By: Jill Grunenwald, Marketing & Communications Specialist

Ever wish you could recommend a title to patrons directly in Libby? Or wanted to share a favorite quote from a book? With our new Libby shelf talkers, library staff can add personal notes to titles in your digital collection. Shelf talkers can be viewed on a title’s details page in Libby, and you can schedule shelf talkers to keep them fresh and timely.

Just like shelf talkers in your physical library, shelf talkers in Libby are an opportunity for you to share extra information about titles, such as staff picks, title trivia, and more. Here are 5 ways to use new Libby shelf talkers to connect with your community today.

Highlight staff picks

The Recommendation shelf talker is the perfect way to share titles loved by your staff! From thrilling suspense novels, to page-turning mysteries, and engaging non-fiction, this is an opportunity for your librarians to suggest titles to readers directly in the Libby app! And by adding attribution (e.g., staff member name, branch name, librarian headshot, etc.), readers will know which librarian to go to for even more recommendations.

Share favorite quotes

Personally, I’ve always loved collecting quotes from books. Decades after first reading it, I still believe Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita includes one of the most beautiful sentences in literature, “Most of the dandelions had changed from suns to moons,” and I have a typewriter tattoo featuring the line “I am, I am, I am” from Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. With the Favorite quote shelf talker, you and your library staff can share your own beloved quotes from books.

Feature fun facts

Did you know that Stephen King was so unhappy with his draft for Carrie that he initially threw the pages away and his wife Tabitha dug it out of the trash and encouraged him to continue writing? You can share fun facts just like this about titles and authors using the Trivia shelf talker! (Also, may all writers be blessed with someone like Tabitha King who sees the beauty in our pages when we can’t.)

Promote events and highlight new titles

Thought shelf talkers are the perfect way to share timely updates about a title in your collection such as a movie adaptation coming soon, the anticipated release date for the next nook in a series, or promoting an upcoming book club or author visit at your library. As a bonus, the Schedule note option even allows you to set start and end dates, so you you can plan in advance.

Recommend read-alikes

Another thing you can do with the Thought shelf talker is share read-alikes. Let readers know the newest domestic thriller is “perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train” or a recent romance is “ideal for those who loved The Love Con and Spoiler Alert.” (And, if anyone is aware of more romance novels that feature plus size women and are set in the world of conventions, please let me know.)