2024 Reading Challenges - Book Display Idea

 One great idea for a January book display or a monthly series is to pick one or more of the many reading challenges that are out there and set up a display with suggestions for patrons to complete them. Avoid those bestsellers and easy options. Take a look at your stacks and pick books that need a spotlight. 

If you rotate out the display monthly, you have an entire year of displays already planned. 

You can create your own reading challenge, using prompts and suggests from your local community. But there are plenty of challenges already made. 

Some of the options are: 

BookRiot's Read Harder Challenge 2024 - this one includes a broad array of challenges and includes diverse authors and subjects 

PopSugar's 2024 Challenge is based upon 50 reading prompts. 

The Massachusetts Center for the Book has a 12 Books in 12 Months Challenge

The Louisville (CO) Public Library has a reading challenge with lists of suggestions from their staff. 

NoveList has a 2024 Reading Challenge that can be used with or without LibraryAware. 

Epic Reads has a 2024 Reading Challenge that would be great to use with a young adult reading group or program. 

Goodreads has a list of 2024 Reading Challenge Book Lists with titles to fill a variety of prompts from the 52 Book Club. This would be another option, especially for your online lists or blogs. Create lists to fill a variety of prompts.

Storygraph has the 52 Book Club's 2024 Reading Challenge which has booklists included. 

The Westlake (OH) Porter Public Library has created a 2024 Reading Challenge that could be adopted for your own community and library. 

Finally, ChapterAdventure.com has curated a huge list of reading challenges with options based upon genre, diversity and more. 

10 Books for Fans of [that popular tv show or movie]

This is an easy way to harness pop culture to move your backlist. There are no right answers as to what books fans of a certain show might like because what draws people to a television show or movie is different. Use your collection and involve staff, any staff, who are fans of that show or movie. If the first one you choose makes it difficult to find enough items, add a second one and create your own version of the Barbie/Oppenheimer mashup “Barbenheimer.” 

An alternative way to harness excitement about a show or movie is to come up with a display highlighting titles that characters from the show would like. Again, there are no right answers. You can allow patrons to suggest titles if you wish for it to be a passive program as well. 

You can also use the setting or time period from a particular show as the basis for a book display. Expand it to include other books and movies that take place in the same location as well as travel and non-fiction about that place. An easy example would be to use backlist titles about Maine if a Stephen King movie was trending. 

If the movie is based upon a particular title, use read likes for that book. I did that when Bird Box by Josh Malerman was on Netflix and again when It by Stephen King was popular. You can create a list with title suggestions for multiple shows because the internet loves a list.

 I will include some links to lists below so that you can find some inspiration. 

• If You Liked This Show, Read This Book: Recs Based On Popular TV Shows

• 24 Books To Buy ASAP If You Flew Through These TV Series And Movies

• Like These Movies? Here Are 100+ Things You Might Also Like ...

• The 17 Best Books Like ‘Bridgerton’

• Timey-Wimey Books for Doctor Who Fans

• Graphic Novels a Kaiju Would Read and So Should You

• Books with heroes like Jack Reacher

• 9 of the Best YA Books to Read if You Love The Hunger Games

January Book Display Ideas

What everyone wants to do in January is a “New Year, New You” display. The fact is that individuals don’t need to craft new versions of themselves every year. Instead, encourage your patrons to –

• Learn something new: Set up titles about learning a language, a skill, a craft. Look for basic history books about lesser-known events or places. 

• Cook something new: Baking and cooking books that haven’t gotten enough attention. 

• Meet someone new: Character centered fiction that hasn’t circulated recently. 

• Visit someplace new: Travel books and books from your local collection. Look for titles that haven’t been checked out in the last six months. 

You can expand these as you need to fit your collection. For example, it’s also a great time to try a new genre or start a new-to-you series. Pair these displays with your programs and services. 

Don’t forget to include youth and young adult materials in your displays. Move those titles to areas outside of the designated youth and young adult areas. Never assume that all your patrons are aware of every part of your collection and all of your services. 

January 3 is JRR Tolkien Day, celebrated because it is the author’s birthday. Look for read alikes for his books and promote your backlist. Also with Appreciate a Dragon Day is January 16 so you could stretch out these displays for the month. Here are some lists to get you started: 

• 15 Books Like Lord of the Rings

• If You Like The Hobbit, You Might Like

• Leave Middle Earth for these ‘Lord of the Rings’ Read-Alikes

• Diverse Adult Fantasy Novels with Magic

• 19 Fantasy Novels Inspired by Cultures from Around the World

Mon, Jan 15, 2024 is also Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Include titles about the Civil Rights Movement, including any fiction and DVDs you have. Don’t forget youth titles. 

Betty White Day is January 17 which would have been her 100th birthday. Beyond books about her and any DVDs you have which include her, you can have fun and do some sort of Golden Girls display or pet-themed fiction display. Set up a display including information about your local animal shelters to remember Betty White’s love of animals. 

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Don’t forget fiction while you look through your non-fiction collection. The United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial has resources you can include as part of your digital displays. 

It’s very easy to find lists of January holidays online. You don’t need to look at all of them earnestly but pick one or two which inspire you to dig through your backlist. For example, January is also National Egg Month which means lots of fiction with chickens and eggs on the cover or as part of the title. There would also be breakfast and egg themed cookbooks and books about raising chickens. Youth materials would be fun as well. 

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.