Passively Recommending Books

  The recent Barnes and Noble pre-order sale received a lot of attention from authors and book buyers. Pre-orders can be vital to a book's success, with strong pre-orders showing that there is interest in a title.Why mention it to library workers interested in book displays? Use the idea of pre-orders to market your holds list. Assuming that every patron knows that you have a request service for physical and digital titles is a mistake. Because we spend so many hours at the library, it can be easy to forget that many things are unknown to patrons. Some patrons may have forgotten that they can place a hold request for a popular title, receiving a notification when it is available for them.  In many libraries, as soon as a title is "on order" in the ILS, patrons can start putting holds on it. Hold requests also give your acquisitions department an idea about demand for a particular title. Create a display with cover photos, information about how holds work, ways they can be

  Growing up can be hazardous as noted by the many coming of age horror books. This popular theme is part of what makes Wasps in the Ice Cream by Tim McGregor such a great read. The listless summer of 1987 finds Mark Prewitt spending time with friends he's not sure that he likes anymore, working two part-time jobs to restore an old car, and mooning after one of the hot girls in school. The Farrow sisters are part of a strange, reclusive family, subject to rumor and the hatred of the other people in their small town. After he participates in a prank pulled on the Farrow sisters, Mark decides to try to make amends. He is drawn into their world, especially that of the middle sister, George. When their secret relationship is exposed, Mark has to choose between his friends and the world he and George have created.  Beyond coming of age and the late 80's, the book also has themes of aliention and  small towns, outsiders, family secrets, alienation and disaffection. There are also Sa

  It's likely your library has put up a book display or list related to Black History Month . If you look at the official US government site and review the exhibits page, you will see a huge variety of topics. There are exhibits on educators, visual artists, theatre, dress, folklife, colleges, literature, music and religion. Use these exhibits as a place to start your own displays and lists for Black History Month. In addition to displays focusing on slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, use this month to introduce patrons to titles in your collection that can allow them to see parts of Black history that they might not be familiar with. There are topics like t he Harlem Renaissance  , Black cowboys , Black entrepreneurs , Black scientists , and more. GLAAD has information on Black LGBTQ history . Don't forget to see what your local history collection has about history in your city, state, or region.  The most popular display I have ever put up in February was related to Blac

  More than likely, you have books by Colleen Hoover on your physical and digital holds list. While you may not have the books in your building to include in a physical display, you can use read alike authors on your shelves to give back list titles some attention, bring attention to other authors that fans of Hoover would like, and advertise your holds list.  Where to find suggestions? There are plenty of lists to get you started on your own display or post.  Business Insider has a list - 22 books Colleen Hoover fans will love, from suspenseful romance reads to tearjerker YA stories . This list has suggestions from all over fiction and is diverse which I appreciate. It will also give you a taste of the different ways people can approach even a popular author like Hoover.  A feature you can copy is Book Riot's book recommendation service - using email, online chat, or whatever your library can support even if that's paper requests. Their list of 10 Authors Like Colleen Hoover

White Horse is one of NoveList’s Best of the Year titles for 2022 . If you are following or promoting the NoveList 2023 Reading Challenge , it fills the January prompt.  Kari James is an urban Indian, working in bars, reading Stephen King, and listening to heavy metal. She spends her free time with her cousin, Debby, and at the White Horse, an Indian bar. Abandoned by her mother while an infant, Keri is forced to look into her past as well as her family’s past when Debby gives her a bracelet that was her mother’s. The bracelet seems to bring forth visions. It’s a horror novel with heart that dives into the pain and horror in digging up the truth. It is another title that is a compelling story of women’s friendships and relationships as are The Bandit Queen and Bad Cree. A display filled with books that center the relationships between groups of women would be a great display to use for March and Women’s History Month. The books don’t need to have one tone as families and friendships

 Setting aside any libraryland debates about genre spine labels, genre filing on the shelf versus interfiling and so forth, I thought I would talk about how to use books which cross several genres or are genre blended as a theme for an online list or book display. Many books have crossover appeal. You can use this to gently suggest to your readers that there are books outside their usual lanes that they will enjoy and perhaps create another entire world of books for that patron to explore.  The easiest option is to do a "If you liked this... Try this" book display/list. You can go outside of the usual similar titles in the same genre and instead match up a memoir or biography with a fiction title. Pick someone who lived in the same era or a biography with a fictional depiction of that person. A recent idea from the news and popular culture would be a novel about the British royal family with a biography of a British royal. Pair a book like Children of Chicago  by Cynthia Pela

  The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff was published this year. It's a novel about women in a small village in India and explores issues of sexism, classism, caste, and friendship between women  The publisher describes it this way:  Five years ago, Geeta lost her no-good husband. As in, she actually lost him—he walked out on her and she has no idea where he is. But in her remote village in India, rumor has it that Geeta killed him. And it’s a rumor that just won’t die. It turns out that being known as a “self-made” widow comes with some perks. No one messes with her, harasses her, or tries to control (ahem, marry) her. It’s even been good for business; no one dares to not buy her jewelry. Freedom must look good on Geeta, because now other women are asking for her “expertise,” making her an unwitting consultant for husband disposal. And not all of them are asking nicely. With Geeta’s dangerous reputation becoming a double-edged sword, she has to find a way to protect the life she’s b