Passively Recommending Books

  The recent Barnes and Noble pre-order sale received a lot of attention from authors and book buyers. Pre-orders can be vital to a book's success, with strong pre-orders showing that there is interest in a title.Why mention it to library workers interested in book displays? Use the idea of pre-orders to market your holds list. Assuming that every patron knows that you have a request service for physical and digital titles is a mistake. Because we spend so many hours at the library, it can be easy to forget that many things are unknown to patrons. Some patrons may have forgotten that they can place a hold request for a popular title, receiving a notification when it is available for them.  In many libraries, as soon as a title is "on order" in the ILS, patrons can start putting holds on it. Hold requests also give your acquisitions department an idea about demand for a particular title. Create a display with cover photos, information about how holds work, ways they can be

  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

  More than likely, you have books by Colleen Hoover on your physical and digital holds list. While you may not have the books in your building to include in a physical display, you can use read alike authors on your shelves to give back list titles some attention, bring attention to other authors that fans of Hoover would like, and advertise your holds list.  Where to find suggestions? There are plenty of lists to get you started on your own display or post.  Business Insider has a list - 22 books Colleen Hoover fans will love, from suspenseful romance reads to tearjerker YA stories . This list has suggestions from all over fiction and is diverse which I appreciate. It will also give you a taste of the different ways people can approach even a popular author like Hoover.  A feature you can copy is Book Riot's book recommendation service - using email, online chat, or whatever your library can support even if that's paper requests. Their list of 10 Authors Like Colleen Hoover

 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 Pela

 This month Grady Hendrix' s new title, How To Sell A Haunted House, is published. He is a best selling horror author whose books have a lot of crossover appeal to readers who don't necessarily seek out horror. Even if you have a holds list for the book, you can harness his popularity to draw attention to other titles on your shelves.  First, as always, put up signage promoting your holds list. Don't assume that everyone knows how easy it is and what the notification options are. If you have any of his titles as part of your eBook collection, add information about that as well. The purpose of a book display or online booklist is to promote your library's collection. Don't get hung up on specific titles; it's not a homework assignment. Unless you post pictures online, no one is going to grade you. Just search for subject headings and look for titles that are close enough. It's a great way to become more proficient with your searching.  Grady has a backlist wh

  True crime has soared in popularity thanks to podcasts and documentaries on streaming services. It is possible to highlight the parts of your collection that would appeal to fans of the genre while also being conscious of the victims, survivors, and their families. I'm not including a list of titles about the more famous serial killers because those are easy to find and likely get a lot of circulation in your library.  I'll link to the Goodreads reviews for the books so you can see what other readers thought since I've not read all of the titles below. Remember to include lists/signs/QR codes for your digital collections if you make a book display inside your library.  Setting up a book display or a book list is not a test; don't stress out over how close a read alike is. Every reader comes at a book from a different place. Also, Use popular titles to draw in readers to the other books on your display. You won't have every lower profile or smaller press/imprint bo

  When I presented at TBLC's VIP Conference, I was asked about free alternatives if your library does not subscribe to a database like Novelist. Here are a few of my suggestions. As always, your mileage may vary and everyone has different tastes. It's not an endorsement of any of them.  Goodreads : While you might use it as a way to connect with other readers and to track your own reading during the year, it is also possible to use it for readers advisory. You can search for a trope like haunted house, bounty hunter, enemies to lovers and then click on Listopia. The lists created by readers will load and you can search them for the right book for your patron. It also works for other things  like Polish literature or Queer science fiction. If you spend some time searching, you can note the best lists. Also, when you log books include some notes about who else might like that book, what other books it reminded you of, and what the tone, setting, and characters were like. If you

As part of the Horror Writers of America 's StokerCon Librarian's Day, I am moderating a panel on promoting horror in libraries. I have posted some of the displays I have done which include horror. Don't forget that you can include horror titles in almost any book display.  Don't get stuck in the box of only promoting horror in October. Don't strictly segregate genres because your patrons don't care as much as you think they do. (One huge exception is romance readers - romance has a happier ever after ending.) One final tip is this- book displays in libraries are not a school project. The objective is to get materials into the hands of your patrons. Be broad with genre and theme. You don't have to be exacting as far as which titles you include as long as it's not a genre or subgenre specific display. Even then, I use the broadest possible definition.  This display was easy to fit horror into. It's "Get Possessed by a Book". Include non-fict

  February is Women in Horror Month . This is a great time to bring your library's horror out for a non-Halloween display. Again, I guarantee you that it will circulate all year.  Be broad and include non-fiction works like true crime if you need to. You can also grab some psychological suspense as there is a lot of crossover fans.  On the sign, I included the URL for the official Women in Horror Month website as well as RA for All - Horror, a great resource for any library worker looking to get more information about horror.  The Horror Writers of America have a great blog with i nformation about diverse authors . Authors' groups are very supportive of libraries and are a wonderful resource.  Mother Horror - Sadie Hartman is a horror reviewer and part owner of Night Worms Horror Book Box subscription service. Check out her Twitter and Instagram for more ideas.  Putting out genres like horror in February when your patrons might be expecting something else will draw their att

  On Politics and Book Displays My first instinct is to say "don't." It can be difficult and is usually not worth the amount of difficulty that you will face. However, it's totally acceptable to grab subjects from the news and toss up a book display. (Please make certain you know your library's policies and the thoughts of your administration if you have any second thoughts.) How do you break down a news event into subjects? In 2017, I put up an FBI themed display. I  used fiction and non-fiction titles. The sign simply had the FBI logo. You have the option of so many thrillers, romantic suspense, and mysteries. There are histories of the agencies and books about famous agents and cases.  No one complained and the display was successful in getting books into the hands of patrons.  This display in March of 2017 invited patrons to "Learn more about Russia." The books were mostly about modern Russia and Putin. Within a few days, the books on Putin were all

  I have never liked "New Year, New You" book displays. Self improvement does not need to have an implicit or explicit aura of self-hatred. Save the diet books and exercise videos for another day.  Instead, focus on showing patrons how they can "____ something new." They can learn something new, eat something new, make something new! It's a way to showcase some of your non-fiction collection that needs more exposure as well as helping them find something new to focus on. I have some pictures here that showcase a few of the displays I have done in the past.  Think broadly and involve staff from all over your library. Don't forget to include materials from your audiobook and DVD collections. You can even include images and handouts from your ebook collections or databases.  This idea would also work for youth services book displays. There is a gap in-between the holidays and the start of school. You could encourage some learning and crafting from kids who othe

Suggestions for what to read while you wait for those holds on the Witcher books or are done binging the series. Dark fantasies or books with similar main characters are what you should look for. Search for "read likes for..." when you want to put up a display based upon whatever the most popular show on the streaming services is. 

Someone else at my library put up this display. The idea is cute - books with shoes on the cover or in the title. These sort of themes help people stumble on back list titles they may have missed. It can be tricky to fill in if you don't have ideas when you set it up. There are clearly tons of ways you could change this to suit your library's collection. Add non-fiction if you need to and grab some history of fashion or fashion books. I would even put books from health about podiatry in it!

Another librarian put together this book display with library themed romances. Be as broad as possible when setting up this sort of display. If a book has a librarian in it or library scene, it is enough. Romance is a genre rich with tropes so you can assemble a display that fits your collection or those titles that need some patron attention.  Alter the text on the sign and a quick and easy cozy mystery display could be put up with the same theme. 

As I have said before, faceouts are magical. These are simply a variety of titles that need a circulation boost. I have put up this display with a sign that simply had a sleepy puppy on it. Just being in front of your patrons' eyes can help them get the sort of attention they need. 

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.

People were thinking about the 20’s at the beginning of 2020 so I obliged them with a book display . First things to be taken from this display were books about fashion. In theory, you could put this up every year until 2030.  Pay at least some attention to what is bouncing around in popular culture; you can mine it for ideas for easy book displays that let you faceout backlist lonely books. 

Quick Neil Peart memorial book display . Fill in with books about drums, drummers, and rock music. Don't forget to add any CDs or DVDs that you have. Include info about digital services like Hoopla that have music available to check out would also be a great idea. 

This is another easy book display that staff created. The titles will be familiar to your patrons, even if they are not readers. Sometimes patrons won't even realize that a popular movie was based upon a book. You can pair the books with DVD copies of the film if you have it. It's also a good idea to include a list of books and films that are in your collection, both digital and physical. 

This is clearly an easier theme for youth departments as there are usually at least a handful of books on every and any holiday.  Because it was in the news, I decided to use it as a way of highlighting titles by Chinese and Asian-American authors. You can search your ILS by subject heading to find titles in your collection. lf you don't have a lot, you have identified a hole in your collection.