PW Holiday Gift Guide 2016 and Why Gift Guides in General Make For Great Suggestions

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While I have been busy prepping for Halloween, the very first end of the year “best” lists came out on September 30th in the form of Publisher Weekly’s Holiday Gift Guide.

I love two things about this list. First, the range of categories. From the site:

Holiday Gift Guide 2016: FictionHoliday Gift Guide 2016: NonfictionHoliday Gift Guide 2016: Illustrated Gift BooksHoliday Gift Guide 2016: Adult Coloring Books as GiftsHoliday Gift Guide 2016: Don’t Forget the Kids!Holiday Gift Guide 2016: Bestsellers & BlockbustersHoliday Gift Guide 2016: What to Buy for the TV BuffHoliday Gift Guide 2016: Bookseller PicksHoliday Gift Guide 2016: Bring on the CheerHoliday Gift Guide 2016: ’Tis the Season for Devotionals

As advertised by PW, there is something for everyone here, but not just to buy as gifts, there are some gems to recommend to your patrons right now. I particularly like the “Bookseller Picks” which are some more under the radar titles sure to please a wide audience.  Use this list as both a tool to suggest titles AND for collection development. If the titles is good enough to be in this PW Guide than it is at least worth consideration for your shelves.

Second, you know what this year’s Holiday Gift Guide being published means? If you have read this blog for more than five seconds you should know....

It means there are Gift Guides from past years to sort through! Ahhh, the backlist. The library worker's BFF. As I mention in this popular post, you can use any year’s best list to help readers find a good read [click through for details].

Surprisingly, because they normally do such a good job at PW, I was having trouble finding their past year’s Guides. But, I learned from what I wrote above and realized that Holiday Gift Guides may be a better resource than traditional “best” lists precisely because they are the best choices for the widest range of readers. Their sure bet status makes them easier to use to identify suggestions for readers.

So don’t only look at this year’s, brand new, PW Gift Guide, but use this link to a Google search to bring up past year’s Gift Guides. Add a year to the search string if you want more specific results from say last year, 2015. But don’t be afraid to go back more years, like these great lists from 2010.

Oh, that last link had so many great suggestions. I got distracted. I need to stop looking at them all and publish this post.

Start using the "Gift Guide” as a resource all year long [not just for the Holidays] from some great, crowd pleasers. Your patrons will think you are a superhero and you will feel reinvigorated by a new crop of fresh reading suggestions. Everyone wins!