Passively Recommending Books

  It's likely your library has put up a book display or list related to Black History Month . If you look at the official US government site and review the exhibits page, you will see a huge variety of topics. There are exhibits on educators, visual artists, theatre, dress, folklife, colleges, literature, music and religion. Use these exhibits as a place to start your own displays and lists for Black History Month. In addition to displays focusing on slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, use this month to introduce patrons to titles in your collection that can allow them to see parts of Black history that they might not be familiar with. There are topics like t he Harlem Renaissance  , Black cowboys , Black entrepreneurs , Black scientists , and more. GLAAD has information on Black LGBTQ history . Don't forget to see what your local history collection has about history in your city, state, or region.  The most popular display I have ever put up in February was related to Blac

  It's time to start thinking about Black History Month book displays. I will be posting pictures and ideas for the next few days.  I wanted to share one of the more popular ones I put up. This is devoted to biographies of black chefs and cookbooks by black authors.  It emptied out the library of all the books on the subject very quickly and I had to pivot to another topic.  When you are thinking about promoting various history/heritage months, think outside the box. Don't limit yourself. Think about your own city/town/community. Think local history. Think about culture in a broad sense.  Creating book displays is a good way to inventory your collection. If you can't find books for a display, your library might need to diversify its collection. There are always constraints due to collection development policy and budget but we can add books to represent our entire communities. Promoting them through passive readers advisory like displays, bookmarks, and lists will help your

Rosa Parks' birthday is a great subject for a book display that combines youth and adult titles.  Don't forget to include books from your biographies, African-American studies, and history books. This display sat away from all of those areas and was a way for patrons to be reminded of books that might not have searched out on their own. 

Black History Month doesn't have to just be displays with somber history. Remember to include the depth and breadth of the black experience and find some joyful subject to put out for your patrons. This display was fun to put together and emptied out very quickly. Again, I use a generic sign template so that I don't have to work as hard when it's time to replace it. 

Black History Month display with titles from the 800's on literature and authors. This particular part of non-fiction does not generally circulate well at my library so this was a chance to highlight it in an area with more foot traffic.  The previous display emptied out. For month-long celebrations, I try to start with a list of ideas so I can replace them quickly. I also use a generic sign template.