Abby Seymour, E.D. Locke Public Library, McFarland, WI is a member of our Wisconsin Teen Librarian Services Group. She shares her experiences with creating quick and easy teen book displays for your library.
Putting books on display is my super subtle way of screaming “PLEASE TAKE THESE BOOKS, TEENS!” Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t have a lot of display space in my teen section (just one shelving unit and one small table) so I try to put some good thought into the displays I make. I leave the display up for a maximum of a month, but my real goal is to have a new display every 2-3 weeks.
Most of my inspiration comes from looking at lists of books and checking to see if I have enough books in that category/genre/theme to make a display. For example, I might come across an article called “22 Books That Prove the Bond Between Sisters is Eternal” and think that a display about YA books featuring sisters would be a great display! Then I would check how many books on that list are currently available at my library and if there are enough to fill my display, we’re good to go! Next task is making a display sign, which I usually make on Canva. Most of the inspiring book lists I find come from Epic Reads, Book Riot, and Buzzfeed Books.
In general, my teen book displays fall into one of the following three categories:
Seasonal Displays
Pretty self explanatory! I put out romance books in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, horror/thriller books during October to get into the Halloween spirit, cozy winter reads before Christmas, and last September I featured books that take place at boarding schools. Don’t forget Black History Month and Pride Month! Don’t feel like doing a mainstream holiday? Look at the random holidays coming up, like on National Umbrella Day, put books on display that have umbrellas on the cover!
Always Relevant
You have got to have a few of these display ideas in your back pocket! These are displays that can be put up no matter the time of year or what’s going on in the world. The very easiest display is to simply pick a genre and put those books on display. It’s as simple as grabbing a stack of fantasy books and making a sign with a dragon and a sword! Rinse and repeat with all the other genres you can think of. Similarly, do a display featuring graphic novels or new releases.
Similar Covers
Another fun angle on this is putting books on display with similar covers. An easy one would be to grab books that have blue covers. Rinse and repeat with all the colors of the rainbow! You could also do books with people on the covers or books that have a person’s name in the title. Here is my display that featured duologies:
Viral Moments
These are the displays you can’t do much to prepare for and are centered around the latest viral phenomenon/zeitgeist moment. Ask your teens about what’s trending! Similarly, displays can be made around the newest blockbuster movie or latest music album everyone’s talking about. For example, here’s a display I made last fall when Taylor Swift came out with her version of Red.When all anyone could talk about was Noodles the Pug and whether or not it was a Bones Day or No Bones Day, I made a quick and easy display on it.
These are the hardest kind of displays to make and we’re all bound to miss some viral moment (or discover them embarrassingly late). My only advice is to pay attention to what your teens are discussing the most or, when in doubt, just ask them!
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