Week 15 - Marketing the Collection

    I think the best way to market the collection is through displays, which I help with at my library. We have 3-4 tables every month and select topics based on holidays, events happening in the world, or programs happening at the library during that month. When selecting books for the displays, we try to stay away from popular authors or titles because these items are most likely going to be checked out anyway. Instead we select books with a popularity rating on NoveList of three or less in order to showcase titles our patrons may not have been aware of.
    My library also has passive displays throughout our stacks. On every few shelves in the stacks we try to keep a few books facing outward to pull attention to them. While we select books from the shelf where the display is so as not to mix up the order of books too badly, we still try to highlight diverse authors or books that may not be as well known or popular.
    One idea for a passive program that my library does not currently do, but that I think would be fun, is a book scavenger hunt. Every month or so a book list could be curated of titles that the library wants to showcase and clues could be created that patrons can follow to find the books. At the end, patrons would receive a small prize, like a sticker (our youth services department does a similar thing and the kids go wild for the stickers), and maybe find a book they would like but not have known about along the way.