Week 15 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.
Three ways that I would like to market my future library's fiction are:
1. A display stand by the fiction collection
At my current library, there are special display stands against the end caps of the tween and YA collections, and they are changed up depending on the time of year and what the librarians want to highlight. Personally, I think those displays are really effective and a simple way to promote certain titles. Therefore, if I were in charge of marketing a library's fiction collection, I would want to make sure that the fiction had some way of being prominently displayed on a consistent basis.
2. A staff picks program
The library I am at right now usually does a staff picks display during our summer reading program, but I would like to take the idea of staff picks one step further. With a program, it could be done on a monthly basis and there could be a rotation with two staff members running the program each time. (There are 10 staff members total at my branch, including myself.) Each staff member could then pick a predetermined number of fiction books that they want to promote to the community during the program, and patrons could come talk to the staff members about the selected books. (If I were to actually run the program, I'd obviously flesh it out more, but this is just the basics.)
3. A series of social media posts
While this would be something ultimately put on social media by the library's social media manager, I think that a series of posts could be a worthwhile endeavor for me to help initiate at the library. My current library gets a decent following on social media, especially with Facebook and Instagram, so creating an ongoing series of posts for fiction books could help create attention for those books.
Hi Sydney
ReplyDeleteMy library also does staff picks! Ours is a permanent display and each staff member has a tag with their name and some quick details of their reading habits. For example “Detailed fantasy with political intrigue” or “LGBTQ+ romance with heartwarming themes”. Each description tag sits on the librarian’s dedicated “picks” shelf. It’s a great way to get patrons interested in books and I often see at least one person looking at the display when I walk past.
I really like your idea to do a program! It would be a great way for patrons to get recommendations on a more personal level.