Five SFF Books That Feel Like Studio Ghibli Films - Book Display Idea from Reactor Mag

 

There is nothing wrong with grabbing the headline from articles and shifting them into a book display to help market your collection. Every library has titles on their shelves which are waiting to find their reader. Reactor Mag recently featured a list of young adult titles which would have appeal to fans of Studio Ghibli and the works of Hayao Miyazaki. This would be a great way to move some of your science fiction and fantasy titles which could benefit from some exposure. Moving the display away from your young adult collection will also help patrons who don't frequent that area discover something new about your library. Add any DVDs of Studio Ghibli films you have to help draw attention to the display.

Invite staff or patrons to recommend books and movies by adding a box and some paper for them to write their suggestions. After vetting the answers (know your patrons - this may not be necessary in your library), you can post them on or near the display which would add an interactive feature to the display. 

Below I've included some lists to get you started. There are many of these online which could mean that fans of Studio Ghibli are always looking for things which remind them of their favorite works. There are also a lot of people who discovered their works when they were children and still love them as adults. 

Five SFF Books That Feel Like Studio Ghibli Films  - Reactor Mag
Books for Studio Ghibli Fans - Penguin Random House
Books that feel like Studio Ghibli - Goodreads
Books that feel like Ghibli studios - Reddit
Books to Read if You Love Studio Ghibli - Book Riot
Books for Studio Ghibli Fans - Boston Public Library

Unshelve your collection - Pairing Books on a Display (includes partnership/passive programming ideas)

 

I have written about book buddies as a book display before – those books that have similar vibes or remind you of each other. Another version on this theme is to create book pairings, like those created in restaurants with wines. Book clubs sometimes will pair books to give their members a way to gain a deeper understanding of a theme or context. You can provide some suggestions for any patron by creating a book display or online book list with pairing suggestions.  

One way to think about it is to pair a classic title with a book that updates or takes another view of the story - think Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. The latter updates the story from the point of view of the first Mrs. Rochester. Another would be the work of H.P Lovecraft with books like The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle. That novella looks at "The Horror at Red Hook" from the viewpoint of a black man.

 Newer fiction titles can be paired with older books. Non-fiction and fiction can be paired together. You can cross genres by pairing romantic suspense with a mystery or traditional suspense novel.  It can be done to give patrons an option while they wait for a title with a long hold list or as a way of providing patrons with an option after they finish a great read.

Below you will find some lists with pairing suggestions. Ask your coworkers for ideas and don’t forget young adult and juvenile materials! Let interested staff present it as options on a dating app or wine list. 

Perfect Pairs: Books that Go Together Like Cats and Bookstores - Book Riot
What are good pairs of books to read together? - Reddit
Books in Pairs: Pairing up my 2024-reads -  The FictionFox
classic vs. Contemporary: Novel Pairings by Character and Archetype - lit & more
My Favourite Fiction and Non-Fiction Book Pairings - Keeping Up With the Penguins
Books that are better together: 16 favorite novels for book clubs - Modern Mrs. Darcy
Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Read-Along Book Pairings - Book Riot

If you want to go a step further, find a local coffee or wine shop and ask them to help you curate a list of drinks to pair with various book titles. This is clearly not something that has a firm right or wrong answer. Patrons of both the library and the business can be encouraged to contribute their own suggestions for pairings. 

The book list and drinks can be posted in the local business and on their social media and/or website. It is a fun way to draw in readers and highlight your local small businesses. By putting the information in the business and on their social media you may reach an audience who is not already using the library which should be one of your goals with marketing. 

Here are a few lists to give you an idea of what is possible:
Wine and Words : Perfect Pairings for Book Lovers - Drink in Life
Literary libations: 21 book & drink pairings for every taste - Libby Life
Pair Your Favorite Coffee Drink With A Matching Book! - Union University Library Blog

Unshelve Your Collection Idea: 2025 Hugo Award Finalists

 Readers Advisory expert Becky Spratford has many posts on her blog, RA for All, detailing how to use literary awards in your readers advisory. I've linked to them and I strongly encourage you to read through them for some great insight on how they can help you as you assist readers in finding their next great read. 

Recently the 2025 Hugo Award Finalists were announced. The 2025 Hugo Awards, will be presented on Saturday evening, August 16, 2025, at Seattle Worldcon 2025. They honor works of science fiction and fantasy. I find awards like this helpful as I don't read as much science fiction or fantasy compared to other genres. It's a great way to get insight as to what are the best works in those genres. 

An example of using the awards in an online list can be found on the Chicago Public Library's website. Include nominees past works and short story collection in which the authors are included to add books to the display if you don't have all of them in your collection. You may find holes in your collection as you search for books which can be brought to your collection development librarians. 

Beyond the current nominees, use the lists of past award winners and nominees to fill in your display. There are lists of winners for best novel on Goodreads. 

Both WorldCon and the Hugo Awards are often enmeshed in controversy. Currently it's regarding the use of ChatGPT to vet participants. If you search you will find more. This is just a heads up if you choose to use the Hugos to promote your collection. Always know your community and use that as a guide as you work through ways to market your collection, services, and programs. 

I would be amiss if I didn't point you to Montana State University Billings great LibGuide collection devoted to literary awards. Let it inspire your own efforts on whatever scale you can manage!

Using Book Awards to Unshelve Your Collection - Plutarch Awards for Biography

 The 2025 Plutarch Awards Shortlist was announced recently. The Plutarch Awards are: 

A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce the five books shortlisted for the 2025 Plutarch Award, the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers.

(from the BIO website)

While some library workers and readers may not be familiar with these awards, they can definitely be used as part of passive readers advisory in book displays. Biographies are very popular with readers and these awards represent what those in the field believe to be the best in their genre. Setting up a display with information about the awards, the organization which awards them, as well as the current shortlist is a great way to provide information to your patrons. 

Set up the display away from your biography section and include information about where to find it if your building is large. Don't assume that every patron knows what your collection includes. Displays can be put on book carts if necessary so that they can be moved to different parts of the building. 

To fill in the display, you can use previous years winners as well as other titles from those authors. There is an information page about the award with biographies and bibliographies of winners as well as a news page with press releases from previous years. The display can even be filled with biographies that your staff picks. Ask for titles which could use some more attention. Double check the display to make certain that it includes a diverse group of subjects as always. 

Unshelve Your Collection Idea - Book Club Picks for April 2025 from Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly does a great service by including a regular feature in which they list many book club picks, some with celebrities leading them and some you may not have heard of. 

There are a number of book clubs included that focus on diverse works such as the Jewish Book Council Book Clubs, Mocha Girls Read, Sapph-Lit, and the Subtle Asian Book Club. Some of them have their own dedicated websites, some are based on Substack, and others ariden organized on social media.

A rotating book display with a small footprint would be to pick one or two a month and focus on their recent and past picks. I would avoid those which pick well known books unless you want to do a "Try these titles while you wait for [popular book]" display. Picks by Reece's Book Club or Read with Jenna tend to have holds that build up quickly. Working on a display like this would be great readers advisory practice for a library worker who is new to readers advisory. 

If you have local book clubs that either meet in your library or elsewhere in your community, you can include them as well. Promoting reading is a always something we should do. Not everyone will be able to come to the clubs which are directly sponsored by your library. Giving patrons online options and options outside of your building will encourage both reading and the discovery of books and authors they have missed. Don't see it as a competition. 

Unshelve your collection - Finished Series

 I received Book Riot's newsletter for romance called Kissing Books yesterday. The primary topic was about different romantasy series. There was a subheading that I thought would be a great theme for a book display:  Finished Romantasy Series to Consume Immediately. This is a way to bring attention to some of those series that your readers may have missed. 

There are readers who would rather not endure the stretch of time between novels or even whether or not a series will be completed. Remember that part of the reason to have a lot of different kinds of displays is to capture all kinds of readers. 

You can obviously expand beyond romantasy. This is a fun project for anyone on staff who is a fan of a particular genre. Expand the search to include your eBooks collection. It can also be paired with a display of new series . You can create a sign with a message like "Get on board now!" I find that setting up contrasting displays is a fun way to reach more people and to showcase more titles. 

Don't forget to mirror the display with young adult and juvenile titles so that younger readers are not left behind. 

Here are some lists to get you started: 

Goodreads - Completed Series

Epic Reads - 40 Completed Book Series to Binge Guaranteed to Keep You Reading

My Heart is Booked - Must Read Completed Series

Owl Crate - Six Best Completed Romantasy Series For When You Need The Next Book

Unshelve Your Collection Idea: Book Club Picks.

A great choice for a fill-in book display or when your bucket of ideas has run low is to see what the various book clubs have chosen. Fortunately, Publishers Weekly has a list of more book club choices than one could imagine. 

You can check this page monthly and focus on a different book club each month. There are options beyond celebrities and booksellers like-

Black Men Read

The Jewish Book Council

Mocha Girls Read

Sapph-Lit

Subtle Asian Book Club

Good Morning America YA Book Club

Eclectix Book Club

Don't forget to include the book clubs at your library as well as your local independent booksellers!

Unshelve with help from journals - Publishers Weekly - New Historical Fantasies Reimagine the Past

Genre blends are everywhere and patrons are checking them out. Publishers Weekly recently featured an article about historical fantasies - New Historical Fantasies Reimagine the Past. The article includes a breakdown of some of the major trends in this blend as well as providing some titles. There is also a link to an article about historical fantasy with mermaids. This is a great idea to borrow for a book display or online book list. 

Some more places to check for titles: 

Goodreads: Historical Fantasy Books
Goodreads: Best Historical Fantasy

Penguin Random House: Historical Fantasy Books to Escape Reality
Hachette Book Group: Thrilling Historical Fantasy Novels 

Johnson County Library: The Past, But With Dragons

Reactor Mag: Five Fantasy Novels Set in Interesting Historical Times
Fantasy Book Review: Best Historical Fantasy Books

If your library subscribes to Novelist, you can check there for read alikes as well. 

Using this idea can be a way of promoting your fantasy collection outside of romantic fantasy.

Some lists, like the Goodreads one, include titles that might lean more to other genres like horror (Grady Hendrix's Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is included). Don't let that stop you from adding a book to a display. This isn't a test and there aren't really wrong answers. Go into your stacks and find some fantasies with a history angle that can be part of the display. 

You can include a link to the Publishers Weekly article if you post a book list online. Otherwise, you can include a QR code with a link to the article in your physical display. 

Cross Posting w/RA for All - Unshelve Your Collection!

I wrote this up for the blog RA for All which is home to Becky Spratford, the best readers advisory trainer out there and the head Halloween Librarian. She knows the best ways to effective turn your entire staff into people who can recommend books and help patrons find their next great read. Becky is also a tireless advocate for library workers while also serving as the secretary for the Horror Writers Association. Find more information about how you can bring her into your library for staff training here. 

Shelves and shelves of book spines can create a great picture but it's not always the best way for a patron who is browsing your stacks to find their next great read. That's why this year I am encouraging everyone to unshelve their collections. All this means to find as many ways as possible to get your collection away from being lost in your stacks and out where it can be discovered by someone. 

There are simple ways to accomplish this. The easiest is to purchase some easels and put one book face out on every shelf. You will be amazed at what will be checked out simply because you put it face out on a shelf. This also is easy for any library worker to help keep filled; all that has to be done is a book picked from the shelf and placed on an empty easel. There is a sort of serendipity to this as everyone in your building will likely pick a different book so what’s faced out will constantly change. 

Book displays are another way to unshelve your collection by curating a small collection of materials on a theme and grouping them together. I cover basics and try to provide ideas on my blog and in my presentations for library workers. The magic behind book displays is that they the covers are faced out and can catch someone’s eye. Mix up fiction and non-fiction. Move materials to a part of your building that is far from where the rest of the collection is located. Add audiovisual materials to a display with books. Keep the signage and decorations simple. The focus should be on the covers.

Your eBooks and eAudiobooks are a treasure that not everyone in your community know about. You can unshelve them by setting up a book display with covers from the titles included in your digital collection. Add QR codes to the website and information about how to sign up for the service. You can mix the face outs on your shelves by adding signage on some shelves with suggestions for titles in your eBook collection. 

Whatever social media accounts that your library uses can also help unshelve your collection. One idea I have suggested is a “Five for Friday” series. Just pick five titles on a theme and take a picture. You can put them on a cart, table, or have a staff member hold them. A schedule can be set up and anyone who works in your library can have a chance to pick a theme and their five items. Add a short paragraph explaining the titles and provide information about how to put them on request. If staff are comfortable, you can have a short video where the staff member explains their choices. 

If a topic pops up in the news, use that as a reason to add a post with some titles that might be of interest to someone who wants more information. Find a theme similar to what you would use for a book display and create a grouping of covers for your social media. If someone has the interest and skills, you can create clever graphic or just use a series of book cover images. 

Don’t limit your unshelving efforts to your building. Partner with local businesses and get small posters and fliers out into your community that include titles and covers from your collection. You can use local celebrations and events for inspiration. Create bookmarks with covers that can be given away. Make some themed posters and book marks with coffee related titles for a cafe or pizza related titles for a pizza shop. There are pet speciality stores that are popping up. There are many pet related titles in our collections. Remind the people in your community who don’t regularly come into your building how amazing your library is. 

For the rest of 2025 I am going to try to discuss ways of unshelving your collection that can be used by libraries regardless of size or budget. Reach out to me if you have ideas that your library has used to show off the titles in your collection. I would love to share them! Let’s use this year to help readers discover what treasures are waiting for them on our shelves. 

Let Publishers Help You Unshelve Your Books - Bookcation Edition

 

I opened this email today from Simon & Schuster. It's a cute idea that you can definitely use to help promote your backlist titles. You can save it or repeat it in the summer just by switching the text around. You can use any fiction or non-fiction in your collection. I think that using travel books would be fun. 

This is a great display theme because it can be adapted to any part of a collection that could use a boost in attention. That also makes it easy to fill while it's up. This is a huge benefit to anyone who has smaller book displays or leaves them up for several weeks. It also means that anyone can help add books when needed. 

Make notes when a publisher email sparks an idea and use it to promote your collection. 

Using the Edgar Awards to Unshelve Your Collection

 The nominee list for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award has been announced. The awards will be presented on May 1, 2025, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. Some of the nominees are by popular authors or are best sellers that you likely have many requests for (The God of the Woods by Liz Moore is an example). But dig down and you will find books that haven't circulated as much or have been overlooked by your patrons. 

Those books that haven't gotten the attention at your library should be the focus of your display. Post the entire list and include verbiage that explains your holds list. Use the buzz that the Edgar awards can give to help give a boost to titles that need it. The God of the Woods doesn't need our promotional assistance. 

Another option is to mine the lists of past nominees to find backlist titles that would benefit from the spotlight. While you might not have enough of the current nominees to keep a display filled for a few week, the database goes back to the 1940's so you will find titles in your collection that your readers have not discovered. 

The MWA does have a full color listing of the nominees in their newsletter, The 3rd Degree. One page just has the covers of the novel nominees if you want something smaller. 

Other awards given include the Grand Master award. This year Laura Lippman and John Sandford will be honored. Neither of these authors really needs our marketing assistance but you could dig into your stacks and find read-alikes for both of them while having signage that announces the awards. You can add a copy or so of Lippman and Sandford's books if you want to draw some more attention to the display. 

I hope this helps spur some book display ideas!

Welcome to 2025 - The Year We Unshelve Our Collections

 I am back at home after spending some time with friends for New Year's Eve. While we all re-evaluate what will be different in 2025, I want to encourage you to unshelve your collection more this year. I've chosen that well-used library phrase to describe taking books out of the stacks and moving them around your building to show off what treasures are in your stacks. 

Even if you have a small building and no fancy fixtures to use for a book display, you have a surface somewhere in the building that has space for a few book easels. Even without a sign, you can display books near your catalog computers, service desks, near the printers, on a cart anywhere in your building... Walk your building as if you are a patron and you will find places. 

Take pictures of titles on a theme and put them on your social media or blog. You can even create flyers with book lists and QR codes that link to your eBooks, library card registration information, and website. Partner with local businesses to put fliers in their buildings. Offer to create lists that complement special events or local celebrations. Spreading the word about the great titles in your collection needs to happen beyond the walls of your library. There are still people out there who don't know we offer digital books and audiobooks.  Every new user is a new library supporter who can potentially advocate for the library when it's necessary. 

Don't forget to archive the titles you displayed and put on lists either online or somewhere in your building so that they can be recalled for a curious patron. This idea from Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, NH is one of my favorites. That way anyone on staff can assist a patron who asks about a book that was on display a month ago.

If you would like staff training in passive readers advisory, including genre specific displays, book displays, displays that include passive programming, or passive readers advisory in general - please contact me at Lila [dot] Denning [at] gmail [dot] com. 

Book Display Idea - Using School Library Journal

I'm sure we all receive promotional emails not only from publishers and library vendors but from outlets like Library Journal and School Library Journal. Don't be so quick to delete them and move on. The staff at School Library has some really wonderful ideas that you can borrow for a book display or book list online. 

A recent mailing from them included an article called Reverse Engineering: Taylor Swift Inspired RA Tools in Canva. This February 2024 post from Karen Jensen (Teen Librarian Toolbox) includes several images she made in Canva. The idea of making readalike lists or displays for each of Taylor Swift's eras is one you could use throughout a month. 

Next up was 8 YA Thrillers That Blend Influencer Culture with Page-Turning Plots. While this article is about YA fiction, you could reproduce it with adult fiction as well. If you have non-fiction about influencer culture in your collection, you can add them. I would include some non-fiction about social media in general. 

This October interview by Amanda MacGregor called A ‘Fear Factor’ Rating Adds Spice to the YA Horror Halloween Season, a guest post by Tony Jones has titles you could reference to do a "Chilling Fears" display with YA fiction for post-holiday winter months. Horror has no season and is read all year. With its increased popularity, adding a YA display to draw attention to the horror in your collection for teens is a great idea. Another area to get ideas is this September article called Short Stories, Big Scares: 7 Middle Grade & YA Horror Collections.

If you check their website under News and Features, you will see a variety of articles. The headlines alone can spark an idea and send you out to unshelve your collection to draw attention to the great books that need some help to find their reader! While their audience is librarians who focus on youth, the ideas can easily be transferred to adults. 

I will leave you with another great idea that can be used with your juvenile, young adult, and adult collections - Out of This World: Eight Sci-Fi Graphic Novels | Stellar Panels. As popular as graphic novels are at the moment, I'm sure that you can find titles in all three collections which could use some time under the spotlight. 

Subscription information for School Library Journal is here. 

Book Display Basics - Signs and Decorations

 For some people, book displays refer to bulletin boards in a library or are a reason to bring out craft supplies and design a variety of embellishments for the display. As I say every time I speak about book displays, the books should be the focus of your display. The purpose is to market your collection and get the books unshelved and into the hands of readers. I have seen book displays with so many decorations that the books actually blended into the background instead of popping out. 

Even in retail bookstores where publishers provide cardboard displays or signage, the books remain the focus. Take some time to walk around your local big bookseller as well as those indie bookstores. You will see piles of books and books on easels, rather than elaborate paper cutouts and tons of display material unless it is also for sale. This is usually the case, even during the holidays. 

My recent post about the LaGrange Public Library (IL) shows a great way to use signage to highlight what the display is about and provide more information for patrons who are interested. Use a sign to link to an eBook shelf/display with read alikes or books on the same subject. You can also add a QR code to a blog post or additional resources. 

Another benefit to keeping things simple is that if the display empties out a few times, you can change it out without a lot of fuss. There won't be excessive decor to take down and have to replace. Instead you can switch out the sign, remove any remaining books, and get the new display up quickly. 

Since the primary reason we are putting up displays is to showcase backlist (older books) titles and those titles that need more attention to find their reader, the books should always be the star. 

ARRTCon 24 Presention - Marketing Your Collection, Programs, and Services With Better Book Displays.

I am a huge fan of Chicago-Area libraries and their library workers. Every time I visit, I learn something from the trip. Recently, I was fortunate enough to present at ARRTCon 24. ARRT is the Adult Reading Round Table and is dedicated to helping library workers with their readers advisory skills. The steering committee is filled with creative, enthusiastic librarians. 

My presentation was about how to market your collection with better book displays. I've embedded the slides above. I will be updating the presentation for next year. If you are interested in having me speak to your staff about how to use book displays and online book lists to market your collection, please reach out to me at Lila[dot]Denning[at]gmail[dot]com. 

Unshelving January: Book Display Ideas

 

It is almost 2025 which means it's time to work on your merchandising plan for your collection. Setting up a plan, several months in advance, allows your library to figure out which displays will go where and who will be responsible for them. This also will give you time to verify that which ever titles are picked include underrepresented authors and avoid bestselling, high profile authors where possible. Rotating responsibility for displays among staff will help a wide variety of titles to be unshelved while also encouraging every library worker in your building to dig deeper into your stacks. 

January has a variety of month long celebrations as well as celebration days. For January,I used a list sent out by the Florida Division of Library and Information Services which manages the state library.You can pick the ones that would best serve your community while giving them an opportunity to find something new. The month long events are fairly straightforward. For national hobby month, don't forget those fiction titles with references to hobbies in the title. There are tons of cozy mysteries which would qualify. Blood donors call to mind vampire titles for me. With an increased interest in that horror subgenre, it would be a great display. Poverty, mentoring, and financial wellness could all be combined with a partnership program from a community agency, even a passive one with information where patrons could get help and more information. 

 

Month-Long Events National Hobby Month National Blood Donor Month Poverty Awareness Month National Mentoring Month Financial Wellness Month  For New Year's Day, please avoid new year/new you and instead encourage patrons to discover, learn, and find something new. It's a more positive spin than endless displays of debt and diet books. Fiction can be added to all of these displays. Use books about building and engineering for LEGO day and police procedurals for Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Thesaurus Day can include handouts with online resources related to grammar, books about words, thesauruses and dictionaries, as well as books with clever titles that involve puns as titles. Books by authors from those countries where the Lunar New Year is celebrated makes for a great display for adults. You can mirror these displays with titles for youth. Either mix them in or create a separate display, depending upon what your community prefers.  1: New Year’s Day 2: National Science Fiction Day 4: World Braille Day 9: Law Enforcement Appreciation Day 18: National Thesaurus Day 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Inauguration Day;  21: National Squirrel Appreciation Day 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day 28: National LEGO Day 29: Lunar New Year

Schedule those displays now and enjoy your holidays! 

Book Display Idea – Using a Book Buzz From a Conference

It is possible to get ideas from anywhere when it comes to figuring out which book displays you will set up for a given month. When you attend a conference or training session, keep the handouts and use them to create a book display. Recently, I attended ARRTCon 2024 in Naperville, IL. Sourcebooks attended and gave a great book buzz of their upcoming titles. They supplied printouts of their slides with all the upcoming book information.

Pay close attention to how the publisher’s staff talk about upcoming books. Look at how they describe them and what they compare them to. There could be something that catches your attention and leads you into your stacks to unshelve some books and create a display.

From the Sourcebooks presentation –

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead This was described as “a thriller that ties in true crime elements spectacularly” and “loosely inspired by the real Idaho murders, this is bound to resonate in a true crime obsessed world.” There are many crime novels now that are either based upon actual crimes or read like true crime books. Here are a few lists to get you started:

Books To Read if You Love True Crime – Penguin Random House
10 Unforgettable Novels Inspired by Real Crimes – Crime Reads
10 Novels that Read Like True Crime – Bucks County Free Library
Faux Forensics: 14 Novels Written Like True Crime – Book Riot

Think of books like Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.

A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling This “features compelling plotting, rich characterizations, and dry humor reminiscent of Fargo” and is crime fiction with a “dynamic queer main character written by a queer author”.

Books to Read for Fans of Fargo – New In Books
7 of the Funniest Crime Novels Ever Written – Electric Lit

Be Gay, Do Crime: 20 Must-Read LGBTQ+ Crime Novels – Book Riot
From Gritty Noir to Cozy Quozies: Queer Crime Fiction Summer Reads – Crime Reads

There were many more titles included but I hope that this has given you some inspiration. If you had either of these books on order, you could include signage that encouraged people to put the title on hold if they were interested. Remember, we can’t assume that everyone knows what services we supply!

 

 

 

Examples of Great Marketing of a Collection - LaGrange (IL) Public Library

 While I was in the Chicago area for the Adult Reading Round Table conference, I stopped by the LaGrange Public Library with Becky Spratford who serves as a trustee there. I took some pictures to share some of the great marketing decisions they have made to unshelve their collection and bring it out in front of their patrons' eyes. 

When you enter the area with the adult non-fiction and fiction stacks, you are greeted by a display of books with the theme of Illuminating Winter Tales. There is one sign with only the title and suggestions of other books on the sign. 

The display itself is simple and clean with the emphasis on the books. It's also blends genres on the display. You could add a QR code with a link to an eBook collection with the same theme or a blog post about the theme. Overall, it's a great display that brings book covers to readers as soon as they enter the space. 

They make use of endcaps to provide more reading ideas. This one is tied into a reading challenge "Feeling Blue." They have used the only sign to provide more reading suggestions. This sort of display is easy for anyone to fill in. 

There is a "Warm Up With a Hot Romance" endcap. I love the visual effect of the multicolored covers. 

I love the idea of having a display with titles recently returned, especially if they are backlist titles that might be new to a lot of readers. 

There is not a season for those interested in genre fiction. I love the horror display up in December. While you should fill displays. Having one with empty spots will help reinforce to other patrons that the books are on display to be checked out. 

   

The first step in unshelving your collection and letting the covers help sell your backlist titles to patrons is putting easels up on the shelves like they have done here. It draws the eye to the shelf and is a simple way to put up faceouts. You will be surprised what will get checked out simply because it is faced out. 

Using Library Aware from EBSCO does make some of this signage easy but you can replicate these great ideas. Don't feel intimidated if your library can't afford that product. Use the idea and go from there. Offering readalikes for books with long wait lists is another way to draw attention to your backlist. 

Finally, this is a great use of a bulletin board in a public library, Encourage people to place holds so you know what will be popular!

I loved seeing how LaGrange promoted their collection. Hopefully, you saw some ideas that you can borrow for your own collection. I will try to post more pictures from libraries I visit. 

Five For Friday - Winter Horror

 To give you a peek behind the scenes, when I picked this theme, I wasn't sure we owned enough titles that weren't checked out to do this post. I requested a pile and then checked the books and authors to make certain that I had some diversity there before I took the picture. Sometimes, you might have to tweak the idea - I could have included more thrillers, suspense, or mystery titles - to make it work. I have several images below I included a cart filled with titles to provide an example of a display on a cart. Both sides of this cart could have been filled with books. 

The title is winter horror but don't hesitate to put suspense or thrillers on the cart. People will read across genres so you don't have to limit yourself. This also makes it easier to keep the display full.

I always suggest a simple sign and minimal decorations. The focus should be the books - not signage and decor. It's possible to completely obscure the books with too many signs!

Here are two option for Five for Friday. This picture can be used for social media or a blog. 

You don't need fancy fixtures for a book display. Create a display of five for your picture and then fill in the cart with other titles and leave it somewhere in your building where people can discover it. You don't have to put a fiction display near the fiction. Move it to a place where it will be a surprise!

This is just a small book cart with a sign. I've used them around our building and in programs. 

December Book Display Ideas

 

December is almost upon us! This year has flown by and it’s time to think about merchandising your collection for December. While there are two big holidays to consider, I would always suggest that you include some displays and lists that are not about Christmas or New Year’s Eve. Not every patron celebrates Christmas or holidays in general. There will also be patrons who are seeking a break from holiday preparations, even if they do celebrate Christmas.

I also suggest that while winter-y décor is appropriate in the northern hemisphere, avoid decorations that are Christmas oriented. For those who are not from Christian backgrounds, it can be off putting to see a tree and so forth in their library.  Perhaps youth library staff can have the youngest patrons create snowflakes to hang from the ceiling. Adding a small Menorah for Hanukkah or Kinara for Kwanzaa doesn’t balance out a giant Christmas tree in your lobby.

An idea for an interactive display or passive program would be to ask patrons to put their best memory from this year on a card of some sort. You can display them on a bulletin board with a cart of books about memories nearby. At the end of the month, transition it to hopes for the upcoming year and add books about positive psychology, planning, or hope in general. Whether or not you mediate this program depends upon your building and your patrons. Set up separate ones in your youth and young adult area if that works better for your building and the expectations of your stakeholders.

Both programs can be replicated on your website or social media. Have patrons email you their answers and you can aggregate them in a post, in your building, or online.  If they write their memory or hope down, images can be posted, and your library can be tagged with whatever tag you come up with for these programs or your online passive programs in general. Don’t hesitate to do both – patrons who primary use eBooks and eAudiobooks should not be excluded from your programs if you are able to post about them online.

Fiction is filled with winter themed titles in every genre. Don’t forget to just use books with frozen, snow, cold, frost, winter and so forth in the title. Winter horror, thrillers, and suspense novels will be popular as will mysteries and romance. Winter starts on December 21^st officially, but this display can be up all month.

It’s best of the year time. Any outlet that sells books or has book news and reviews will be releasing their best of year lists. Review them and compare them to your collection. You may find titles that you need to order. Check for books that could use a circulation boost, especially those by underrepresented authors or from smaller presses. The books which were best sellers and filled your request list don’t need the boost that a book display or booklist can provide. Remember to make copies of the lists you post online available for patrons in your buildings. You can also put a shelf talker where the best of books are shelved and add read-alikes for when they are checked out.

December also includes Pearl Harbor day. It’s a good time to dig out military history, World War II history and fiction that haven’t circulated in a while. You can pair this display with a program with your local Veteran’s Administration office or hospital to highlight available services for veterans. There are constantly new historical fiction titles about World War II being published which makes this an easy display to keep filled.

With Hanukkah and Kwanzaa both starting near Christmas this year, they might not get the attention they deserve. While your youth collection likely has many options, don’t forget to add Jewish history books and fiction by Jewish authors as well as books by Black authors and 1960’s Black history to fill in your adult display and lists.

I hope this gives you some options beyond Christmas books for your December displays. While I have put up displays with holiday movies, music, and books, I always try to add some displays that are not Christmas themed. Remember that your library needs to represent everyone in your community.