Halfway to Halloween: I'm Making it a Thing

For the third year in a row I am trying to make Halfway to Halloween a "holiday," at least a holiday for library people to celebrate. And the centerpiece of my celebration is my annual April take over of Neal Wyatt's Readers' Shelf Column in Library Journal.  Here is the link to this year's list. The topic is hot upcoming horror titles.

I am only half joking about Halfway to Horror too. It really should be a library thing. Why? Well, April is the perfect time to do your major Horror collection development for a few key reasons:

• April is when the Bram Stoker Awards are announced. You always want to check the nominee and winner list each year for all major genre awards, so why not check it when it comes out? I advocate doing your Graphic Novel collection development in July for the same reason [Comic Con and Eisner Awards]
• Horror is unique because, while it is popular all year long, there is definitely an influx of interest and an increase in checkouts from late September through early November. Assessing the state of your current horror offerings, ordering replacements, weeding, and adding new books takes time.  Starting 6 months before gives you the time to accurately address your collection.
• Working on your horror collection now, also serves as your prep for the Halloween rush. While you are "celebrating" halfway to Halloween by working on your collection and browsing the resources, you can take notes, gather titles for future displays, and make lists for the Fall. September is always a busy month at the library and waiting until then to plan for the Halloween onslaught is too late. You will be too busy. You will not put your best horror foot forward and you will lose a great opportunity to serve your patrons. Halloween is easy people. We know patrons are thinking about trying a horror book. Put up a few displays and make a few lists and you look like a RA superstar. Don't miss out.

This year in particular April is an especially good time to work on your horror collections because I just wrote a brand new "Trends in Horror" article for NoveList [up on site soon]. I will also be one of the presenters at this event:

Five Things to Know in Top GenresDate: Tuesday, April 26th at 2 p.m. CSTLocation: RAILS Burr Ridge, 125 Tower Dr, Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Panelists: TBA.Description: Based on the popular “Top Five” programs at recent PLA conferences, this program offers a quick rundown of the top things to know in some of the most popular genres, including each genre’s top five authors, trends, and benchmark books. 
Sponsored by: NoveList

I will be presenting on Horror-- of course, but I will also be doing a general talk on "Staying in Genre Shape" using NoveList products. They are a sponsor of the event with Booklist. This event will be video taped and available for free to everyone. I will also post all of the handouts on the blogs for everyone.

So right now, start celebrating Halfway to Halloween  with my Library Journal column. And spread the word about this library holiday. Heck, put up a display and get your patron's in on the fun too. Then join me for the Booklist/NoveList event to learn the current state of horror. Heck, I'm doing all the work for you. What do you have to lose?