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.

I like passive RA--laying out bookmarks, read-a-like flyers and posting up the bestseller lists.  One week, we forgot to change the NYT bestseller list that's posted in our New Fiction section, and several patrons let us know about it!  A couple homebound patrons also send us their own highlighted copies to let us know what they're interested in.  Teens don't seem to care about the NYT bestseller list all that much, however.  (Probably because it usually stays the same for long periods of time...for months, my boss and I had a guessing game about how many John Green books were listed per week!)  Bookmarks are especially popular as they serve that double purpose--pointing patrons towards new reads but also marking their spot in their current book!  Older patrons like the read-a-like flyers, or even just print-outs that list series in order because if the series isn't listed within the book, they are unlikely to try the computer themselves to find that information.

Displays are also a hit, and sometimes a lot of fun to put together!  There's more opportunity to create elaborate and imaginative displays for Children's and Young Adult, but we like to get creative with the Adult fiction too.  An attractive sign or a few props really draw the eye, and our patrons often to stop and browse the latest display.  I've done some holiday-centered ones for Young Adult, a Star Wars display for Children's that was crazy popular, and just today I set up a Downton Abbey read-a-like display for this class' final project.  Other displays I've seen around at our libraries include color-coded ones, "Books Gone Hollywood!", a dueling dog display and cat display set across from each other...  Thematic displays are a good way to bring some older titles into the spotlight.

One marketing strategy I'd like to explore more is using social media to promote our materials.  Our library website has a blog function, and I believe there were hopes that designated staff members would post about what they're reading, but it fell through the cracks between other projects.  Our Facebook and Twitter page advertises programs and services, which as I believe Saricks points out in this week's reading, isn't enough to boost circ stats.  I attended CYPD last year in Indy and one of the speakers there had great suggestions about how to use Youtube for book talks and Twitter for personalized suggestions.  There was some talk about starting a Youtube channel for our Teen department, but again I think that fell by the wayside of other projects.  I tried a Twitter account for recommending YA material, but didn't have a good way to promote it.  I'm interested in trying these sites again, and will try pushing for more support on them.