverse titles including those by independently or self-published authors, and more. It's a course that I always enjoy teaching. The other three instructors are passionate and experts in collection development. 

Whether you are a seasoned acquisitions librarian or just want to learn more about the topic, I encourage you to register! You can find out more here. 

Unshelving the ALA Annual Conference in Philly.

 I will be attending the American Library Association Annual Conference in Philadephia. My hope is to post some content related to what I participate in and learn while I am there. I am participating in two panels. One is The State of RA Today, presented by Booklist. I have the pleasure of presenting with some of the best reader advisory experts around. Susan Maguire from Booklist is also very passionate about books and readers. 

I am also participating in Booklist/LibraryReads annual Read 'n' Rave. Participants have 10 minutes to rave about as many books as they can! It's at 10:30, PCC Room 112AB. This year’s Ravers  besides me include:  Jessica Trotter,  Alene Moroni, Migdalia Jimenez, and Rebecca Vnuk. LibraryReads executive director Rebecca Vnuk is a master at this so I will have to be on my toes!

If you are in attendance, come and say hello!

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.