Week 15 Prompt Response
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.
I've worked in larger locations than my current branch where we had many options for creative displays. With a smaller space it is a challenge to be creative and to try to keep space from being too cluttered. I have a display rack that holds approximately 20 books - per side (depending on the size of the books). Usually we share this space and have fiction on one side and a related nonfiction topic on the other. At some times during the year we will have themed displays. Last summer we had fiction books on display by local authors. At other times we will use a theme throughout the fiction section with our outward facing books on the shelves and bookends. When movies come out that have a tie to a particular book, we make a display of that book with the movie, and have additional book/movie duos with signage that reads, "Watched a good movie? Why not try the book?" With our audio books, it has just been within the past year we have started displaying our Best Sellers with the matching audiobooks and that has been successful in getting people to checkout audiobooks as well.
I love your idea of putting a theme throughout the whole fiction section. I don't think we've tried that at our branch, but that's a great way to get people to explore the whole fiction section instead of looking through a separate display (especially since a lot of our display space is nowhere near the fiction section). The whole fiction section is a display!
ReplyDeleteI like the challenge you have at East with small spaces and smaller displays. I wish you had the wall-in display case that West has, but I guess that would be difficult with such an old building. It would be awesome if there was a way to build displays over the shelving at East, but under the windows.
ReplyDeleteI've seen some of the best displays at East/West/Stringtown, simply because with a smaller space, the worker putting up the display doesn't over-do it, but reinvents the space for the display. (And you don't have to worry too much about empty space!)