BPL Display: Patrons' Picks

To go with our Holiday themed display here at the Berwyn Public Library, we solicited patrons to fill out forms recommending books to other patrons. We used their picks and comments to create a display and this accompanying list:

Win (Library) Friends and Influence People - Patron Recommendations.

This display has generated interest because patrons are interested in what their fellow library users have read and enjoyed. If you want to try this idea at your library, make sure you actively solicit the filling out of the (short) forms, and begin gathering the information at least 2 months in advance if you want to have enough book suggestions to fill up the shelves and enough usable comments to make an annotated list. I cannot stress active solicitation enough. We sent a form home with literally every single person we helped over those 7 or 8 weeks.

Even if you do not use this idea at your own library, try to make it your work related New Year's Resolution to include your patrons more in 2009. To encourage you further, I will also try to focus on providing more specific customer focused library tips and ideas throughout 2009.