Five For Friday - Reoccuring Book Display Idea: New Books You Might Have Missed.

 Usually when I talk about book displays I am referencing promoting backlist titles. As someone who works in acquisitions and technical services, I know that some new books do not come in with a bunch of hold requests or are from unknown debut authors or could use a little promotion. A social media display or small physical display in your library will shine some attention on those titles. 

Pick five of the books on your new release shelves that have not been checked out and add a picture with a link to your catalog on your social media. If you can, create a digital display on your website or blog with a list of the titles and links to place a hold on the books. You can make this a regular feature of your social media, giving it a name something like new book spotlight. 

Obviously, those books with holds or which are part of popular series do not need our help to get patron attention. Save this kind of promotion for those books which need a boost. Make certain that you include books by marginalized authors, books in translation, and books from small publishers. You could use narrative non-fiction and memoirs as well. 

Book Display Inspiration Using One Book - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is ostensibly about video games but is also about friendship and deep relationships that are not romantic. Since the Chicago Public Library  is using it for their One Book, One City program I thought I would use it to again show that you do not need to feel restricted when it comes to adding books to a display or as a starting point for a display. This is especially useful when you have a title with a long holds list. That title can be used to both advertise your holds list and to bring some light to your back list titles. 

While there are romantic relationships in the book, the core of the story is about two friends and their friendship that evolves over time. One option would be to set up a display with friendship themes. Look broadly for books with this theme. There are a lot of crime fiction series with friendships between characters that develop as the series progresses. 

Books to Read With Your Best Friend - Penguin Random House
Six Great Novels about Old Friends and Old Friends - Literary Hub
Popular Adult Friendship Books - Goodreads
Top Ten Books About Friendship for Adults - Audry Fryer

Videogames and the video game industry is another theme in the book. Sam and Sadie, the two main characters, establish a video game design company. Video games have been a part of popular culture since at least the 1980's so there may be more interest in your community that you suspect. People who are not familiar with the plot of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow but are interested in video games may find their next great read. Just because a book was popular doesn't mean that every patron had it on their radar. 

The 8 Best Books About Video Games Will Change the Way You Play - PC Magazine
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion 2024 Challenge - Regular > 22 - A book that centers on video games - Goodreads
Level Up Your Reading - Books for Gamers (Adult edition) -Douglas County Libraries
20 Must-Read Novels Based On Or Inspired By Video Games - Book Riot

Some of these lists include graphic novels. Don't hesitate to mix graphic novels and prose novels on the same display. 

I hope these lists give you a start. Other themes in the book include: video games as art and their connection to other forms of art, cultural appropriation, disability, work, fame, loss, and coming of age. Pick one or more of these themes and set up your own display. 

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