Passively Recommending Books

When an author dies, particularly a popular author with a long back list, putting up a display of their work makes for an easy display that highlights titles that may not have seen much circulation lately. If you put it in a prominent place, it should empty out quickly but is easy to fill. Don't forget to include audiobooks and large print. 

Westerns circulate well at my library. We put them up several times a year, often when there is display fatigue. Another librarian set up the display and made the sign.  Large print westerns circulate better for us. This display is another example of moving books out of their regular home and into another area. It's also easy for anyone to fill. 

in Horror Month book display including audiobooks. Be as broad as possible in interpreting the genre when you put up genre-based book displays. For horror, that could include slipping in some suspense or thrillers. As always, check your display for inclusion.  Don't leave horror for October only; I guarantee you that people will check out horror all year. 

Clive Cussler book display put up after his passing in 2020 . These are easy to put up and can help circ backlist titles. Don't forget large print and audiobooks as well. Another suggestion would be to add a handout with information about your ebook collection if it includes the author's titles. 

One of my favorites, @RAforAll , asked for a Mardi Gras book display with New Orleans themed titles. I started with just fiction because that was the fastest and easiest. As the display emptied out, I added non-fiction and audiobooks. For non-fiction, some places to check are: biographies, music, cooking, history, and travel.

These are Edgar award nominees from the Mystery Writers of America. I always post the list with any display about awards as well. It can be filed in with other books by the nominated authors as well as winners and nominees from previous years. 

S t Patrick' Day is a great holiday for children's book displays. It's a holiday when school is in session so those teachers and homeschoolers will be coming for books. For adult books, I use it to highlight books about Ireland, fiction and nonfiction. Your collection likely includes many titles that would fit. Unless it's your only job, filling book displays can't take up all your time. I find it helpful to involve other staff in filling them because they will include books I didn't think about.

Women's History Month offers a lot of options but when given a chance, I will try to include some fiction. People who won't pick up a long history book will invest the time in a novel that appeals to them. Expand your definition of historical fiction and don't forget mysteries and romance. Your display should include a wide range of time periods and places. 

One of the changes I pushed for in my library was to relocate our biography section near fiction. People never dabble in non-fiction will make an exception for a good biography. Take a second to bring a diverse and inclusive collection of books to your display. Choose books about women from a variety of backgrounds, places, and time periods.  This display also is easy for anyone to fill in as it empties. Expanding who on staff helps to fill in a display like this will hopefully diversify what books are selected. 

This display was set up using the theme of The Year of the Rat as a frame to actually promote books by Chinese and Chinese-American authors. The size of the display can be dictated by the number of titles you find in your collection. People love to suggest displays with this sort of theme especially when it's bouncing around social media. I think the best use of the idea is to use it to put books in front of people that they might have not discovered on their own.  The display was popular and was refilled several times. 

Women in horror month is part of an international grassroots effort to promote the work of women in all parts of the horror industry. February is a great month to promote horror titles written by women in your library. People love to read horror all year so don't just put up a horror fiction display in October.  I usually include some psychological suspense in horror displays because it will draw in those people who say they don't read horror but who would love books by authors like Jennifer McMahon or Paul Tremblay. This can also help you keep the display full and to increase the diversity of the authors you include.  Other resources:  Women in Horror Month official website Ladies of Horror Fiction RAforall:Horror 

Absinthe book display is fun and can be used at any time of the year. There is plenty of public domain artwork that can be used for signs. Historical fiction, historical romance,  and steampunk can be used to fill out the display. I was also able to find some cocktail books that included drinks that used absinthe. There are also non-fiction titles that review the history of the drink. Other Resources:  Absinthe Fact and Fiction from Discovery.com Absinthe: How the Green Fairy Became Literature's Drink from BBC.com Devil in a Little Green Bottle from the Science History Institute The Art of Drinking Absinthe, the Liquor of Aesthetes from NPR.org

World Fragrance Day is March 21. This is a good display for mixing non-fiction and fiction, A/V materials and books. Perfume, fragrance, fashion, and lifestyle are all subjects to check in your catalog. Being more flexible with how the items fit into the theme helps keep displays like this filled.  Adult fiction was surprisingly easy to find as perfume and fragrance are popular themes but fragrance/perfume is one of those themes that are present in popular non-fiction as well. I found guides to perfume as well as histories of fragrance and various fashion houses in our collection.  Do some quick research on the history of perfume to find materials in your collection that is tangentially connected to the theme. The idea is to help people discover hidden gems in your collection not to strictly maintain a theme.  Other resources:  Perfume Society Strange History of Perfume from Bustle.com The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Perfume from Longreads.com  The Fragrance Found

February is Black History Month and it's important to remember to try to branch out and include topics beyond the expected. This year, I put up one for Rosa Parks' birthday. I always include juvenile materials. Beyond children, they are often filled with pictures and can be more accessible to adults with low literacy skills.  The second one up this month is about African American food and cooking. Included are cookbooks and biographies/autobiographies of black chefs. When this one empties out, I will pick another topic. Thinking up displays like this is a good way to check the diversity of your collection in areas like cooking and food. Resources to help you include: https://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/  -The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have created a site with inform

Book display set up for International Holocaust Remembrance Day which was January 27. I used materials related to Auschwitz because the date reflects the day the camp was liberated.  Including an online guide or printed list of places where patrons can explore more information would be a great addition to this display. Most Holocaust museums/memorials have places on their websites with online educational materials. If your local community is hosting any events, you can include information about that as well. Relationships can be built starting with just promoting another non-profit's events. Other resources:  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum   Yad Vashem - World Holocaust Remembrance Center Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (UK) Florida Holocaust Museum Auschwitz-Berkenau Memorial and Museum