Ways to Increase Circulation of Diverse Books

I recently saw a question on a librarian email group. It was asking how to make more diverse books more appealing, how to get books by David Walliams off the "most borrowed" lists considering there are so many books out there that are better written and do not contain ablest, classist, racist garbage. 

These methods will not work for everyone, you need to fit it to your library, I understand fully the implications of budgets being tightened, libraries being closed and it's a tragic situation but these are the approaches that have worked for me. I am very happy that books that represent a diverse group of voices and experiences are consistently in the top 10 most borrowed books for us because of these approaches, I hope they help.

Read:

This will probably sound condescending but what I mean is to read everything you can, manga, comics, mysteries, comedies, anything and everything. I make it a habit to read Barrington Stoke books, which are amazing, during library lessons. These are usually books aimed at dyslexic or struggling readers and are shorter in length than traditional novels.  I can sometimes get through one in a day or two and it allows me to pitch the books with more confidence. By doing this, I gather up a bank of great books by amazing authors, many of whom the students might not have heard of before. I try not to book-talk books that I haven't read, I still do it, but the students know immediately if you try and fake it. I also tell the students, "I haven't read this yet, but it looks really great." 

Library Lessons:

I know that not every library has these types of lessons, if you need any more info on them just email me at lucasmaxwell@hotmail.com. Our years 7-9 students (ages 11-13) have a dedicated library lesson once every two weeks. I am fortunate to lead these, they are 1 hour long. We do 20 minutes of reading our own books (with me reading as well) followed by 10 minutes of getting new books from the shelves, returning / renewing books. 

This is followed by 10 minutes of me reading from other books / promoting books - these are books I have read that I feel deserve a lot of attention. This month it's been When I See Blue by Lily Bailey, Fight Back by AM Dassu, Hazel Hill is Gonna Win this One by Maggie Horne. All of these books represent different backgrounds and experiences: LGBTQ+ / Islamophobia / OCD / Neurodiversity. I never give Walliams or Rowling any promotion whatsoever, that doesn't mean they aren't on the shelves, but they don't need any help from me and I'm not interested in giving them any. Then we do 10-15 minutes of a literacy based activity.

 Book Award:

Every year we run a book award, 6 books from as many different backgrounds and experiences as possible, I create an equally diverse long list and the students narrow it down to 6 by voting from Sept - Nov. Then in March we give one of the authors an actual trophy based on student votes. We run activities around these books in the library lessons mentioned above. I have a dedicated display and promote these books / read from them relentlessly, I visit classrooms and read from them, I have them projected on screens around the school. It means that as I type this, the number one most popular book this year is When I See Blue by Lily Bailey followed by Rules for Vampires, both of which are on the book award shortlist.

Author Visits / Interaction:

I reach out to authors via social media to tag them in the positive responses to the books, this is via Twitter & Instagram for the most part. This has resulted in authors sending us bookmarks and posters and even visiting (Which I know not everyone can manage with budget restrictions). We have been very fortunate that some authors have come for reduced fee based solely on the support they've received via social media. I'm not saying they will do this all the time, but it has happened occasionally. Our students have also interviewed some of the authors for a podcast they run in the library. Any author visit, virtual or in-person, will result in their books leaping to the top of the list. I've seen it time and time again. Before visits, I relentlessly promote the books to help make this happen. 

Giving student leadership roles

Students named the above award (they called it the Bookling) they vote on the shortlist, they  created the artwork for the posters, they vote on favourite cover, blurb , first lines and of course the books as a whole. I get older students to visit tutor times of younger students to pitch the books to the students. I give free books to students who read the books and submit a review. We involve students at every stage to make everyone aware that there are so many other books out there.

Get staff involved

We do a coffee morning for staff in Feb, they come to the library around the Book Award. They get coffee, get homemade cakes and listen to our student assistants to pitch the books, staff who come can borrow one of the shortlisted books in the award. Staff are also pitched books outside of the award that are "under the radar" or need more attention in my opinion. Staff are also invited to a library card drive where they can get a cake if they get a library card, during this time, our library students are promoting books to them, again, these are books that deserve more attention than they get. What we see happen is staff and students discussing books together in classrooms, in the corridor and in the library. 

Open Mics

We have a partnership with the music dept where we have an open mic once a month in the library. Students can sing, tell jokes, read poetry, anything. Staff are all invited to these events. Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. But we have around 150 students who do come and it's a perfect opportunity to promote new books to the crowd in between performers. Once again, these are books that need more attention or are ones that I love. I never, ever, promote Walliams or Rowling to these kids because they've been beaten over the head with them for years. 

After writing this post, I've checked the top 10 most popular books from Sept 22 - Nov 22, here they are:

10. When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle

9. The Dogs by Allan Stratton

8. A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

7. Girl from the Sea by Molly K Ostertag

6.  Booked by Kwame Alexander 

5. Girl in Real Life by Tamsin Winter

4. The Bird Singers by Eve Wersocki 

3. Rules For Vampires by Alex Foulkes 

2. Crater Lake by Jennifer Killick

1. When I See Blue by Lily Bailey