December Book Display Ideas

 Of course there are a number of holidays this month. Please don't neglect to put up a winter/snow sort of display to balance things out for those who don't celebrate Christmas. There are a number of romance and horror titles which focus on winter and snow. Mysteries, particularly those by Scandinavian authors (Scandi Noir) are also good options if you are looking for fiction. Consider knitting, winter decor, and travel narratives from wintery places. There are plenty of wintery DVDs which could be added as well. 

Beyond Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza, there is Yule and Winter Solstice to consider. Set up displays of paranormal romance, occult horror, urban fantasy, and non-fiction books about wicca, the occult, and related subjects. 

In 1997, the show Seinfeld introduced Festivus to everyone. Do you have books that are based around complaints? Titles that you think various Seinfeld characters would love? Use your imagination and even set up a Festivus pole!

December 1 is celebrated as Rosa Parks Day. It commemorates the day in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus and the Montgomery Bus Boycott followed. It's always good to add a display about Black History outside of February. Beyond non-fiction titles about the history of the US Civil Rights Movement and books about antiracism, think about looking for novels and DVDs that take place during the era as well as biographies of prominent civil rights leaders. 

On December 3, the United Nations has established the International Day of Persons with Disabilities to promote the rights of people with disabilities. It's a good time to check your collection for titles that cover disability rights and issues of concern to those with disabilities. Your adult fiction collection and youth fiction collection should also include titles that feature people with disabilities. 

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is December 7. 2,403 service members and civilians died after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Don't forget DVDs and youth titles about the event. You can expand the display to include World War II books or books about Hawaii in general if you need to fill it in. 

Best of lists appear all month. They are a good way to promote your eBook collection by demonstrating to your patrons that they can get eBooks and eAudiobooks as a service from their library. Becky Spratford of RA for All summarizes the best of lists on her blog. You can also set up physical displays of the titles you have available although I would suggest using the backlist of any of the authors on the list or readalikes and including a QR code linking to your digital collection instead. 

Book Display Idea - Use Celebrity Suggestions

 People love to read suggestions from famous people. Whether it's Barack Obama's summer reading list or Bill Gates' suggestions or even the literary references from Beyonce, they will be popular with patrons.  Some celebrities have book clubs (Reece Witherspoon, Jenna Bush Hager) but others mention them in interviews or on their social media pages. Stephen King is well known for putting books he's enjoyed on his Twitter account, for example. When you see a list pop up, take note of it and see if you can use it to market your back list. 

Here are a few lists to get you started. I picked older lists because it will give you a chance to focus on your backlist. But check for year's best lists from this year as well: 

39 Black Authors On Their Favorite Books by Black Authors from Penguin Random House

The 40 Best Celeb Recommended Books of 2021: Picks From Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey & More from E Online. 

15 Books Recommended by Celebrities in 2021  from Book Riot. 

What Celebs are Reading this Winter 2022 from SheReads

Lupita Nyong’o’s 10 Favorite Books from Vulture

Roxane Gay's Goodreads list. 

RM's (of BTS) Reading List from the Richland Library

15 Books Chris Pine Thinks Everyone Should Read from Esquire

John Waters' Favorite Books from Radical Reads

6 Books Recommended by Viet Thanh Nguyen from Radical Reads

Radical Reads features a number of celebrity book suggestions. 

Using Passive Readers Advisory to Help Out Book Clubs

 There are a lot of patron-run book clubs out there. Some are part of senior living centers, homeowners associations, or clubs. It's also true that book clubs take a huge investment of staff time that not every library can afford, especially when attendance can be low. It's possible for library workers to assist local, patron-run book clubs out and to create a hub for book clubs. 

The easiest way to do this is online although it can be done with a physical book display and printouts. A book club hub page on your website can be a place to collect information useful to those who run them, curated by your librarians. This will increase the value of your library to the local community, even for those who rarely, if ever, come into your building. 

Among the services you can provide is to link to collections of discussion questions found online. Many publishers have resources on their websites as does Book Riot,  Oprah Daily, and the website Reading Group Guides. When a particular title becomes popular, you can find a link to specific questions for that title. 

Link to videos that show interviews with popular authors. Clubs can view them together which could spur discussion. An example is this Barnes and Noble podcast interview with Stephen Graham Jones discussing Don't Fear the Reaper. Collect a sample of a wide variety of authors, link to the interviews, switching them out on a regular basis. It would be wise to keep a running list of the interviews you have featured in case a patron asks. 

Suggestion of titles can be gathered and subdivided by subject, genre, and other factors. Some book clubs look for books of a certain length so consider including the page count. Think about listing suggestions by tone, characters, and setting. As always, there is little excuse for not including a diverse set of authors in lists crafted in advance. Include new titles that would work well for book clubs in a list as well. Listing options in your eBook collection is also a great idea. 

Don't neglect younger patrons. Your young adult and children's librarians can assist with information appropriate for a variety of age groups. Encouraging leisure reading during the summer by participation in a book club can help keep reading skills sharp. 

Finally, the library can facilitate virtual visits by authors. Organizations like Horror Writers of America have librarian-specific groups which could help arrange a visit. Publishers often have contact information on their website as well. Many authors, with enough notice, are willing to virtually visit with a book club to answer questions and interact with the members. Consider having a librarian be a contact person for book clubs who need more information or assistance with trying to get in contact with an author's representatives. 

 Consider creating a book club hub either as a supplement to or in place of library-run book clubs. By creating a useful archive of information, you can introduce more people to the variety of services a library can offer. 

November Book Display Ideas

 It's November and while spooky season never ends, it is likely time to rotate your library's book displays out and feature some other titles. 

There are two primary civic holidays that will be on everyone's mind - Thanksgiving and Veteran's Day. 

For Thanksgiving, you can set up a display with alternative ideas for what to serve for dinner. Set up a "No Meat Thanksgiving" display with your vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. Dive into your cookbook section and pull out some options for people who want to go beyond turkey and stuffing (or dressing). Facing out cookbooks will get them checked out. It would also be nice to focus on gratitude and being thankful in general. There are youth titles on the subject including picture books so keep that in mind in case all of your Thanksgiving and fall books get checked out. Goodreads has a list of adult and youth titles. You can search your fiction collection as well for books which include characters learning about being grateful. A passive program could be to have patrons write down what they are thankful for and post them on a bulletin board or near your display of books. 

With Small Business Saturday following, you could make a list of entrepreneur books both non-fiction as well as fiction about business people and businesses. 

Veteran's Day can be a display in conjunction with or separate from the US Marine Corp birthday. November is also Aviation History month so the same display can include several themes if you are short on space.  There is a huge amount of adult fiction with military veterans and war included but don't forget non-fiction titles about veterans and issues they face. If you reach out to community groups or your local VA, you can add information about service and support available to your display. 

November is also Native American Heritage Month. Your non-fiction collections likely have books you can add but you can also focus on Native Americans who write fiction, including genre fiction. Introduce your mystery and horror fans to authors they may not be familiar with.
Seattle Public Library has a list as does Goodreads. Bookriot created a list of 10 Must-Read Native American Authors. There are Native American Young Adult titles on the Los Angeles Public Library's List. You may have books in your collection about local Indigenous history. The Lineup (a great source for backlist horror and thrillers) has an article about Unsettling Horror Books by Indigenous Horror Authors.  There are Native American mystery authors. This list from Murder & Mayhem can get you started. There are romance novels by Indigenous authors but be careful about using older titles by authors who used outdated descriptions and offensive language. BookRiot created a list of Native American Romance Novels by Native Authors.

It's National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo in November. It's a great time to visit your 800's in non-fiction and find books on writing and publishing. Include information about local authors groups on your display as well. There are also biographies and autobiographies about authors that could be included. 

Diwali is on November 12 this year.  It does change from year to year so be careful to check before you repeat a display next year. Beyond setting up non-fiction titles about the holiday and Hinduism, pull out titles by authors that use Hindu mythology or include Hinduism in the plot of the book. 

The US General Election Day is in November which is a reason to put out books about voting, civic engagement, and politicians. There are also novels about elections. 

 There are two days you can use to focus on fiction in particular - Occult Day and Absurdity Day. Look for fiction with occult themes and group them together with a sign with a Ouija board on it. For Absurdity Day, look for absurdist fiction and perhaps even post signage with a brief explanation explaining what it is. 

Three youth focused ideas for this month are: Have a Party With Your Bear Day, Turtle Adoption Day, and World Toilet Day. You have so many books about that last one. Trust me. 

Marketing Your Collection, Services, and Programming with Better Book Displays - NELA 2023

Here are the slides from my presentation at the New England Library Association Conference in Springfield, MA. It was a great conference. If you have any questions or would like more assistance with learning best practices when it comes to book displays or passive readers advisory, please contact me.

October Book Display ideas - Not Horror!

 So, it's October and you want a book display that isn't horror? Here are some ideas that you can use. 

You could always go horror - adjacent and do a true crime or horrible history display with your non-fiction. If you pick the best readable, narrative non-fiction and put it near your fiction stacks, there are books that will get checked out. This is a display that will flow into your horror book displays and lists. 

Remember that you can be funny and refuse to fall into anything! Put up a display of beachy, coastal romance and fiction. Put up a sign with a flip flop and proudly demonstrate your refusal to give up summer. There are plenty of books with beaches on the front that you can use. You could tie it into a coast/ocean horror display with books like Daniel Kraus' Whalefall. 

Mean Girls Day was October 3 but a book display of the books you think that the characters from the movie would like and books that fans of the movie might enjoy would also be fun. 

Other holidays celebrated this month include: 

Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah -  Put up a display of fiction by Jewish authors and books about Jewish history. See what you have that is not Holocaust specific. There are plenty of times of the year when those books can be brought out. 

Indigenous Peoples' Day/Columbus Day is almost upon us. You can get warmed up for Native American Heritage Month and put out some fiction by Native American Authors. There are plenty of horror titles that you can use including ones by Erika T. Wurth, Jessica Johns, Stephen Graham Jones, and Owl Goingback. See if you have any titles about your own area's Native American culture and history. 

National Coming Out Day is October 11. Remember that books by Queer authors should be part of your passive readers advisory all year. Find narratives and fiction about coming out. Include resources on bookmarks and small flyers for those patrons who might need it. Add links to your online passive readers advisory. 

October 15 is National Grouch Day. There are many lists of the hot, grouchy heroes of romance. This is also called the grumpy/sunshine trope. While by now you know that you can promote your horror collection all you, don't forget your romance collection when it's not February. Here are some links:
Goodreads
Another Goodreads list
Romance Rehab- Sexiest Grumpy Heroes in Romance
Here are some reviews from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Book Riot with a list of grumpy sunshine titles
Another romance display/list option is October 18th's No Beard Day. Display those romances with heroes on the cover who do not have a beard!

October 17 is Black Poetry Day. Putting poetry on display is a great way to get it to circulate if you don't have a dedicated audience for it. When I put a spotlight on poetry, the books do get checked out. See what anthologies with collections of Black poets' work and individual titles you have in your 811's. 

There is apparently an International Sloth Day on October 20th. Use it to put up those long, difficult titles that take forever to get through. Encourage people to slowly enjoy a great book that is longer and more challenging. Also, do a youth companion display with picture books and non-fiction about sloths. 

Finally, October 29 is National Cat Day (isn't that every day?). There are so many cat-themed cozy mysteries. You also likely have pet books about cats as well as youth titles with cats as the central character. 

I hope this list gives you an idea about where you can start if you want a non-spooky display to put up for October. Don't stress about fitting a theme perfectly; let's just get some love to our backlist titles!

On Using Subject Headings for Book Displays

 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 missing for years. As Madi gets drawn into the search, she begins to see visions that lead to disturbing revelations about the real story of the boy's disappearance"-- Provided by publisher.

After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market. It's there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry's palm, she's haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth--and it's coming for everyone she holds dear.

There are more that can be pulled out: 

Reconnecting with an ex

Visions

Teen mothers

High school flames/sweethearts

This is before we dive into the setting or the fact there are crabs a'plenty in this book.

Never forget that there are many ways to approach the same book and when you are assembling as display, don't trap yourself into thinking that you don't have enough of a certain kind of book. You can be liberal without you interpret a book or a theme. 

I mentioned that I turned haunted houses into "Not So Happy Home" and included suspense novels about bad marriages, abusive relationships, and even added non-fiction about home repair. 

I hope this helps!