Prompt Response Three

Our online catalog allows us to build digital displays called Showcases where we can go in and select which books we want to be on the homepage of the catalog. For February, I’ve been curating one called ‘Discover New Romance’ and have been adding exclusively newly released romance titles. 

I think a great physical display would be one that matches books to movies and tv shows; the ‘If you liked this…you should try this…’ kind of thing. I think another really interesting type of integrated advisory is when music is included. Some authors will post to their social media the playlists they were listening to as they wrote parts of their books. I think it would be a really cool display to match romance books to various music albums or songs. Soft sweet romance novels would fit with “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” the fun, fast-paced romances could be “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and the teenage angst romance would fit the album Sour.

I think it broadens the availability of novels to choose from because it is less about plot points and more about aesthetics. Saying that a book reminds you of a song is far more subjective and may lead to some creative interaction. It could be a passive program of sorts where we build the display to say ‘What Song Does this Romance Novel Remind Me Of’ and as the books get checked out, patrons can add their song to the board.