Week 15 Prompt

Here are some ways that I think work really well to market a library's fiction collection:

1: Displays-I don't think we can underestimate the power of a good display. My library has a display that is right by the main circulation desk. This display reminds me of the strategically placed candy shelves that line the checkout aisle and the grocery store. Both do an excellent job of making a person grab just one more thing before they leave.

2: Book Clubs- I think book clubs are a great way to market a library's fiction collection and grow new readers, especially book clubs that meet away from the library at breweries or coffee shops. Book clubs that have some special hook are effective at grabbing people's interest and can be unique to each library. For example, at my library the adult services staff are going to start a new book club called "Souper Readers" or something similar. Anyway, the idea is that at each book club meeting they will have some soup to snack on while they chat about the chosen book.

3: Book toks or Short Videos-I think we've all seen the power that tik tok booktok videos have had in bringing attention to books that were getting musty on library shelves, Colleen Hoover anyone? This isn't something my library currently does, but I do think its a great way to promote books and highlight titles in a library's collection. It's also a great way for library staff to share some of their favorites and connect with the library community. 

Week 14 Prompt

My first thought about the hypothetical question of separating out books that are LGBTQ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection and placing them in their own special area is a knee jerk reaction/response of "no." Here are my reasons for saying no to this:

1. I don't like the idea of "othering" books and making them separate from the rest of the library collection. I'm a bigger fan of making sure that a fiction collection is diverse and representative of everyone. I'm also a fan of making the library online catalogs easier to use, that way people are more likely to find the titles they want to read. 
2. With the rise in book challenges and especially of LGBTQIA+ titles, I think separating out the books would put a bigger target on them.
3. I'm just not a big fan of separating books out into genres. I think it takes away from people finding books that they would enjoy but would not come across if the books were shelved in separate areas. 

This question reminds me a little of the debate about putting genre stickers on library materials. I've worked at libraries that have the genre stickers and use them to separate out books into separate shelving locations and I've worked at libraries that have no genre stickers and shelve all genres together. The first library I mentioned eventually did away with shelving their book genres separately but decided to keep the genre stickers and shelve all the books together. This was seen as a way to make both groups of library users happy, the ones who liked the ease of the genre stickers and those that found the whole system confusing, especially when an author would write in more than one genre and then be shelved in two separate locations. 

This example is all to say that I think the answer to this question depends on the library community and its library users. 

Week 13 Prompt

As a librarian I firmly believe that people should read books they enjoy, regardless of genre. I've spent a lot of my time as a librarian in a youth services setting, and I'm here to tell you, more adults should try picking up a picture book. These books are full of rich storylines and engaging artwork. 

Speaking to the topic of adults who read young adult books and/or graphic novels, I think it falls in line with the purpose of a library for librarians to get books in the hands of people who want to read said books. I don't think there should be any stigma on any genres people want to read. I've often thought it would be fun to create a book club for adults, but have it be one where we only read young adult materials, or even only picture books. 

There are quite a few authors of young adult books where the characters of the original series have aged up into adulthood, causing librarians quite a headache when it comes to deciding where the series should live. These books and series would make for an interesting display. At my library we regularly create displays on various subjects that include books from the children's, teen and adult collections. This display is located near the circulation desk, so there's ample opportunity for something to catch the interest of a library patron, regardless of their age.