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.
There are many great ways to market and promote a library's fiction collection above and beyond what we are currently doing.
The library where I work does have displays; however, Sarick's idea of a Good Books You May Have Missed display is a great one. One of the quirks of our main library building - a historic building with an addition - is that the fiction section is on the second floor, while staff is located on the first floor, and there is currently no way to staff a readers advisory desk on the second floor. A Good Books display on the second floor with the fiction books would be a great way to facilitate browsing and make the fiction section - which can look very overwhelming - look more inviting. I like the idea of having a variety of books from different genres and with different "feels" (or appeal elements). It is a good way to highlight the diversity of books in the library's collection.
Another way to market the fiction collection is through booklists, both annotated booklists available on paper and online, and short booklists and read-alike lists on bookmarks. I would like to start creating annotated booklists for some of the themed displays we do. We could keep them in a binder, with copies that patrons can take, and upload the booklists online - it could be part of the blog entries/website news posts that we already create for most displays. It would take a while to build a good mix of lists, but with several lists a year being created and a schedule of updating and weeding lists, we could end up with lists for people in the mood for nearly any book. Online, we could even make the content more dynamic by linking the names or covers of the books to the OPAC.
Links to the OPAC will also help with the third tool to help market the library's fiction collection - a subscription to EBSCO's NoveList database, especially NoveList Select, which integrates with a library's OPAC. As a patron looks for books through the dynamic booklists on the website, they could find even more books that are like the ones they are interested in. Soon, they can use that tool to help narrow down to the exact fiction book that works for them. NoveList will also help library staff with Readers Advisory which, in itself, can help market the fiction section - patrons will be more likely to use the fiction section if they can find books that they want to read. NoveList will also make creating displays and annotating books easier for staff.
Marketing any aspect of a library's services requires a mix of tools and library staff who know how to use them and teach patrons to use them effectively. In this case, a mix of in-house tools and tools provided by vendors can help market the fiction section more effectively.
I agree that the "Good books you may have missed" display is a great idea and it's so easy. I wish we had NoveList! As you mentioned, it has such a dual benefit appeal as it is helpful to staff and patrons alike.
ReplyDeleteWe got a 30-day trial of NoveList and we all LOVE it! I already have some great ideas for displays and readalike lists.
DeleteI also agree with your point that if your OPAC has NoveList functionality that it is a great way to expand reader's advisory services on a passive level.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your point that if your OPAC has NoveList functionality that it is a great way to expand reader's advisory services on a passive level.
ReplyDeleteMy library offers patrons access to NoveList. I'm not sure how many patrons use it or even know about it, but I agree that it's an invaluable tool to provide. Our OPAC has a nifty feature that displays titles on the NYT and USA TODAY best-seller lists. You can click on a title, then on "Find in My Library", and it'll take you to the title in our catalog. I think it'd be great to add more lists to that feature (if that's even possible), like award winners or local authors.
ReplyDeleteAnnotated book lists are a great way for patrons to get information about fiction titles. This information can be accessed through the library website or in paper forms such as flyers or bookmarks. Having the information in book or flyer form allows the patrons to take the information with them and refer back to them even when the library has moved on to promoting different titles. NoveList is such a great way to find books based on read-alikes by authors, genres, or pace. Informing patrons about NoveList is a great way for them to be able to find titles on their own if the database is available through your library.
ReplyDeleteI believe that electronic marketing is becoming more and more important in driving up interest in the library's fiction collection. Links through the PAC to certain tools and reading lists will only be helpful in the library's goals.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas of using annotated book lists, and I like how you are thinking about the creative ways through which you could share them! Do you currently have a lot of engagement with your lists? We have huge demand for them at our library and publish both a bookmark, as you mentioned, and a pamphlet each month.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas of using annotated book lists, and I like how you are thinking about the creative ways through which you could share them! Do you currently have a lot of engagement with your lists? We have huge demand for them at our library and publish both a bookmark, as you mentioned, and a pamphlet each month.
ReplyDelete