Librarians' Best Book Picks

I talk about "best" lists all of the time here on the blog with the goal of getting you to expand your idea of what a "best" list is. You can click here to read more from me on that topic. But the basic gist is that anything that anyone puts on a "best" list now, or especially, as far back as 2-5 years ago, can be put out on display as "best" books.

Patrons love these displays. They don't care who deemed the book "best" or even when it was go en that title, what they care about is that someone else said that this book was worth their time. If they haven't read it yet, it is new to them.

I also am a huge fan of staff recommendation displays as a type of local "best" lists, especially ones that include all voices from all levels of staff. And, if you have multiple branches, I love putting the books from people on those shelves in a building different form the one they work in. This reminds your patrons [passively], who already think of you as 1 library, that you are all there to help them wherever they go.

[For more from me on how to get all staff to participate in staff rec displays without too much effort, click here.]

So over the weekend, I found a great resource to spice up both your "best" books displays and staff recommendation shelves and it is from my friend Daryl from LAPL. It's Celadon Book's ongoing series "Check It Out: Librarians' Best Books Picks." From their site:

When you need a book recommendation, go to the experts. Celadon asks the nation’s best librarians about current book trends and what to check out.

Daryl is the latest librarian they have interviewed, here. But you can see all of the interviews with this link.

What I love about these interviews is that they are from librarians all across the country. They each have different personal reading tastes, but they also talk about trends they are seeing where they live and work.

Not only are these interviews a great resources for "best" titles from across the library landscape [in fact, you can title your display something like that, or add these titles to your staff rec shelf in a small subsection titled " library workers near and far."] but they are also a great way to see what is going on outside of your community. Maybe you will get an idea about some new books to buy or new displays to try. from other librarians who have had success them already. If it is popular in Kansas, maybe it will work where you are, for example.

There is a lot you can more your use and learn from these interviews, but the best part is, they are just fun to read. I love reading about books by other dedicated readers. I love to see what they are passionate about. It is a great way to energize yourself at the start of what for many will be a long week of summer reading signups.

And one final note, if you want to read some great interviews with the top speculative fiction authors, check out the LAPL blog where Daryl has conducted many and they are great.