WK 15 Prompt

People will not interact with things they do not know exist. So, my top three favorite ways to let patrons see and be made aware of our fiction collection are through a monthly Staff Faves Display, dynamic shelving, and relevant materials on display during programming.

The Staff Faves Display is a display that gets changed at the beginning of each month. Every staff member at my branch is asked to choose a "fave" -- a book they finished recently and enjoyed, a movie they would recommend, a CD they think more people should listen to, whatever! This display allows our staff and patrons to passively interact. It sits right by the checkout/reference desk, so while people are waiting to be checked out, they often grab an item off of the shelf and add it to their materials they are checking out. I have found that this display also strikes up conversations quite often. A patron will ask about a book on the display, and I will get to talk about it with them for a few minutes (the item is sometimes something I have recommended). This method reminded me of the “Engaging Readers” article from this week: “Notice what is measured to validate this as successful service. It is not the number of books that Ericsson’s readers check out. It is not the number of transactions. It is the rich exchange between Ericsson and the readers she is serving” (Smith et al., 2022, p. 38). That exchange between staff member and patron is what makes this so valuable; it also shows patrons things in our collection they might not have realized we have.

Another marketing tactic I’ve been trying to employ lately is dynamic shelving. Basically, this means I try my best to avoid just having just rows and rows of books. I’ve been experimenting with having a normal row of books on one shelf, and then a front-facing display of a few highlighted books on the next shelf, and then another normal row of books. Really I have just been trying to visually break things up so they aren’t as monotonous, making it easier for patrons to browse titles.

The final thing I have been utilizing to market our adult fiction collection is by making sure I put up relevant books on display whenever we host a program in our community room. For example, we once hosted a Flexitarian Cooking program, so I made sure the tables behind the presenter had plenty of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks on display that patrons were told they could check out after the program. Every time I host our book club, I make sure to put up some relevant readalikes or other titles by that author for the patrons to browse as well. So, making sure patrons have these other options relevant to the program they are attending is another way I market our fiction collection.

References

Smith, D., Fredrick, V., & Friedli, A. (2022). Engaging Readers. Library Journal, 147(3), 34–38.