Shelf Talkers
One of my biggest pet peeves at the circulation desk has
always been signs, signs, signs. The little of ladies who made up most of my
staff often taped signs advertising books, programs, etc. to the desk. If not,
we’d have signs in the acrylic sign holders all over the place. A point that I
often tried to make was that no one read signs especially when there was an
abundance of them. A great illustration of this was when the library sold
engraved brick pavers for the sidewalk outside the library. We put up a sign along
with purchase forms next to a small pile of bricks as well as our other plethora
of signs, but every day multiple people would come in and asked for information
about the bricks while the sign for the bricks was literally right in front of
them. My response was always, “Yeah, it’s next to this pile of bricks I’m
touching.”
However, signage in unexpected places is more noticeable. An
example of that is shelf talkers, which are small signs that are affixed to the
shelves in strategic place. Shelf talkers are very versatile in marketing a
library’s collection. The image of above shows a shelf talker whose purpose
would be to draw attention to a collection of Smurf graphic novels. Shelf
talkers can be placed under popular authors with suggested read-alikes and
where to find them on the shelves. Staff can connect with patrons this way by
recommending their own personal favorite books using shelf talkers similar to
Barnes & Noble. I have seen this done two ways in libraries before: either
in the stacks or on a special display. Patrons enjoy trying to connect staff
members to the books, and it also gives them a chance to seek out staff members
who have similar tastes for more recommendations.
A takeaway from this though is that signage in libraries
needs to be dynamic and unexpected to get noticed in a library.
Adult Summer Reading
Program
My previous library always had an adult summer reading
program in tangent with the children’s department. Summer reading programs
typically involve children reading a designated number of books to achieve
prizes throughout the summer with a free book to those who reach the final
goal. The adult version at my library was set up like a bingo card that
required adult patrons to explore the materials in the adult section. The card
had to be completely covered by the end of summer. For instance, patrons were
asked to read different genres that fulfilled different squares on the grid. They
were also asked to read something from the nonfiction collection and a
biography. Other materials were on the sheet as well such as a magazine and newspaper
that the library subscribed to. It was a program that asked patrons to step
outside of their comfort zone to try different genres and types of books while
secretly getting them to explore other services of the library.
Sadly, the library changed the program where for every five
books an adult would read would get them entered into a prize drawing at the end
of summer. I always thought that was a wasted chance of marketing the library’s
collection and having an active relationship with adult patrons.
NoveList
Speaking of a waste, that library also had NoveList, but it
was never actively used or promoted. I once visited a library that did not have
a reference desk. Instead they had a small table where a reference librarian
and the patron would sit next to each other looking at the same screen as they
found information together. I can see this format being used with readers’
advisory and tools such as NoveList. This practice is an opportunity to not
only provide marketing for the collection but also some of the digital services
the library offers. Often times a staff member would come to me describing a
patron interaction after the fact. I would ask them if they used the databases
including NoveList. The answer would always be a no. NoveList is a service that
should be heavily promoted to staff and patrons. Readers’ advisory was
something that always made the part-time staff uncomfortable, but familiarity
with this tool had the potential to move them past that. Their enthusiasm for
it could have sparked an interest in patrons using it on their own and possibly
recommending books that could benefit the library. I really like the notion
that staff and patrons can work together on readers’ advisory using NoveList,
which only benefits the library’s collection.
