Week 15 Prompt

Three ways my library does or could market the fiction collection:


Social Media Posts: Many of the social media posts for my particular library that deal with the actual items included in the fiction collection are the same "See what's new..." with a picture that is similar to what many other libraries have. Facebook is the social media site that my library uses but they do not actively promote the fiction collection and it is not consistent when they do. I think that they should include posts about individual items, especially if it is an item that someone has loved. Something like book cover with the caption: "Favorite read in historical fiction from Holly: The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran. Nefertari must overcome her family's past to build a better future. She gains her chance not only for that but for the love of a lifetime when she catches the eye of Ramesses the Great. Will their love be enough for them to build a stronger Egypt together or will the forces working against them be too much? You'll have to read it to find out!" This not only promotes the historical fiction genre within the collection but because it is a recommended read it also makes it more personal and could help it stand out in the news feed. A couple of us write YA reviews and we do post those on FB but there is not much for the rest of the fiction collection. I would also recommend the library use Instagram and Twitter as well to reach other age groups within their target audience, especially since the algorithms on FB hide many posts. I would also suggest including other types of posts such as fun "What character would you be in a Jane Austin novel?" type quizzes that can be found. Those would be fun and could help with engagement on the social media page. Hashtags should also be utilized.

Bookmarks: For our library the children's department always has tons of bookmarks that are popular not only with the kids but the adults also sometimes take one as well. But there are not bookmarks in the rest of the library. I think would be a great opportunity, especially if they were created to be unique to the library. The library does have a blog which sometimes has information about the fiction collection. (I would suggest for the blog that staff recommendations and reviews, and even a place for comments from viewers for other recommendations/reviews to be included.) But the bookmarks could include a QR code which could lead to the blog. (This next part would depend on cost and what material was used.) In children's we created bookmarks in which we each picked a color (mine was purple) and it would say "Highly recommended by Miss Holly!" and these would be put in books we had selected and placed on the top of the shelves. We used card stock for our bookmarks so that we could print more if needed and those books got picked so much more. A few staff members could choose recommended reads and maybe the books might get noticed more. Or instead of just having it say recommended read, it could contain a list in a fun font and they could have them at the circulation and information desks that patrons could take. They like bookmarks and these could promote the fiction collection and maybe help someone find their next favorite read. Pictures could also be taken of these recommended reads with their bookmarks or just of the bookmarks themselves and be posted online.

Read-a-like/Genre lists: Again this is something that my library only does for children's but not for YA or adult fiction. Having these types of lists around the library, especially at the desks could help patrons find awesome new books. It's also something that they can take. Usually they are in pamphlet form and that could also work as a bookmark. They can not only show what variety the fiction collection genre wise has but also awesome fiction books included. Something like "If you liked The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah then you might like..."But they shouldn't all be like that, I think it would be fun and unique to also appeal to what patrons like in the form of other media but in a way that can promote the fiction collection. Something like: "Fan of Supernatural? Then you'd like Covet (Fallen Angels #1) by J. R. Ward." These can also be put on bookmarks, posted on social media and placed on the website to make sure that patrons, those in person and virtual can see them. Having genre lists could help patrons find other books in a genre they already love such as Historical Fiction, Mystery, etc. These could be a mixture of new and older titles.