Passively Recommending Books

  I will recap PLA 2024 at the end but there has been a lot of good talk about upcoming horror novels at the convention. I wanted to remind everyone that Summer Scares, a partnership between the Horror Writers of America, BookList and NoveList, is a great opportunity to promote horror outside of October.  I can guarantee that your patrons don't only think that beach reads are cheery and light. Living near the beach, I see people check out plenty of thrillers, suspense, and horror novels to take with them. Don't prejudge what your patrons are interested in and seasonally limit what portions of your collection that you market to them. There are adult, YA, and middle grade titles selected each year. They are always back list titles that are in print. An author is selected as spokesperson and this year it is Clay McLeod Chapman who is an excellent author to suggest to patrons who think they don't read horror. You can find out more about his books here .  There are free webinars

  I wanted to follow up on a question I received during the PLA webinar about passive readers advisory as a way to market your collection. Don't forget that books can be approached in a lot of ways. One way you can start is by looking at subject headings. You can search a lot of library catalogs by subject. They are often hyperlinked which makes it easy to search.  If we look at the example in the last post, What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman, here are the subject headings from the MARC record: Missing children Homecoming Palmists Father and child Kidnapping Man-woman relationships Occult & Supernatural. Horror fiction Gothic fiction. Thrillers (Fiction) There are likely lots of titles on your shelves about kidnappings, homecomings, and missing children.  If we look at the publisher's summary of the book: Madi returns to her hometown and reconnects with an ex from high school, now known locally for his refusal to give up looking for his infant son who has been missi

  This where I say-  use what I have here or don't. Whatever. There are many options for this kind of generational display. You could look for books published during a defined time period, for Gen X  you could use the late 70's through late 90's. But don't be doctrinaire, there are plenty of books by members of Generation X that are set during that time period or which have the sense or flavor of that generation. If someone else on staff disagrees with your choices, invite them to add their own choices. Ask patrons for their suggestions on your social media or in your library. You can add some non-fiction about significant events that took place in the 80's and 90's. There are plenty of examples of terrifying things that took place during those years. Also, check your DVD collection and add some of those. Goosebumps was first published in 1992... For a passive program, add one for Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z. Let your patrons fight it out and read some