Monday, April 19, 2021

Week 14 Prompt

I think marketing library books to patrons can be a great tool to get the word out about new and old books.  I am going to talk about three ways I see libraries marketing materials and I am going to try and pick ones that are more passive due to social distancing and less in-house programming.

  1. Staff recommendations from all staff and in multiple ways. We have done this in a few different ways over the past year. Last year when we got sent home we got asked to send pictures of books that we were reading. If we were reading books online we were asked to send a list to our outreach librarian. The outreach librarian would create graphics with the photos or a graphic with the list and post it on all of our social media. She would let patrons know how they can read the book online and once we were able to do curbside orders she let them know if the book was available in print. This alone has been pretty successful in connecting with patrons who are staying home and especially when we were doing curbside orders. We got them to read some new fiction and some books that brought back nostalgia. I recommended a science fiction series back in January and it has been constantly checked out or on hold both in print and online with ebook and eaudiobook formats. Now that we have more patrons coming into the building we are using our plexiglass surrounded desk to our advantage and created a staff recommendations section that spans YA, DVDs, and books. This has been going on for about a month and the circulation manager switches out the selections every week to keep the display fresh and appealing. Any staff member can send a list of recommendations to our circulation manager and he randomly selects from them and tries to make sure there are a variety of genres. This method has been great to get readers into older series and some of our new authors and books. I also think one way that would be fun to try with staff recommendations is through shelf talkers. We could have them say why they liked the book and what was appealing. After they have written their opinions then we place it by the book. As they get checked out we can take them down, save them for another time, and add new ones to the shelves.
  2. I have seen a lot of libraries that put suggestions into bowls and patrons randomly select a book to read. I then saw one where they color coded the paper with a genre patrons should try. I think it would be fun to do it a little differently. I would color coordinate the paper with genres and then have a bookmark or sheet for each genre that gives suggestions that the patron can find in our fiction collection or through our online resources. I think to make it more patron friendly I would do a couple bowls that accommodate to those who read regular fiction, those who can only read large print materials, and our young adult collection (it is also upstairs). The library could do some popular genres mixed with some more unknown or underrated genres. I also think it would be fun to somehow incorporate this for those who look at our social media accounts with some sort of color spinner (like twister if anyone remembers playing that game). Then the patron could look at an image of a curated list that matches what the spinner landed on, place a hold for a book, and pick it up at their earliest convenience through curbside. They would not be long lists, and I think it would be smart to switch out the suggestions once a month or every other month so patrons can keep enjoying the spontaneity. Who knows, the patron could find a new favorite author this way! 
  3. I know one way our library has successfully gotten new books and movies to get checked out faster is by sending out genre or format newsletters. We use BookSite and just scan the barcodes into the correct newsletter and it creates a newsletter with a photo of the book and details on the book for readers to look over. A couple examples of these newsletters are new fiction, new mysteries, new large print, new audiobooks, new Christian fiction, new movies, and a few nonfiction newsletters. This has created hold lists for many authors that were not being seen and even longer lists for popular authors. The newsletter is not fancy but it allows patrons to see what is new within the library. I think if we wanted to expand the newsletters it would be fun to create a nostalgia list where librarians can ask patrons to write down books they loved years ago (that we have in our collection) and create a list to send out to our patrons who subscribe. Then all areas of fiction could be represented in the newsletters.
If you have similar ways of promoting fiction or if you have different ways that your patrons have enjoyed finding new books let me know in the comments section!

References:


Carrol, B. (2020, December 7) Don’t talk to me: Passive readers’ advisory. State Library of Iowa. https://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/c-d/continuing-ed/iloc/copy_of_iloc-2016/handouts/dont-talk-to-me/donttalktome.pdf

Saricks, J. (2005) Promoting and marketing readers’ advisory collections and services. Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library. ALA. 136-160. 


13 comments:

  1. Hi Abby!

    That newsletter sounds neat! I’m going to have to tell my mom about this, since she is a patron at your library! I am always telling her to get involved with the library. I love that these newsletters created hold lists that may not have existed otherwise. Like you said, it sounds like a good idea for introducing patrons to new authors whom they may not have been aware of.

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    1. Hi Alisha!

      Definitely tell your mom about them. She can choose which ones she gets and they go out monthly, usually around the beginning for books. The CD audios and movies can vary depending on the quantity we get. She can subscribe from a button on our homepage. I used to help get the newsletters ready and I always tried to get some unfamiliar authors and well-known ones on there for variety. Thank you for the comment. :)

      Abby

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  2. The newsletter sounds great! I like that the patrons can decide what genre or format they would like, and it sounds like BookSite makes it easy. That sounds like a win-win!

    I would be so pleased if one of my recommendations was constantly checked out! Sounds like you did a great job on the recommendation. :-)

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    1. BookSite is nice and our patrons enjoy the newsletters from what I have heard. It's a quick and easy way to show what is new!

      I got really excited when I saw that it was popular. I've never had a recommendation go over so well. I think working curbside for so long has helped me figure out what our patrons really enjoy. We did quite a few readers' advisory interviews over the phone.

      Abby

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  3. Abby,

    I love the newsletter idea. I did do one for teens when I was the YA librarian. Why I did not think about this for adults - I do not know! Thank you so much for this idea. I had not heard of BookSite before - is this a free service? Thanks again!

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    1. I'm not sure if it costs anything to use. I do know that it has been great for our circulation and we link the different newsletter options to our website for patrons to subscribe. Here is a link to their website: http://www.booksite.com/. I could not find pricing information and the person in charge is not in right now.

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    2. Hi again,

      If you want to see what our newsletter looks like I added a link to the new movies one below. It's not fancy but it gives patrons an idea of what we have. This is also what the newsletter looks like when it is sent to a patron's email.

      http://library.booksite.com/6933/nl/?list=CNL4

      Abby

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    3. Abby,

      Thank you so much for sharing!! I am checking this out for sure! I think the newsletter looks great!

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  4. The color-coded pieces of paper is such a fun idea! Any age would have fun with this, but I see it being especially great for kids because it makes reading more of a game.

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    1. I thought the same thing! I was thinking if it was in the kids area they could make something to go along with candy land for the kids to go along with different genres. Then it would really be like a game to get a book.

      Abby

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  5. It seems like your library is doing a lot of great promotion! I also really like the idea of a grab bag from different themed bowls, it seems like you could tweak this in so many different fun ways. I've been hearing a lot about how effective it is to "gamify" reading and I this is a great example. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Hi Abigail,

      Thanks for the comment! I have also seen more and more about "gamifying" reading. Passive readers' advisory that engages them beyond looking at a display is starting to take off at many libraries.

      Abby

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  6. All three of your ideas are excellent! I especially like the genre specific newsletter. Great job and full points!

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