What do you think are the best ways to market your library's fiction collection? Name and describe three ways you do or would like to market your library or your future library's fiction. These can be tools, programs, services, displays - anything that you see as getting the word out.
My little library puts some effort into promoting the collection, but there is a lot of room for improvement! One method I think we do well is book displays. We have one main round display in a prominent place that is changed out every two weeks. The person in charge of this display does a great job and is very creative with themes and props. Our patrons are often take time to browse the display and also take books from it. I am responsible for a display of children's chapter books, and there is also a picture book display area. I wish we had room for more because they very effective in getting books to circ with our patrons.
Two services I would like to add are book highlighting and a reader's advisory request form. First, book highlighting. What I mean by this the singling out of books to aid patrons in the discovery part of their reading life (Smith & Friedli, 2022), such as a book talk video on social media or a shelf-talker sign in the stacks. We do a book highlight in our monthly newsletter, but one book a month isn't a lot of promotion. I know in-person book talks are very effective for moving books for school librarians. I think if we built up some repertoire with patrons, book talking could be effective for us as well. A book talk can serve like a personal recommendation from a librarian friend. It helps to expose patrons to more titles. Later, when they see it on the library shelf, they might think "Oh, I've heard of that one, maybe I'll try it!" As an alternative and simpler method of highlighting, shelf-talker signs could offer read-alike suggestions for popular titles (or new releases that are hard to get their hands on). Giving patrons a little info about lesser known titles could be helpful to both the patron and the collection!
The second service I would like to add is a personalized readers' advisory form as discussed in the Novelist webinar (2020). In the recent past, my library has offered "Lit & Loot" boxes through a paper form for limited run times (such as during Winter Reading, or for the month of October, etc). The service was actually not very popular. Using several of the marketing ideas mentioned in the Novelist webinar, I think we could bring this back and make it more accessible to patrons. I'm actually super excited to make this happen in real life and hope my director will allow me to put time and effort into it! The biggest challenge for us is the tech side, hence the paper forms of the past.
References
Novelist. (2020, December 7). Webinar: Form-based reader's advisory when your readers (and staff) are at home.
Smith, D., Fredrick, V., & Friedli, A. (2022). Engaging Readers. Library Journal, 147(3), 34–38.
Wow, changing out displays every two weeks is so ambitious! We do it once a month, and I love it, but it sure takes a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you mean about wanting space for more displays. You discussed shelf talkers, but I wondered if you have a lot of book easels within your shelving where you can put books forward facing? It's not quite the same as a display, but I've noticed that those books that we are placing on the easels are always taken. It's a small thing that you could do to promote individual titles.
Lit and Loot boxes sound really fun too! I'm glad you were inspired to give it another go!
We also change up the displays once per month. One exception is if an author dies. Then, we immediately do a display that day.
DeleteHey, Karis--what kinds of themes have you done for book displays? And have you ever done displays that feature adult, teen, j fiction, and picture books? I used to do adult/picture books together featuring the same theme; maybe I'll try doing that again. Also, I second Liz's comment--wow, every two weeks!
ReplyDeleteHi Jenni, sometimes we do included teen and children's chapter books in our main display, but not picture books. We do a lot of seasonal and diversity displays. For example, right now we have gardening books out. In May we'll have Asian/Pacific Islander books. Sometimes they're just fun/creative like "no shave November" where we added mustaches book covers with faces.
DeleteI think an RA request form is such a great idea and it takes some of the immediate pressure off of staff. I can see it maybe being a bit limited without the back and forth "interview" style of conversation, but it could still be a great way to connect patrons to new material.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a personalized reader's advisory service on our website. We are hoping to bring it back and revamp it a bit. We would mainly give suggestions on similar authors. Plus we'd throw in other materials they might like (movies, tv shows, maybe board games).
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that our displays are very popular with our patrons. We constantly add books to them or leave gaps for a week. I also feel that our newsletter showcases a few books from the adult, YA, or junior collections that are popular and get lots of views. I like your Lit and Look program, which offers book recommendations. Reader advisory is a popular aspect of libraries, and I think it's a great way to showcase those skills.
ReplyDeleteExcellent ideas - always room for improvement and your ideas are top notch!
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