Another Great Summer Reading Program Idea That You Need to Save and Use Anytime of Year via LitHub

This year I have been posting about non library summer reading programs for adults for a variety of reasons. 

First, I know your summer reading programs are already in full swing, but while something is happening it is actually the best time to gather information and learn from others doing the same thing.

Second, many of you still do not have adult reading programs even though you should. I wrote about this at length a few weeks ago here. Please go back and read that. The important parts are bolded. The fact that non-library places are doing them, spending money to create them, giving prizes....all of this should make you both realize it is something you should be doing and also, it should make you mad that they are filling a hole you could have filled much more easily. We are losing readers to places like the NYT and LitHub

Third, these non-library summer reading programs are the right kind of gate opening programs. Why does that matter? Well our summer reading programs, in fact most of what we do for adults, has way too many rules and barriers. Why does a grown ass person have to follow themes and/or number of minutes reading in order to participate in the joy of summer reading? Why do we gate keep reading for adults? Their lives are busy enough and just the fact that they want to use a summer reading program as a reason to read more should be enough. 

I need to say this to all of you-- just because your library uses a theme for summer reading and just because the kid's program has a bunch of rules does not mean you have to do the exact same thing. Too many rules and too many restrictions will drive your patrons away. And, mostly importantly, YOU WILL NOT GO TO LIBRARY JAIL IF YOU ALLOW ADULTS TO READS WHAT THEY WANT. 

In fact, just the opposite, if you increase circulation, participation, and door count of adults during the summer, you will be celebrated and praised for it. 

Now, if your library requires you use the theme, that's fine. Mine did back in the day. So you know what I did? I used the branded material and then told my adults, here is the theme; here is a list of titles you can read it you want to fit the theme; but also, just log the books your read whatever they were. They all count. 

The adult summer reading programs I am reposting here, from these non library spaces, understand all of this better than most of you. Again, I wrote about the NYT summer reading program here. Today I want to point you to an even better program, one that you can insert into your current summer reading programs seamlessly, right now. It is from LitHub. Here is their summer reading program with challenges we can use anytime.

Talk about gate opening. These are lists of 10 books that come out every 2 weeks, and they suggest you pick just one to read in that time frame. The themes they have created are very flexible and fun:

• Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages
• The Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 pages
• The 60 Best Campus Novels from the Last 100 Years
• The Greatest Coming of Age Novels
• The Greatest Summer Novels of All Time
• The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Over 500 pages

They even created this FREE graphic for people to fill out as they completed the challenges.

This is such a great idea for libraries to use all year long. It reminds me of my conversation starter to display concept; in fact I am adding this post to the handout for that. You could use this idea to create monthly mini displays ALL YEAR LONG. 

How would you doing this? Easy. Use the categories from this LitHub Summer Reading Program and/or the ones from the NYT Summer Reading Challenge and/or any conversation starter to display questions I have posted before.

Pick 12 themes. One for each month of the year. Make a sign with the title of the conversation starter. For example, "Best Books Under 200 Pages." And then do a small display of titles near it. Have your staff help seed the display at first, but then go here to learn how I suggest you poll all patrons to help build the list to keep it going. The questions here is "What are your favorite books under 200 pages?" These displays and the chance to allow patrons to add to the lists of titles needs to be in the building and online.

The great thing about these mini-displays with conversation starter questions is that they are evergreen. You can use them all year long or tie them to the season or indentity month. The titles you gather this year, can be entered into a document, and used the next time you do that display to get it all started. 

Start at any time. Ask staff from across the entire library, or if your library is small, from across your system to help build the lists. 

Now, I know many of you will still be making excuses are to why you cannot do this.

No space? Well it can be as small as a sign on your desk with a vertical stack of 3-5 books. As they go, you add more books.

No time? I have given you a link to enough questions to use all year long.

Don't want to do the polling patrons part for (insert reason here), just do the mini displays themselves each month. Having a rotating small themed display is a great reason for people to come back and try another book. You are giving them the prompt and they can choose a book you have picked or think up their won answer to the question to find something to read they would not have thought about without your help.

To help keep this idea going, I am going to commit to being a resource to help all of you. Every month, on the 1st of the month, (or the week day closest to it),I will post a theme you can use as well as a list of ten titles to make your display. I will also post resources for more crowdsourced titles. This way you have no excuse NOT to do at least the mini display. I will remind you to change it and give you plenty of titles to get it started.

As you get more comfortable doing these mini displays on a monthly basis, I will challenge you to grow the program, get your staff and patrons involved, and more. Let's get better at serving our adult readers together. I know it is hard to get a new habit started. We are all very busy, but I am committed to being there to help you give it a try.

The NYT Gamifies Summer Reading (Gift Link)

I know many of us have worked to gamify our summer reading for many years now. As we have learned, adults love checking off boxes or completing BINGO cards for prizes as much (maybe more) than kids do.

Reading challenges are around all year long, but many people are intimidated by joining the ones that start in January. A year of reading seems like a big commitment to people who haven't read more than a book or two for fun in years. However, when you take the same idea of a challenge and market it as "Summer Reading," many people jump at the chance to give it a try.

Summer is three months. Summer gives people time to be outside and relax-- even if just on a few weekends. Summer holds fun memories of childhood summer reading.

Last week, the New York Times Book Review launched their "Summer Reading Bucket List" (gift link here). They have ten items that are very general and easy to complete. And there is even a box to check for reading a book from the library (with bonus points if you talked to the library worker to get the suggestion).

What I love about this summer reading game is that it easy to complete. They are only challenging you to get to 5 of the 10 options before Fall. It gives some direction, but not too much. Five books seems like a doable number for those who are not regular readers. Pretty much any book is an option. Literally. And they have a way for you to turn in your sheet and be eligible for a prize.

The New York Times has prioritized gathering data from actual readers for a while now. All of those checklists for their "best books" to have people mark if they read a book or want to read a book, etc... This is a grab for user data that I can get behind because they are using it to actively craft their book coverage, to make sure they are covering the books that people actually want to read, not just what the snotty literati think we should read.

This is a huge shift in the NYT Book Review over the last few years and I am here for it. We are in a landscape where most papers have dropped their books coverage, but the NYT is trying to fill that gap. Yes they provide reviews and commentary about the most important literary titles, but as I have been covering here as well, they are also making an effort to cover genre and even backlist titles. They want to help you-- all of you, any kind of reader-- find a book that you will love and get you back into reading. 

And bonus because they always support libraries. Yes they added us to their list, but it is more than that. See this post I had last week (with a gift link) for another example.

But here is another important point I want to make today, many libraries still do not offer a summer reading challenge or program for adults. I don't understand it myself. I made sure my library always had summer reading for adults to match the ones we had for children (going back to 2000). They are important both because when parents read with kids, kids do better with their own reading.

But also, Adults need the chance to have fun reading a book, to complete their checklist, and earn a prize. Life is short, things are awful, why are we not offering adults books with a side of joy.

Don't we want our adults coming back to the library again? Don't we want the people who pay the taxes to fund us and come to the polls or board meetings for us when we need their support to feel like we care about them too? Why do we ignore the recreational needs of our adults? 

So I am sharing this to help all of you who do NOT have a summer reading program already. Go here and use the NYT Summer Reading Bucket List to make your own to hand out for adults. Summer reading starts this weekend at most libraries. They have all been working on it for months, but you...the library that isn't offering an adult program....you can still do something right now.

And for those of you who already have a summer reading program, this is a great resource to enhance what you are already offering. Maybe you don't have a BINGO card yet? Maybe you have a full program with your themes and lists all set up, but you know that it will be too restrictive for some readers. Here you go. 

[Side note, I hate putting restrictions on reading for adults and making them follow our themes. Themes are great to guide those who want to follow, but it should not restrict if people can participate-- adults or kids. We want them to read. We don't want to create more obstacles to stop that. We need to stop being Gate Keepers and start being Gate Openers. Click on this link for more about that.)

And for those of you who are all set and have the perfect, flexible summer reading program set to start for adults in a few days, great, but you can still save this link and use it for Fall Reading or Winter Reading or even next year's planning. It is NOT tied to a specific year or trend or even season. Just change the one that is season specific to whatever season you use this in.

I have posted the graphic from the article below in case you want to just print it out and hand it off to people. If you do this and you have NYT access for your patrons, this bucket list can serve to also advertise your NYT access. I talk to people all the time who have no idea that most of the major newspapers are available at the library, from home even with your card. Make the list available in print and online with a note to remind people of their access available with their library card.

This post is here to get you to think about all the ways you can use this ready made summer reading resource to help your readers have a fun summer-- whether you have it all planned and ready to roll out this weekend or not. 

How will you use this list with your readers? If you have summer reading plans you want me to share with my readers, contact me and we can see about a guest post here on the blog.

Nonfiction Books About Books Need to be Near Your Fiction Sections NOT Buried in the 800s

Okay real talk time today, quite possibly escalating to rant territory.

We have a wealth of amazing books about books and/or nonfiction books geared toward fiction readers in the library. We buy these because we have vibrant fiction collections and amazing readers who use our collections.

BUT...

(you kew there would be a but)

BUT, we hide those books that our fiction readers would LOVE in the 800s of our nonfiction sections. WHY?

Okay I know why. It is the same reason we insist on shelving our series fiction in alphabetical order even though no one in the history of the world has ever read a series in alpha order (click here for that rant).

Because our library cataloguing rules tell us we have to. But do we really HAVE to? NO. There is no library jail. People always laugh when I say this and yet, I keep having to say it. Stop giving in to rules created by old white men, 2 centuries ago. There are literally no negative consequences toward putting your readers first, only great consequences.

We can make our own decisions about where we shelve things in our own local libraries. We should be using cataloging rules as a starting point not the law. How our patrons use our collections should guide our shelving. And this should always come before whatever "rules" we think we need to follow.

Our goal is to be gate openers. To make our collections as easy to use for our patrons as possible. In fact, quite the opposite, we should be making it as easy as possible to get as many books in front of the best readers for said books. We should NOT be setting up more roadblocks. We already have too many.

(I have started a new tag this summer "gate opener" to consolidate all of the posts I will be writing on this topic.)

I have worked in public libraries too long however, and I know that while I always put service to my patrons above all else, that is not only NOT the norm, but also, many library workers actively work against access. So here is the financial argument because this one will get the higher ups to listen. When more of our collection is checked out, the better return on investment we are giving our community. We bought the books and they pay for themselves when they are in the hands of readers.

Our goal should be to have every item checked out all at once. Your job is not done until that happens. And, it is never going to happen, but it should still be the goal you are aiming for. It should be your guiding vision. I can help you start moving in that direction.

Back to today's example. This one is an easy fix. Books about books and/or nonfiction clearly written for fiction readers needs to be moved out of the 800s and put right near the fiction. Take 2 books coming out this fall. This one by Sadie Hartmann and this one by me. Both have received stars in Booklist, both are written specifically for fans of horror fiction. But who is going to find them tucked into the 800s? Not the vast majority readers who would love them.

We have spent tax payer dollars on many excellent nonfiction books that our fiction readers would love if only they knew they existed. If we move them closer to the fiction, more people will find them, check them out, and enjoy them enough to look for more.

How do we fix it? Easy. We make room at the end of fiction or on a permanent display for these books. 

Don't have room? Weed. I am sure you have a ton of books by mediocre white dudes that should have been weeded a while ago. Books no one is reading. Series you think you have to have. Take someone like Stuart Woods. Do you need every single one of his books still? Probably not. Get rid of all but the last couple. No one new is "finding" that series for the first time. And if they are, they can ILL the early books.

You are not a repository of every fiction book. You are the home to a popular circulating collection. Stuart Woods is not part of that calculus. And he is but one of MANY examples.

Okay but then how do we catalog these books now? Easy. Come up with a special designation/collection called "Nonfiction for Fiction Readers." Then make your call number NFR 800 SPR (for my book-- also I know there would be decimals).

We do this at the school library. We have made an Easy Reader nonfiction section for grades 1-3. They are cataloged with an ER before the Dewy and have a strip of blue tape to be identified easily. They are shelved in a different place from regular nonfiction. It creates a browsable collection for the littles of only books they would like. And it is shelved at a lower height as well. Shelvers know that if it says ER and/or has blue tape, it goes somewhere else. And guess what? the ER NF section I among the most popular collections in the entire library. It is not a coincidence that the increase in circulation coincided with the decision to put the intended readers first.

IT IS NOT THAT HARD. 

But more importantly, it doesn't just make is easier for the readers to find the books they would most enjoy, it shows them we care about them. That we want them to find books they will like with less effort. That we are putting their needs first (and not putting our stupid rules that make no sense to most of our patrons first.) 

Even if this idea gives your tech services staff hives, you need to hold your ground. From a service standpoint, you will have more satisfied patrons if they can discover new reads more easily, books they would love if only they knew about them. You prove your worth by directing to them to things they would not find without your help. And of course, it is a better return on the investment you make in those books because they will be checked out more.

I hope this post inspires you to think about being a gate opener always and give it a try with this easy option-- nonfiction books geared toward a fiction reading audience. 

Be a Gate Opener: Using the The Library of Congress' National Book Festival Highlights Videos To Fight for More Patron Friendly Cataloging

The Library of Congress has been holding the National Book Festival for 25 years and they are celebrating with resources for you. Well to be fair, they always have resources for free because there are our National Book Festival and like our National Museums in DC, it is free.

This year's event is coming in September and on the LOC Blog, they started their promotion by releasing videos from EVERY YEAR in the past.

Here is the intro from that post:

The Library of Congress National Book Festival will celebrate its 25th year on September 6, 2025. For this year’s festival information, visit the 2025 National Book Festival website.

To honor the occasion, we are taking the 24 weeks leading up to this year’s festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to highlight two videos each week from past National Book Festivals, from the festival’s first year in 2001 to 2024. Each week, we’ll highlight a past festival year with a video from an adult writer and one from a children’s writer. We hope you enjoy scrolling through the past with us! Check out videos from the first 2001 festival here.

The videos they are sharing in this post are from George RR Martin and Meg Cabot.

We are always looking for author content to share with our patrons. Ways for them to connect with their favorites. Well, this is a great easy and FREE way to do that. Add these videos to your websites and socials. But today I want to focus on an even better spot to link these videos of conversations with some of our most popular authors-- YOUR CATALOG.

We do not leverage the power of the link in our catalogs. I know there is resistance in some larger systems, but this resistance has NO MERIT. Yes, even when the department in charge gives you a very good reason, I am telling you--- THEY ARE WRONG.

The number of times I have been told by those above me, especially in tech services, that something I want to do that helps my readers, that puts them first, well, it's a lot. I have said more times that one on this blog and to people in person-- the library rules you claim are intractable are not. They are arbitrary rules that we have made about how books are organized. They are not a law and changing them-- even in large shared systems -- will not take the entire library cataloging system down. And most importantly, there is no library jail. 

Many of our rules also work against our readers and their library experience. Many of our rules are actually meant to keep books on the shelf rather than get them into the hand of our readers. And the fact that people get so mad when you demand they allow you to add things that engage readers and connect them to your collections to your catalog, shows their true colors. They would rather everything be neatly organized on the shelf than in the hands of a reader.

Let's take an example from the real world. I started talking about shelving books in series order NOT alpha order back in 2018. As I argued then, no one reads a series in alpha order, so why do we insist on shelving them that way. (I know why but again, it is a dumb librarian preference and is the opposite of getting books into readers hands more easily).

At the time, very few libraries did this and MANY people told me to be quiet and stop instigating, that it could not be done. Well, guess what? It could. And these days MANY libraries shelve their books in series order. What did it take? It was not some huge software upgrade. It was simply those of us serving readers working with our catalogers to improve discovery and come up with a solution.

Never take NO for an answer when your goal is to put the reader and their experiences first.

So, the people who tell you that you cannot add local information to your OPACs are also wrong. I have talked to people at a few large consortia and while they agreed that the first instinct is to say no, they are 100% ways to add reader focused info like links to author interviews or to locally made readalike lists and more.

Ask why they are saying no. Is it because you will ruin the record or make it messy? That reason is not valid. Fields can be created in all OPACs for links to be added. Is it because they don't want to go back and worry about fixing dead links? Again, not valid. Records need to one edited all of the time. Arguing to not use the technological advantages of an OPAC to engage with your readers because some time in the future the link will be bad is not valid. Here is your counter-- that is like saying we should not add any new books because one day they will be weeded.

Yes it is that simple. 

I am using this post today as the start of a new series I am calling "Be a Gate Opener." I will have a longer post describing what I mean by the term "Gate Opener" soon, but today I am beginning the conversation with you so that you can start the conversation at your library. The ultimate goal is to create a new program on this topic as well. But baby steps. Start with these excellent, free videos that we, as citizens of this country, own so they can be shared without copyright worries.

Click here for more information any time of the year via the homepage for the National Book Festival. But use this as a great chance to fight for adding more discovery power to your OPAC.