Passively Recommending Books

  I read fairly broadly every year but my December LibFaves are always horror focused. While EarlyWord has changed to a spreadsheet for this year (see their website for details), I thought I would curate my list here of what were my favorite horror reads in 2023. Are they the best of the year? I don't know! That's someone else's list. Also, a few people do have more than one entry. I couldn't decide and it's my list.  They aren't in any order.  Bad Cree by Jessica Johns (Doubleday): A story filled with complex female relationships as Mackenzie, a young Cree woman,  tries to deal with her sister Sabrina's death. Eventually, her intense dreams, filled with violence, drive her home to Alberta where she and her family must face their guilt and grief. This is coming of age horror and grief horror. I love a story with a core of female relationships not built around the men in their lives. With this debut, Jessica Johns shows great promise.  Chapman Chapbooks #1-3 

  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

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

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 yo

  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 ce

  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

  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 particul