As a child I loved reading. Looking back now, it’s amusing to me that when I was in elementary and middle school, I read mostly adult books. I loved mysteries like Agatha Christie’s and books featuring pioneers, like Janette Oke’s books. Now, as an adult, I read mostly young adult novels. I’ve also gained more of an appreciation for non-fiction as I’ve gotten older. As a child, non-fiction felt like reading for school rather than pleasure. I have less time to read than when I was younger and I find myself listening to audiobooks more often than reading books. I hadn’t thought much about the social aspect of reading, other than book clubs, but I do enjoy reading books everyone is talking about so I can be a part of the conversation. I like being able to talk with others who have read the same book I’ve read. I found Le Guin’s argument that bestsellers fill a social need for people interesting (Le Guin, 2008 p. 35). There are so many hidden gems that are rarely talked about because the...
This Downton Abbey display was very popular with patrons. I had fiction, non-fiction, and audio-visual materials related to the show as well as bookmarks patrons could take. With fewer people coming into the library, digital promotion is currently more important than ever. I would like to send out an e-newsletter to promote the library’s fiction collection. It could include staff recommendations, read-alikes for popular books (which would help keep patrons engaged when waiting on hold for popular books), and genre-themed lists. I would use circulation statistics and look at what is being checked out to see what is popular. To track the effectiveness of the library’s emails, I would write the number of current holds there are on titles we’re going to recommend before sending out the email. A week after the email is sent out, I would check the number of holds again to see if the number of holds went up dramatically after people had a chance to read the e-newsletter (Novelist, 2020)...