7. Motivations to Display Bookstore Sales Libraries Community Usage increase increase Circulation increase increase Profit Funding Continued Existence of the Library! increase increase
17. Face-outs: Sarah P. Long Study Long, S. P. (1987, Fall). The effect of face-front book display in a public library. North Carolina Libraries 45 . 150-153.
18. People do judge a book by its cover, especially young adults Jones, L. A. (2007). The Great Cover-up. School Library Journal
30. E-Merchandising Social Media - monitor and promote! Starred Reviews in the Catalog Featured Booklists Sullivan, M. (2010). Merchandising your library resources. Teacher Librarian, 38 (2), 30.
Interactive bit: Go into bookstore and what do you see? Bright colors Clean, tidy piles Different levels of displays – walls, pyramids, shelves Interesting organization and dimension Face-out books Good lighting – you can read the titles Uses themes to connect displays
Interactive bit: Walk into a library and what do you see? Dimly lit Tightly packed spines facing you. No exciting and colorful covers are lost in a sea of spines The most exciting - Children’s area Why is that? Take lessons from bookstores to increase exposure and circulation
In retail, simple, numeric model: the dollars per square foot rule Nothing stays on valuable floor space unless it is paying for itself, so merchandisers must ask: Are customers buying it? If you take this approach in your library , you have to decide not only what your customers need, but also what they use. Sullivan, M. (2010). Merchandising your library resources. Teacher Librarian, 38 (2), 30.
First 20 steps in the bookstore – most important! (What libraries can learn from bookstores article)
What do you see in the first 20 feet of bookstores these days? Main thing being displayed right now – eReaders (note news about Overdrive use over the holidays - What are they using to merchandise the Nook? Height, color, signage (more on this later)
Power Aisle
Book clubs displays – “If you like,” each shelf a different book and read-a-likes, Up and Coming Authors -
Capitalizing faceouts Publishers spending time/money on cover art Companies paying to have certain places on display
Messages we send – Sex in the City at the end of the Christianity section…
Left – ours at Central (not so much choice there) Right – children’s dept. – lower level, colorful, not beat up books
Sarah P. Long conducted a study on the use of face front book display in a public library. The purpose of the study was to look at the method of face front book display to discover if these books circulated more than books displayed spine out. Tulip book – BST Spine vs. inside photo of tulips!
Jones’ study Summaries of books vs. book covers “ No way am I reading that – that book looks lame!” http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/may/07/book-cover-design?picture=362342494
Study guides – boring!
Face outs Color – even study guides have color Grabs attention
Baskets Marketing – bookstore/logos Encouraging browsing – fill up those bags!!
Sharon L. Baker studied the factors thought to cause an increase in circulation. First, placing books in a prime location increases their visibility and accessibility and makes them more likely to be noticed and ultimately chosen by browsers. Second, displays are thought to help narrow a reader’s choice by guiding him or her to a small collection of titles. Sharon Baker’s book display experiments in 3 public libraries showed that effective displays must be in high traffic areas. Books on display near the front desk circulated 300% to 1000% more frequently than books on the shelf. Books displayed at the rear of the fiction stacks circulated at best only 60% more than books on shelves. Displays on window sills and other isolated areas in the library are a waste of time.
Impulse Items Holidays – Barnes and Nobles, Jo-Ann’s
Events Monthly themes Coffee books Audio books
Book trucks Computers – books on software, how to write resumes Point of check out – small display (circulation and ref desks) Lower shelving units – put them on top! Children’s area that has Adult books as well
Orleans on left Southeast on right Fine Arts – reference desk, display in the back – draws you to the back
Large monitors, communication boards, preview materials, alert to new materials in library
What impedes the flow of your traffic? Move a table? Open spaces, encourage browsing Dark corners
What impedes the flow of your traffic? Move a table? Open spaces, encourage browsing Dark corners Avoid making it boring, hard to find, and hard to see.
Merchandising helps focus customer attention…
Where are the high traffic areas? Draw a map of your library (a la the example given earlier) – note traffic flows, good places for displays, etc.
Change to shout out answers format.
Income Taxes Books that became movies Spring Cleaning New Years Resolutions Covers with the same colors
Walk into a library and you will not experience the same merchandising ephoria. Most likely the building will be dimly lit and there will be shelves of tightly packed spines facing you. Exciting and colorful covers are lost in a sea of spines. Usually the most exciting section is the children’s area. Why is that? Toddlers and babies are not the only ones who like bright colors and shapes. We need to take lessons from bookstores on how to better merchandise books and AV materials. Better merchandising can make our job more fun and show customers that the library has more to offer than just bestsellers. Using bookstore display tactics in a library setting will not only increase exposure to the collection, but will increase circulation of its materials.
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