One of my regular guest posters is Lila Denning, an expert presenter on library book displays. In early January she proclaimed 2025 the year we "unshelve our collections" on her Passively Recommending Books Blog.
While we all re-evaluate what will be different in 2025, I want to encourage you to unshelve your collection more this year. I've chosen that well-used library phrase to describe taking books out of the stacks and moving them around your building to show off what treasures are in your stacks.
You can keep reading that post here.
While Denning plans to post on this topic all year (you can pull up all if her "unshelve" posts here), after I read it, I asked her to expand upon this introduction for my readers. The simplicity of the idea and the fun word play makes this an easy to promote strategy.
And so, here is Unshelve Your Collections by Lila Denning.
Shelves and shelves of book spines can create a great picture but it's not always the best way for a patron who is browsing your stacks to find their next great read. That's why this year I am encouraging everyone to unshelve their collections. All this means to find as many ways as possible to get your collection away from being lost in your stacks and out where it can be discovered by someone.
There are simple ways to accomplish this. The easiest is to purchase some easels and put one book face out on every shelf. You will be amazed at what will be checked out simply because you put it face out on a shelf. This also is easy for any library worker to help keep filled; all that has to be done is pick a book from that shelf and place it on an empty easel. There is a sort of serendipity to this as everyone in your building will likely pick a different book so what’s faced out will constantly change.
Book displays are another way to unshelve your collection by curating a small collection of materials on a theme and grouping them together. I cover basics and try to provide ideas on my blog and in my presentations for library workers. The magic behind book displays is that when the covers are faced out, they will always catch someone’s eye. Mix up fiction and non-fiction. Move materials to a part of your building that is far from where the rest of the collection is located. Add audiovisual materials to a display with books. Keep the signage and decorations simple. The focus should be on the covers.
Your eBooks and eAudiobooks are a treasure that not everyone in your community knows about. You can unshelve them by setting up a book display with covers from the titles included in your digital collection. Add QR codes to the website and information about how to sign up for the service. You can mix the face outs on your shelves by adding signage on some shelves with suggestions for titles in your eBook collection.
Whatever social media accounts your library uses can also help you unshelve your collection. One idea I have suggested is a “Five for Friday” series. Just pick five titles on a theme and take a picture. You can put them on a cart, table, or have a staff member hold them. A schedule can be set up and anyone who works in your library can have a chance to pick a theme and their five items. Add a short paragraph explaining the titles and provide information about how to put them on request. If staff are comfortable, you can have a short video where the staff member explains their choices.
If a topic pops up in the news, use that as a reason to add a post with some titles that might be of interest to someone who wants more information. Find a theme similar to what you would use for a book display and create a grouping of covers for your social media. If someone has the interest and skills, you can create clever graphic or just use a series of book cover images.
Don’t limit your unshelving efforts to your building. Partner with local businesses and get small posters and fliers out into your community that include titles and covers from your collection. You can use local celebrations and events for inspiration. Create bookmarks with covers that can be given away. Make some themed posters and book marks with coffee related titles for a cafe or pizza related titles for a pizza shop. There are pet speciality stores that are popping up. There are many pet related titles in our collections. Remind the people in your community who don’t regularly come into your building how amazing your library is.
These are but a few examples of unshelving your collections to get you started thinking about the concept. For the rest of 2025 I am going to try to discuss many ways of unshelving your collection that can be used by libraries regardless of size or budget. Reach out to me if you have ideas that your library has used to show off the titles in your collection. I would love to share them! Let’s use this year to help readers discover what treasures are waiting for them on our shelves.
Click here to join Lila in her "Unshelve Your Collections" year of posts. Let her help you get your ideas to get started and then reach out to her (as she mentions above) if you have idea that worked for you so she can share them with others.
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