Book Display Basics - eBooks and Physical Books on a Display

For this post about book display basics, I am going to talk about how you can tie your digital collection and your physical collection together on a display. There is no reason why they should be kept separately. Not every patron will be familiar with your ebook collection or that you carry books which can be requested or put on hold. 

When you create a display inside your building, add QR codes directing patrons to the book if you have it in an eBook collection. You can create a digital display in most eBook platforms and can list read alikes that you have in digital format. Don't forget to put bookmarks in the books advertising the eBook services you have. Include both eBooks and eAudiobooks when you are creating these lists and creating QR codes to the books in your collection. eAudiobooks have become wildly popular. 

You can also mirror the subject or theme of the display in the digital collection even if you don't have the same titles. If you set up a display on folk horror, football, or tea parties - find books that match that theme or subject in your eBook/eAudiobook collection. You can put a sign up on your physical display to let your patrons know that there are additional titles available online. 

If you have a blog, you can include links to both your catalog and eBook/eAudiobook collection. This will also allow your readers to see that you have titles they will love in several formats. I do encourage you to put large print books in your book displays. However, you can use the merging of the eBook and physical format displays to remind your patrons that any eBook is large print and the print can be as large as you need.

Another passive readers advisory technique that you can use is to put shelf talkers on your shelves near the authors, series, and books that you have in digital format as well. A shelf talker is a card or form that fits inside a plastic holder that hangs from your shelf. Include the URL or a QR code to your digital collection. 

Book Display Inspiration Using One Book - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Best selling author Grady Hendrix has a new book coming out on January 14, 2025. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is another great book which will likely have a lot of holds at libraries. He does an amazing job of creating a diverse group of young women and their complex relationships. While being increasingly more frightening as the book progresses it does include the humor that has made Grady's books so distinctive. I also was fascinated by the version of witchcraft he created for the novel.  It's a great opportunity to promote other books in your collection. As part of a regular series, I hope to show you the many ways that you can use one title on a display while promoting your holds list and digital collection. 

Here is the summary of the book from the author's website:

Set in a home for unwed mothers in 1970, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, is about four teenage
girls who are sent away to have their babies in secret. Trapped in a maternity home in St. Augustine, Florida, they’re helpless, powerless, and in despair, until they discover the power of witchcraft.

There are a number of ways that you can approach this book. It's about witchcraft but it's also about young women and their group dynamic. It is set in a particular time as well. The home for unwed mothers also has somewhat of a boarding school vibe which creates yet another path you can take. If you set up this display, regardless of which themes you use, put up a sign or bookmarks in each book with information about your holds list and how patrons can add the title to it. You can also put in a bookmark with details about a program or service you offer. 

The book is set in 1970 and the time frame of the book plays an important role in the book.  Some other books about the same basic time and which feature relationship between women as as a plot point include: 

The Girls by Emma Cline
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Beautiful Revolutionary by Laura Elizabeth Woollett
The Summer We Got Saved by Pat Cunningham Devoto
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

In addition, you can use these links: 

Historical Fiction Set in the 1970s - Penguin Random House
Historical Fiction 1970s Books - Goodreads
28 Groovy Books About the 1970s - Booklist Queen
Making History: Six Books that Embrace the 1970s - LitHub

Another historical element in the book is the issue of pregnant young women in the era before Roe vs Wade became law. 

What Life Was Like Before Roe V Wade - PM Press
Selected Books on History of Abortion - University of Wisconsin -Madison

Also check the subject headings of the books in your collection to find other titles. Don't forget to include your non-fiction. You should have books about the 1970's in your collection, including in your local history collection. Also, check for movies made in and about the early 1970's. 

Witchcraft is possibly an easier tie-in for the book. I have some lists below to get you started:
Horror Witches Warlocks Books - Goodreads
Popular Witchy Books - Goodreads
8 Horror Books About Witches That Are Truly Scary - Book Riot
Spells and Superstitions: 13 Horror Books About Witches: Read By Dusk
New Book Bonus Annotations: Chapter 7- Witches, Curses, and the Occult: RA For All: Horror

Don't leave out paranormal romance or historical fiction while you are assembling your display. There are also non-fiction titles that you can pull out related to witchcraft and the occult. 

As you can see, a display that focused on the time period in which the book was sent would be different than one that focused on the witchcraft aspect of the book. Either would create a great book display. 

I mentioned boarding schools above so I will add some lists with title suggestions: 
50 Must-Read Books Set in Boarding Schools - Book Riot
The Best Boarding School Novels - FIve Books

You can mix all of these ideas and include some of Grady's previous works. Try to make the display focus on the lesser known authors and those titles that can use a little more light. 

Five For Friday - Reocurring Book Display Idea: Vampire Novels Written By Women

 A really great idea for a reoccuring book display is what I call #FiveForFriday. It involves simply taking 5 books on any theme that comes to mind and promoting them in your building, on your social media, and anywhere else you promote your library. This is something that can be rotated among your staff so that everyone can participate. You will also have the chance to promote parts of your collection that the staff who regularly put up displays might not have considered. 

One example is from the image below. Titan Books promoted some of their horror authors as retweeted by Gabino Iglesias. It's a simple picture of a ghost holding a stack of books. Create a digital display in your eBook platform, a web page with links to your catalog, and/or a book display in your building that includes these titles. 

Create a calendar at least several months out in advance and allow your library staff to sign up for a Friday. You can create a form where staff can list their theme and the five titles that they wish to promote. Of course, staff should be aware that a library need may preempt their post, pushing the list forward. 

Create guidelines for staff requiring that their five books be backlist titles and not current bestsellers, the authors are not regularly on the bestseller lists, there are diverse authors included, and as much as possible books are not repeated. 

Since we are in October, this week's suggestion is vampire novels. Vampires are back but they are terrifying and brutal. Authors such as Stephen Graham Jones, Hailey Piper, and Andy Davidson have upcoming vampire novels which would also allow you to promote the idea of putting holds on upcoming books. Never assume that your patrons know everything about your library. 

There are likely many options in your collection for staff to select including movies. The pick for this week is vampire novels by women writers. I have picked five suggestions below but use what is in your collection! 

Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due 

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A. Collins

Using the Bram Stoker Awards to Create a Superior Achievement in a Book Display

 If you are not a horror reader, setting up a horror themed book display and reaching out beyond the best known authors like Steven King, Dean Koontz, and Anne Rice may seem daunting. Most readers and library workers have at least one genre that they aren't familiar with and don't personally dive into. There are plenty of resources to assist you. Some of them I have listed here. In addition, the genre focused resource posts I have created can also be used to find great horror titles. 

I want to focus on one resource in particular today. Annually the Horror Writers Association awards The Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in these categories: Novel, First Novel, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Fiction Collection, Poetry, Anthology, Screenplay, Graphic Novel and Non-Fiction. These titles recommend some of the best of the best of the genre. The HWA has also worked to make these awards as inclusive as possible which will help you curate the best display possible as you select more recently published works. 

The list of past winners can be found on the Stoker Award website. Don't just use the winners - use the nominated books as well. You can also use the back list from nominated authors as well. 

More spooky book display ideas to come!

October! or while it's Spooky Month don't limit horror to just one month

 I do have suggestions for a variety of horror oriented book displays for this month. However, I want to emphasize that horror, like any other genre, should not be promoted for just one month a year. Readers will pick up horror all year; this is especially true now as the popularity of horror continues to increase. Authors like Stephen King and Grady Hendrix have fans who don't read much other horror but might enjoy read alikes for the works of either of these authors. 

The borderlines between genres continue to be blurred. There are horror novels blended with any genre you can think of including romance and comedy fiction. There are horror novels being published now that include elements familiar to mystery readers including police procedurals. As I have mentioned before, many novels have subject headings of suspense/thriller/mystery in addition to horror. Take this as an indication to include horror with your displays of crime books throughout the year. Many readers will be open to trying out a horror novel that includes themes or elements that they enjoy in the thrillers or suspense novels they read. 

Crime fiction varies as far as levels of terror and violence explicitly described on the page, just as horror does. Most library workers are familiar with asking mystery fans if they lean towards cozy mysteries or something with more sex and violence like a noir. We also ask readers how spicy a romance they are seeking. The same sort of questions can be asked of a reader to determine what sort of horror novel they would enjoy. 

Don't predetermine that a reader will not enjoy horror because they haven't regularly picked up any. Mix it in with your displays all year and allow your patrons to discover new authors and books. Any book is a beach read. My experience is that people love to take suspenseful novels to the beach with them (partially based upon what comes back with sand in the covers.)

 Included below are some lists to get you started:

20 Essential Crime and Horror Crossovers - Crime Reads

Scares of Every Kind: Two of the Best Genre-Blending Horror Novels - Book Riot

More Genre Blending Horror Books You Should Be Reading - Book Riot

Nefarious Bedfellows: These Twisted Books Blend Crime and Horror - The Line-Up

10 Books That Perfectly Blend Sci-Fi & Horror - Screen Rant

Book Display Idea - Banned Books Week

 

Bookriot has a great article up about Building Good Banned Book Displays. While I encourage all of you to read the entire thing and to take their advice into consideration as you build your displays, there are two points that I want to highlight.

The first is to focus on contemporary titles that have been challenged. As Bookriot’s Nikki DeMarco notes “Be sure to include recent titles in your display of banned and challenged books. When people recognize a title or have a personal connection to it, then learn that it was banned, the impact on that person is even greater.”  While titles like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Catcher in the Rye have a history of challenges, we don’t want anyone to think that current books that they have enjoyed are not the focus of bans. Making them aware that books like A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas and Drama by Raina Telgemeier will highlight that bans have an ongoing impact. The ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom has an archive of the top ten banned books. Bookriot also has excellent coverage of attempts to ban books throughout the US.

The second idea that DeMarco brings up to make your display interactive. I have presented about this topic in webinars recently. Adding something for patrons to participate in will draw in some who might have walked by. Don’t forget to add an online interactive element to your website, blog, or social media. Younger readers can create bookmarks for banned books week. Patrons can submit lists of banned books that they have read. You can ask that local businesses including restaurants and coffee houses post your lists of banned books available at your library. Ask patrons to post a picture of themselves with a banned book on their own social media page and tag your library.

The ALA has information and downloads about Banned Book Week to help get you started.

Social Media and Passive RA - Book of the Day

 Outlets like NPR , The Guardian, and the New York Public Library (and on NYPL Twitter) feature a different book every day. Titles for any audience, fiction and non-fiction, are selected. Your library can copy this idea for your own social media. It's a great way to market your backlist and to introduce titles they may have missed to your patrons. 

This is a perfect ongoing campaign for your entire staff to become involved with. Don't exclude anyone who wants to participate. As I have said before, everyone in your library is an expert in something and they may bring out titles that you are unfamiliar with. Please make sure that staff are using titles that are in your physical or digital collection. You want to draw people into your library to check out the titles you feature!

It will take some planning to keep going every day. Set up at least a week in advance. Repeat the call to your staff to submit their ideas monthly so that you can obtain enough content. The posts can be as simple as a picture of the book with text providing a quick synopsis. You can include a link to the title in your catalog or eBook collection. These are the sort of posts that you can mirror on all of your library's social media, providing content when you don't have anything else planned. 

You may want to expand the program to have patrons submit their options for book of the day. They will need to be told that submissions will be vetted by your professional staff and that not all submissions will be featured. This should help should anyone suggest a book that isn't what your library wants to feature. 

Finally, rotate the books chosen around your collection so that every part gets it's chance to shine. It may be necessary to send out a call if you don't receive enough varied submissions. Social media is wonderful for quick bursts of readers advisory. Use this program to jump start your RA efforts online!