September Book Display Ideas

 September is almost here already and it's time to start thinking about book displays. Planning and scheduling them in advance is the best way to make certain that they are best able to help you market your backlist, programs, and services. Have fun with them and let staff be creative but don't lose sight of how they can be a serious marketing tool. 

Back to school is the first topic that comes to mind when September rears its head. (Even though many students will return to class in August.) No doubt your youth librarians have picture books with themes including first day of school. There are also many juvenile fiction titles about school friendships and problems. Look to your adult fiction and non-fiction sections for books which reference school or teaching. Don't forget books about mathematics, grammar, and other basics. In addition, work with your local schools to see what topics, upcoming assignments, and focus areas would be most helpful to your patrons. Curate lists of your eBooks and databases that will also help students and teachers. 

Labor Day is September 2. For adults, there are fiction titles which focus on different careers and work in general, even if just in the title. Remember that we are trying to put backlist titles face out and give them some more attention rather than create a perfect collection of books on a given topic. Check your collection for books about careers, the history of the labor movement, and labor law. There are also usually plenty of youth titles covering careers and work. 

9/11 has been given the name Patriot Day. Your collection likely includes titles related to the event and the aftermath. Here are some lists with some suggestions: 

Flight 93 Recommended Reading from the National Park Service
Seven More Books Worth Reading About 9/11 and Its Aftermath from the Council on Foreign Relations
9/11: Books About the Impact of September 11, 2001 from Chicago Public Library
7 Books for Kids About September 11 from the Floyd County Library
Remembering 9/11 with Kids & Teens from New York Public Library

Mawlid, the birthday of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, is celebrated by Muslims on September 15 and 16. Collect titles about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad for adults and children. If you find few in your collection, bring this up to whomever does collection development for your library. Planning book displays is a great way to identify where your collection could use some additional titles. 

National Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15. As a build up to Halloween and spooky season, set up a display of Hispanic horror authors. The Horror Writers Association has a blog, the Seers Table, which includes interviews with diverse authors. The Smithsonian has a page with information about Hispanic Heritage Month. Don't forget cookbooks, history books, and books about civil rights struggles in the Hispanic community. 

 The autumnal equinox falls on September 22. With the growth of interest in paganism and witchcraft, your collection likely includes some titles which could be incorporated into a display. Include books with fall themes or fall images on the cover including craft books. There are cozy mysteries and romance books which would work on a display. 

Books to Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox and Harvest Time! from Evanston Public Library
Autumn Equinox from Goodreads
Autumnal Equinox: Books & movies for fall from Oak Park Public Library

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19. This is a fun holiday to celebrate with book lists and displays. Use pirate broadly and reach into your fiction collection to find titles. Your adult non-fiction collection likely includes books about historical pirates as well as more modern ones. Any book with pirate in the title or a pirate on the cover is fair game for a display. 

Arrr, Ahoy Me Hearties! Books for International Talk Like a Pirate Day from Book Riot
International Talk Like a Pirate Day Book List from Charles County Public Library
Books to Read for Talk Like a Pirate Day from Jacksonville Public Library
Talk Like A Pirate Day from San Jose Public Library

Hobbit Day is September 22. You should include cozy reads as well as read alikes for Tolkien's creations. For read alikes, look into the epic fantasy that your collection includes. Think about creating a book list or display that has the spirit of Hobbits rather than exact matches. Your library's staff likely have their own favorite cozy reads. In addition, include breakfast books because a second breakfast is always a good idea. 

Comfort Reads For Hobbit Day | Staff Favorites from Orem Public Library 
There and Back Again: Hobbit-Inspired Reads from Chicago Public Library 
Happy Hobbit Day! from Arapahoe Libraries
Books Like Lord Of The Rings from Goodreads
15 Books Like Lord of the Rings from Book Riot

National Indoor Plant Week is September 15 - 21. With the increase in interest in indoor plants and the rise of the "plant parent" this is a good time to review your collection for current titles on the subject. Beyond non-fiction books about plant care and identification, look for fiction with plants on the front including lush general plant themes on the front. As this has been a trend recently, there should be plenty of candidates. 

Book Recommendations Based Upon Your Favorite....

The website The Portalist recently ran an article called "Sci-Fi and Fantasy Recs Based on Your Favorite Foods and Drinks." As I have mentioned before, these sort of lists are flexible and there are really no right or wrong answers. They have been created based upon a reader's favorite character in a movie or TV show, astrological sign, tarot cards, and more. Publishers often send out lists like this as part of their marketing emails or library newsletters. 

Take advantage of these ideas to market your own backlist and promote those titles that can benefit from the spotlight that a book display can provide. Don't worry about using the same titles that are included in the email or newsletter; instead take the idea and apply it to the titles you have in your physical or digital collection. While the themes can promote creativity and provide an interesting and fun task for staff, the real purpose of a book display is as a marketing tool for the books which are in your collection and not receiving promotional help from publishers, TV/movie adaptations, or other media focus. 

Here are some ideas to get you started but don't feel as if you need to follow any of these precisely. Take The Portalist list and change it to favorite coffee drinks or desserts. 

The book to read based on your favourite Taylor Swift song - from Penguin Random House
What To Read Based on Your Favorite Taylor Swift Era - From Penguin Random House
Taylor Swift Song Titles and Lyrics Pop Up in the Names of These 17 Books - From People Magazine

Read Based on Your Zodiac Sign 2024 - from Pima County Public Library
The Best Books to Read This Year, Based on Your Zodiac Sign - from Readers Digest
Which Mystery Subgenre Should You Read Based on Your Zodiac Sign? - from Murder & Mayhem

What to Read Based on Your Fave TV Show - from Kensington Books
19 new books to read in 2022, based on your favorite TV show - from Business Insider
If You Love This is Us, Read This—And Other Book Recommendations Based on Your Favorite TV Shows - from Parade Magazine

10 YA Books to Read Based on Your Favorite Aesthetics- from Drizzle and Hurricane Books
Books to Read Based on Your Favorite Aesthetics - from Hachette Book Group
The books to read based on your aesthetic - from Libby Life

12 Books To Read Based Off Your Favorite Baked Goods - from Epic Reads
20 Desserts Inspired By Literature - from Books, Baking, and Blogging
Ice Cream Book Recommendations - from Arapahoe Libraries

Everyone in Your Library is an Expert In Something!

While you are planning out your library's book displays and lists, don't limit input to certain staff members. Allow anyone who works in your library to contribute to coming up with ideas and selecting titles. There could be things percolating in parts of popular culture that you are not familiar with or have not even heard of. Meanwhile, someone on your facilities team or in your business office may have done a deep dive into that thing and could help you assemble something for your patrons. 

Allowing anyone to contribute an idea or theme for a display or list will also expand the parts of your collection that receive attention while also encouraging staff to share their passions. It can be helpful to know what your co-workers are interested in as you work with the public. This is something that we did when I worked for a bookstore. We knew who was the historical romance readers, who loved poetry, and who was fluent in all kinds of space operas. When a customer asked for help with one of those areas, if that staff member was working, they would jump in to share their passion. 

As you schedule your book displays and lists, include room for a rotating staff display. The name of the staff member doesn't need to be part of their display; you are leveraging their expertise to market your collection. Make certain that you spread out the opportunity equally among different departments and give anyone interested a chance to assemble one. Have guidelines available so that the displays meet the same requirements as any one of your displays as far as avoiding bestsellers and being diverse and inclusive. 

Finally, if someone isn't comfortable or doesn't want to contribute, don't require it. There are plenty of other ways for a staff member to contribute to the success of your library. 

Book Display Basics - Scheduling

 One of the most common questions I get regarding book displays is how long they should stay up before they are changed. My usual answer is no longer than a month because after 30 days, your patrons will likely have seen it and will stop looking at it. As I have mentioned in presentations, you should archive the titles on your website so that patrons can locate titles they viewed but didn't check out. It also allows patrons who are interested in the theme to see the full list of titles that were included. 

To address scheduling more broadly, it's a good idea to outline your book displays at least several months in advance. Create a monthly schedule as part of a larger plan to market your collection which includes what themes for book displays and book lists you will use. Between your programs, major holidays, and local events, you are already scheduling much of what happens at your library each month. Adding book displays to this schedule will allow you to better leverage their ability to market your back list while also helping to promote your services and programs. 

When I worked for Barnes and Noble, each store received a monthly marketing plan which outlined which displays and initiatives were in play for the month. Most libraries create monthly programming calendars; the next step should be add a monthly plan to promote those programs, your existing services and databases, and your backlist. Take book displays seriously and use their ability to put your backlist front and center to increase overall circulation and introduce your patrons to the depth and breadth of your collection. 

You can start with a spreadsheet or form that details what programs, outreach, and initiatives your library will be involved with for the month. Add any holidays, cultural heritage observations, local celebrations, or commemorations. Note any ALA celebrations that you will be observing. That should be a good start to plan your book displays. Include the location for each display as well as which staff member or department will be responsible for setting up that display as well as keeping it full. 

As you work with your monthly schedule, you can make adjustments as necessary to meet your library's needs. 

Recently Read Titles - Our Black Hearts Beat as One by Brian Asman & At Dark, I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca

 I recently finished two books, one back list and related to my Brian horror fest and the other an upcoming release. 

Our Black Hearts Beat as One by Brian Asman is a novella about heartbreak. I posted a short review on Goodreads, available here. It's a book with an increasing sense of dread and levels of unease. The plot, from the author's website: 

"Hearts don’t just break, they explode. Destroying everything around them."
Michael Mallory's living the dream as the lead singer of a hot, up-and-coming band, Modern Love. When a sudden breakup shatters his world, he plunges headlong into the city's occult underbelly in a desperate bid to salve his pain. Lost amidst wayward souls and brutish killers, godlings and grotesqueries, Mike's about to learn one incontrovertible 
There's nothing more terrifying than love.

Put this title up on a display with other titles about heartbreak and deep emotions. Because Michael is in a band, fiction about music would also be appropriate. There is also an occult aspect to the book. 

Stoker nominated author Eric LaRocca's next release is At Dark I Become Loathsome. My short review is here on Goodreads. From the publisher's website: 

“If you’re reading this, you’ve likely thought that the world would be a better place without you.”

A single line of text, glowing in the darkness of the internet. Written by Ashley Lutin, who has often thought the same—and worse—in the years since his wife died and his young son disappeared. But the peace of the grave is not for him—it’s for those he can help. Ashley has constructed a peculiar ritual for those whose desire to die is at war with their yearning to live a better life.

Struggling to overcome his own endless grief, one night Ashley finds connection with Jinx—a potential candidate for Ashley’s next ritual—who spins a tale both revolting and fascinating. Thus begins a relationship that traps the two men in an ever-tightening spiral of painful revelations, where long-hidden secrets are dragged, kicking and screaming, into the light.

Only through pain can we find healing. Only through death can we find new life.

As with Our Black Hearts Beat as One, this is horror which is about intense pain and loss. LaRocca's books are a headfirst dive into disturbing ideas and pain. The reader is compelled to go forward even as they can almost feel the emotional trauma of the characters. 

Because LaRocca is a Splatterpunk award winning author, search your collection for other examples of extreme horror and splatterpunk. Bring out the more extreme titles in your collection. I do suggest that you look into adding the Splatterpunk award winners to your collection. They circulate well at my library. 

You can add titles about grief, loss, and surviving loss. Because of the physical transformation, look for books about body modification. 

Book Display Inspiration Using One Book - Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

 Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World, has a new book out called Horror Movie. It's a cursed film horror novel centered around "The Thin Kid," the only surviving cast member of a 1993 art house horror film and a modern day remake of that film. A more complete plot summary is available at his website. I reviewed the novel for Library Journal where it received a star. 

Because of the subject matter and setting, this title is a great basis for a book display. There are some great books about cursed films and there are plenty of iconic 1990's horror films that can be paired with the novels. Tremblay also has a Gen-X sensibility that can be drawn into your display. Put up signage about Cursed/Lost films, include a QR code so patrons can put Horror Movie on hold and promote your backlist!

The Lovecraft eZine has a list of five books about cursed films. 
Goodreads has a list of Lost Film & Cursed Movie books.
CrimeReads has an article/list with crime novels about cursed films. Don't worry about skipping around between genres.
Tor Nightfire has their own list of horror books about cursed films. 
Bookriot has a list of Thrillers About Cursed Movies. 
Reactor Mag has their own article about The Best Niche Genre? Creepy Books About F*cked Up Films That F*ck People Up.

Goodreads has a list of Books Set in the Nineties and a list of New Historical Fiction Books Set in the 1990's!
SheReads has their own list of The Best Fiction Set in the 90's. 
Borrow an idea from Penguin Random House and their list of 20 Bestsellers Published in the 1990's.
BookRiot has 9 Books About Coming of Age in the 90's.

For some films, you can use Wikipedia's list of Films Based On Horror Novels.
IMDb has their list of Horror Films of the 1990's 
Entertainment Weekly has curated a list of the The 20 Best 90's Horror Movies. 

Using the NYT Best Books of the 21st Century List

The New York Times Book Review staff along with 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and others created a list of the 100 best books of the 21st century (so far). As you can imagine, this this is very heavily weighted towards "literary" fiction. The most simple way to use it is to simply take the list, see what is in your collection but could use some more attention to boost circulation and put those on a display. You can print out the information for the title that the NYT has online. Include information about where patrons can find the whole list as well as details about which of the titles are in your eBook collection. 

Another way would be to also look at the read alikes they provide and to promote those titles which are in your collection, physical or digital. You can also find your own read alikes for the books. Focus on the titles which could use some help with circulation. If a title is being checked out regularly, you can skip it and move on to those which could use the spotlight. 

Finally, don't forget the lists that were posted from authors' ballots. My experience is that patrons love to get recommendations from famous people. Review the lists and put them on a display with something that indicates which author made the recommendation. Include information about where patrons can find the information online. 

Obviously, NYT does have a paywall which limits the number of articles that one can read without a subscription which does complicate this but if your library provides NYT access to patrons, this is a great way to highlight that access. Promoting databases and eResources is challenging but this is a fun way to do it while promoting your collection.