Week Fifteen Prompt

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.



One of the best ways to market the library’s fiction collection is through the use of eye-catching displays. We do a new display every month at my library, and it usually is tied into something happening that month (i.e. horror books for Halloween, romance in February, beach reads one of the summer months, etc.). We usually decorate and design these displays to stand out, so patrons want to come by to view it and see what is going on.  So many compliments have come from these displays, and I find myself constantly adding new books because books are always being taken from them.

Another way to market the library’s collection is through the library’s website. Having a marquee showing the new books the library has to offer on the main page, so that it’s the first thing a user will see when accessing the library’s website. I find it helps to have the marquee show a description of the book when the mouse is hovered over it - that way the user won’t have to leave the main page if they’re in a hurry to find something but spot a cover that catches their eye.  A Facebook page could also promote materials in a similar way, by choosing a new book a week to post about.

Finally, I think having a monthly book club at the library and choosing a different book and genre each month is a good way to market the library’s collection. By choosing a different genre each month, it allows people with different interests to come as they please when a genre they love is chosen. During the discussion, there could be a small display of read-a-likes for patrons who enjoyed the book club pick and want to read something similar. Not only would this be fun programming for patrons, it’s also an easy way to market the different materials the library has to offer.

Week Sixteen Prompt

How have reading and books changed since you were a child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now. Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive? What will happen to traditional publishing? 

Aside from the obvious changes (i.e. going from picture books to novels), I enjoy reading more as an adult than I did as a child. Don't get me wrong, I loved reading as a child/young adult loved getting caught up in book series and collecting them and devouring them in days... however, now I find myself reading to relax and unwind.  It's nice to have some time to myself without any interruptions, questions, problems - just me, a book, and a glass of wine (when I'm not pregnant).

I feel that with the increase in technology, the future of reading will increase.  Reading has become easier for some people with the additions of audiobooks and e-books and books are way more accessible now.  You could easily download and start a book you want to read with just a few clicks of the mouse.  With that said, I don’t see physical books dying out anytime soon, because there are so many people like me who enjoy have “real” books on hand.  I find a lot of millennials are using the library these days, choosing to rent a book rather than purchase them, which could affect publishing, but I’m not quite sure how...

I can see reading becoming more and more interactive in the future, with the addition of celebrity book clubs and social media.  People love to connect and discuss books with other likeminded people.  People love to post about what they’re reading, what they’ve read, what they liked and what they didn’t.  I think celebrities posting their favorite books inspire their fans to read more, because their fans idolize them and want to feel as close to them as possible.