Bookstore Romance Day is Coming (8/15) and Libraries Need to Be Ready

Bookstore Romance Day is August 15th and Libraries not only need to be ready to help promote Romance over the next few weeks, but you should also be reaching out to your local bookstores (whether they are Romance specific or general because all bookstore have Romance) to see if you can help them out with promotion or even partner with them for events.

Click here for more information about Bookstore Romance Day.

They are hosting virtual panels and even have access to past panels. You should be sharing their links on your socials and websites from 8/1 through 8/15 for sure.

At the very least all of you need to be aware that the Bookstore Romance people are doing a big media blitz on and around this date, so that means, you should be brushing up on your Romance RA and putting up displays. People will be hearing about Romance more, even those who don't normally read it. If people walk into the library and see Romance on display, they will think you are reading their minds. And that is when we are really winning.

Libraries are not the only ones getting ready for Bookstore Romance  Day. In preparation for Bookstore Romance Day, PW had this article about how Romance Book Stores are surging across American right now. And Jessica Pryde, librarian and author of Black Love Matters, had this great Brief History of Black Romance in the 2020s in Book Riot.

Speaking of Book Riot, they always cover Romance-- all year long. You can go directly to that section of the site with this link. They do a great job of covering whatever the latest trend is and offer reading lists for you to have titles ready for your patrons ASAP.

And of course for all your general RA Romance needs, keep Smart Bitches, Trashy Books bookmarked and ready, especially their book finder. 

Finally, here is the direct link to the Reddit Romance Books landing page. Real readers talking about the books they love and suggesting more. This is particularly helpful when a trends seems to pop up out of nowhere. By the time you hear about it, I can assure you, the r/RomanceBooks people are already on the case.

Reminder, every single one of the resources I am suggesting are guaranteed to be 100% human created. Do not just google romance lists and think what you find is okay, even if made by a library. The worst thing you can do as a library worker here is offer up a list that AI made that includes titles that do not exist. 

2026 Horror Books Preview Part 2 with Backlist Access and a Chance to See me and John Langan Live in NH later This Month

July always marks the beginning of spooky season for me because this is the month when I switch into overtime. Why so early?

Well, as you will see next week, because my reviews for upcoming horror need to be to Booklist 2 months before they run in the print combined with the fact that September and October have the most horror titles, all of this means July is when many of those reviews start appearing. So many that I will have 2 posts highlighting my 7 horror reviews in the July 2026 issue of Library Journal.

July is also the month when Library Journal runs the Horror Genre Preview article I write for them every year. Again, I will be posting that and writing more about it next week as well.

And there is one more thing that comes out around this time, part two of the preview podcasts I do with Robb Olson and Emily Hughes on Robb's ARC Party podcasts. So now you can see why my Spooky Season begin July 1. 

At the end of June,  I made what has become an 2x a year appearance on ARC Party with Robb Olson and Emily Hughes. This time we did the July-December 2026 Horror Preview. You can watch and/or listen here. That link incudes time stamps to each book if you want to skip around.

We have been doing these in December and June every year since December 2024, previewing the entire year in 2 epic podcasts where we each highlight 2 books per month for 6 months.

Robb made this amazing playlist of all 6 existing podcasts so you can pursue them all. And without my prompting Robb did this and said it is because these books don't have a shelf life, you can read them anytime. 

My backlist promoting librarian heart was filled with joy when he made this comment. He is 100% correct. And if you pair our previews with Emily Hughes' much more comprehensive lists, you get a very full picture of the horror genre over the last 6 years.

Emily's lists are always accessible-- current and backlist going back to 2020-- here. From that link you can break things down by year and even month.

Emily's lists should be your first stop for all of your horror collection development needs. What you should order ahead of time. What you missed that you can go back and add. There is even some readalike information in there with titles including annotations and comps. 

We love bringing you this episode 2x a year. It is a good amount of work but we all know it is worth it. It highlights Emily's work while also shining a spotlight on the horror genre specifically. 

Take a peek at the list for 2026 and give our most current podcast a listen or visit the playlist of all 6 episodes and use it all to help you plan to help your horror readers anytime of year. You can also watch on the embedded video below.

In the episode I mention an event at Gibson's Books in Concord, NH on July 31st with me and John Langan. Click here for all of the details and to register yourself. I hope to see some of you there

That's all for this week, shortened at its start by ALA and at its end by the 4th of July holiday, but I am back on a regular schedule for the first time in a month next week with no plans to be off from blogging until the end of August.

Books in the Freezer Summer Scares Episode with Konrad Stump and Jennifer McMahon (Plus a Booklist Webinar Reminder)

Books in the Freezer is the official podcast partner of Summer Scares. This past week,   the host, Stephanie, had Konrad Stump, my Summer Scares and HWA Libraries Committee Co-Chair, and Jennifer McMahon, our 2026 Spokesperson, on to talk about the program in general and this year's titles in particular.

You can listen and get access to the show notes here. Or wherever you listen to podcasts. I have also added a direct link to the Summer Scares Resource Page.

You can also use this link to go back and listen to the Books in the Freezer Podcasts Stephanie has centered around Summer Scares from previous years as well. 

And since you are here, reading this post about Summer Scares resources, I wanted to also remind you that our series of FREE webinars centered around each age level of Summer Scares begin today!

• Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Middle-Grade authors and moderated by Julia Smith. Click here to register.
• Monday, March 23, 2026, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Young Adult authors and moderated by Kelly Jensen. Click here to register.
• Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Adult authors and moderated by Jennifer McMahon. Click here to register.

And if you cannot make it, do not worry. Recordings will be available for on demand viewing after the live events at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars-archive.

I will be in the background of each webinar to answer any questions you have about the program as well.

We are all in the thick of Summer Reading planning and Summer Scares is here to help make it easy for you to incorporate Horror into those plans. And remember, if you are using iREAD, we have 1 book per age level that is directly connected to their 2026 theme-- Plant a Seed, Read.

Reach out to libraries at horror dot org with questions of if you want help connecting our Summer Scares authors with your libraries.

Annual Circulating Ideas Podcast with the ALA Presdential Candidates

ALA Election ballots went out this morning and Steve Thomas has his annual podcast interviewing the ALA President candidates on Circulation Ideas.

This is a must listen podcast for all library workers whether you are an ALA member or not. Why? Because you need to know what the biggest issues are for our profession. And Steve makes it very easy.

Click here to listen or visit the page which I have posted below.

Thank you to Steve for doing all of the work to provide this valuable resource to our community, each and every year.

307: ALA Presidential Candidates (2026)

~ CIRCIDEAS

Steve chats with Tamika Barnes and Becky Calzada, this year’s candidates for President of the American Library Association. Tamika Barnes is Associate Dean for Perimeter Library Services at Georgia State University, and the current President of the Georgia Library Association, and Becky is the District Library Coordinator for the Leander Independent School District, TX. They discuss their backgrounds in librarianship, what motivated them to run for president, their approaches to ALA’s key challenges including financial transparency, member engagement across all library types, and advocacy during a time of increasing censorship battles, and their aligned values around member-centered leadership.

Read the transcript!

Click here to listen

Tamika Barnes is the Associate Dean for Perimeter Library Services at Georgia State University, where she provides strategic leadership for libraries across five campuses in the metro Atlanta area serving students in more than 30 associate-degree pathways. A nationally recognized leader in the library profession, Tamika has served on the American Library Association Executive Board, recently chaired ALA’s Budget and Review Committee, and will serve as President of the Georgia Library Association in 2026. Her leadership has been recognized through numerous honors, including UCLA Library Senior Fellows, the Bob Richardson Award, and multiple national diversity and advocacy awards. She is also an educator, currently serving as an adjunct faculty member with Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and previously teaching at North Carolina Central University, UNC Chapel Hill, and UNC Greensboro. Across all roles, Tamika is committed to advancing advocacy, equity, professional development, and strong, transparent library leadership.

Becky Calzada is a District Library Coordinator in Leander, Texas and a co-founding member of Texas #FReadom Fighters, a grass-roots led group of librarians launched back in October 2021. She is the Immediate Past President for the American Association of School Librarians President, has served on the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee, and is actively engaged in supporting intellectual freedom advocacy both in her state and nationally. She is the recipient of several intellectual freedom awards and is the co-author of Prepared Libraries, Empowered Teams: A Workbook for Navigating Intellectual Freedom Challenges Together published in June 2024. She is featured in The Librarians documentary, a film which spotlights brave school librarians who are on the front lines in the fight against censorship.

SHOW NOTES:

Tamika Barnes campaign site
Becky Calzada campaign site

Click here to go to the Circulating Ideas landing page for this episode.

Circulating Ideas Podcast: Passive Readers’ Advisory, with Lila Denning

I am on an airplane this morning en route to my book event event in MA, but I wanted to alert you all the Steve Thomas' excellent podcast Circulating Ideas, specifically his most recent episode. Click here or see below. 

306: Passive Readers’ Advisory, with Lila Denning

Steve chats with collection development librarian Lila Denning about passive readers’ advisory, practical tips for creating effective book displays, making displayed accessible and inclusive, partnering with local businesses to promote library services and collections, and how the horror genre helps readers understand different perspectives and emotions.

Read the transcript!

Lila Denning is a librarian in Florida specializing in Passive Readers’ Advisory for patrons of all ages. She is the Acquisitions Coordinator for the St Petersburg Library System and has worked in circulation, collection development, reference, and youth services. She serves the volunteer coordinator for the Horror Writers Association. You can find her  on BlueSky @Vantine.bsky.social. On her blog, bookdisplays.blogspot.com, she talks about ideas for book displays and other forms of Passive Readers Advisory and how to best use it to serve your patrons.

SHOW NOTES:

Passively Recommending Books

While this episode gives you an introduction to Lila's work and provides the link to her blog, I want to direct you specifically to this post where Lila introduces who she is and how she can help you and your staff. 

I will end with Lila's own words from here:

Let Me Help You Unshelve Your Collection This Year!

A short introduction to me and what I try to do here. I have worked for my library system for 18 years as of this year. My time here has taken me from a branch library to reference to circulation and then to acquisitions. I updated our website, was an administrator for our ILS, and created and ran reports. As far as programming is concerned, I have created and ran programs for infants through older people. 

Basically, except for administration, I have done it in a public library. 

Before libraries, I earned a masters degree in religious studies with a focus on Holocaust studies and antisemitism. For a time, I was a manager at Barnes and Noble, ran a comic book store, and worked for a brokerage firm. 

I serve as Volunteer Coordinator for the Horror Writers Association and review (primarily) horror for both Booklist and Library Journal. I love promoting the books I love on my social media accounts. Spending energy putting a light on what you love is a better use of time than dragging books that didn't work for you online. I also add photos of displays I love to help give you ideas!

Now, I work to help library workers learn how to use passive readers advisory to market their collections more effectively. A well designed book display can help shine a spotlight on those titles that haven't received love from your patrons recently. Focusing on the books rather than decorations or elaborate signage, borrowing book store techniques can help your patrons find their next great read. This will likely be a book that they hadn't had on their mind when they entered your building. 

I have presented for a variety of state and national organizations including webinars for PCI. These topics include:

*Book Display Basics for Every Library Worker

*Book Displays That Do More - Interactive Book Displays with Passive Programming 

*Engaging Patrons With Better Book Displays

*Inclusive Readers Advisory for Any Library Worker

*An Introduction to Passive Readers Advisory

*Love Is In the Air : Marketing Your Romance Collection Using Passive Readers Advisor

*Marketing Your Collection, Services, and Programs with Better Book Displays

*Not Just In October: Marketing Your Horror and Dark Literature Collection with Passive Readers Advisory

* Using Book Displays and More to Market Your Winter Holiday Collection 

If you are interested in having me teach your staff my techniques for using passive readers advisory, please reach out to me - Lila.Denning (at) gmail (dot) com. 

Latest Episode of Booklist's Shelf Care The Podcast with a FREE Training Opportunity and a Survey!

I always listen to Booklist's Self Care The Podcast and I love how the entire backlist of every conversation is available with a single click, but today I want to draw all of your attention to the current episode.

To start the year, Susan Maguire not only had three conversations about reading but also, she has a brief survey for all of you to take. 

From the start page of the survey: 

Readers’ Advisory Tools Survey

The goal of this survey is to identify which tools are most useful during real-time readers’ advisory (RA) interactions with adult patrons. We’re not focusing on tools for displays, book lists, or form-based RA. Instead, we want to know what you use when a patron:

• approaches you at the desk or in the stacks
• calls the library or sends a chat request

In short, we’re interested in the tools that help you when time is of the essence—and why they’re useful to you.

Before you go any further with this post, please take a moment to take the survey. Your input will go a long way toward helping all of us help more readers. 

Susan also announced this year's FREE Readers’ Advisory: Ideas & Practice. From the registration page:

Booklist's Readers’ Advisory: Ideas & Practice series continues to mine the depths of RA, helping the library worker improve their practice and better assist patrons with their leisure reading needs. This year, Booklist is offering three stellar one-hour presentations from a few leading librarians, covering readers’ advisory for history, a deep dive into romantasy, and an exploration of the four cornerstones of reader interest. Join us on Wednesday, March 18th, beginning at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT. Registration is free!

You should sign up NOW. You can watch it all, in parts, or via a recording which will be sent yo you automatically if you register. All of it is worth your time. Click here to register.

And now, last but not least, the details of this episode of Shelf Care the Podcast.

On this episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast, host Susan Maguire speaks to Seattle Public Library Reader Services Librarian Misha Stone about nerding out about reading, reading more (or at least reading more intentionally), and the thrill of the backlist (along with Heated Rivalry, of course). Then, Booklist’s Audio Editor Heather Booth drops some brief but powerful insight into what makes an audiobook reader, and what makes them valid readers (because, yes, audiobooks count as reading), and what you can look forward to in Booklist. Finally, Booklist’s Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor Donna Seaman chats with Susan about some forthcoming books all kinds of readers can look forward to.

Here's what we talked about:

To register for Readers’ Advisory: Ideas and Practice, visit booklistonline.com/webinars 

Take our brief Readers’ Advisory survey (please and thank you!)

How to Read More in 2025 – Shelf Talk (from Seattle Public Library)

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.”
― Christopher Morley

Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid

Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee

Cat Sebastian

Pagebound

GoodReads

The Storygraph

SPL’s Your Next Five Books

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher

The Mountains We Call Home, by Kim Michele Richardson

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson

 “Reading Is a Vice,” by Adam Kirsch, published in The Atlantic on Jan. 2, 2026

Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, by Terry Tempest Williams

The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit

Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit

Figuring, by Maria Popova

Traversal, by Maria Popova

Isola, by Allegra Goodman

This Is Not about Us, by Allegra Goodman

The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978 – 2008, by Louise Erdrich

Python’s Kiss, by Louise Erdrich

Discipline, by Larissa Pham

Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy, by Larissa Pham

No Way Home, by T. C. Boyle

Five Weeks in the Country, by Francine Prose

Click here to access the podcast's landing page where you can access the current episode and ALL backlist episodes with one click.