Week 15 Prompt Response

This question is of particular interest to me because I am the circulation manager at my library. It is hard for me to focus just on the fiction books, because it is my job to find ways to promote all of our items. That said, I will do my best.

One way that I am especially passionate about is library-wide campaigns to promote specific areas of the library collection or the collection as a whole. Currently, my library is trying to circulate 1,000,000 items for the first time in our history. To encourage patrons to help us reach this goal, we are doing a year long campaign promoting the idea of helping us reach 1,000,000. We began introducing this idea by word of mouth only at the beginning of the year in the circulation department, encouraging patrons to check out items and consider trying new materials. Then, during National Library Week, we offered prizes for the first 100 people that checked out items on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. All of the prizes are branded with our logo for the campaign: "You are one in a million." Monday, patrons received window clings for their cars, which is a great way to get the idea out into the community. Wednesday, we gave out cell phone cases. Friday, we gave out stress balls. We plan to do more things as we progress throughout the year. Some ideas include making an outdoor bookshelf that will increase in fullness as we move towards our goal. This way patrons driving by the library can monitor our progress. Should we reach our goal, we plan to have a community wide party to celebrate, complete with door prizes. So far, we have been seeing a steady increase in all areas of our materials. So, while this doesn't focus on fiction specifically, it does promote its circulation. Any library-wide campaign like this is a good idea to do periodically to get the community more involved in the library.

Another way to promote fiction specifically is Blind Date with a Book. Some of you are probably familiar with this, but it does help encourage readers to try new authors and books. Basically what happens is several fiction books are wrapped up in paper like a gift so that the title can not be seen (libraries utilizing RFID can cover the entire book, those that aren't need to leave the barcode exposed). Then, descriptive qualities of that book are written on the paper. For example, a book may say: Mystery, Spies, Lost Treasure. The idea is that patrons will take a "Blind Date" with a book and check out something they find interesting but is not a book they would pick up otherwise. We have done this the past few years and it is growing in popularity. Also, this can easily be adapted for other areas of library.

Finally, one thing that we do not do at our library (but I want to do) is staff recommendations of fiction titles. It is my belief that if we are doing our jobs well, we will develop good relationships with our regular patrons. Once the patrons know you, they are apt to respect your opinion more. To set aside a shelf that staff keeps stocked with their personal recommendations can be a great way to promote fiction books. We all tend to trust the opinion of people we trust or will at least give their recommendations a try. It is important to have a brief note with the title you are recommending that states why you recommend it. Doing a promotion like this, makes us, as librarians, seem more like real people and improves our interactions with patrons.