Indigo - an inspiration

Indigo stores in Canada are a marketing wizard.  You can see how they make attractive to buy, and they are expert at grouping like products.  Where they differ from libraries are the amount of non-book items.   I take inspiration from their displays.

Not only are they great at marketing, we get plenty of donated books purchased from Indigo and also at Costco.  I often go to Costco to see what is new and what we may be getting in the future.  So much fun! Costco has zero marketing techniques, literally piling them all up in one aisle on tables,  but those book covers often market themselves. 

Here is a tour of Indigo's children's department from 2014:

Next is a blogger showing us here Indigo haul from last week.  Notice how few books she got, but how much fun she had.

To be fair to Costco, I tried to find a video to upload that would show their book piles, but youtube actually doesn't have one.  Think book warehouse in your mind, and you have seen it.

Not much of a summer

We are having a kind of a non-summer her in the Maritime provinces, and ironically, that is keeptng us busier than normal at the library.  Why is that, you ask?   Well, it is pretty difficult for kids to play outside in the rain, and adults can't garden in the rain either.  Even the hardiest soul has more time to read or at least browse a magazine.  Our library is very modern, and there are plenty of places to sit and read and many do.

Now on a sunny day we have fewer patrons coming in and per capita, they take fewer books as they are busy gardening, mowing the lawn, and going to family get-togethers. 

One item that moves is the Beach Reads.   Mind you, this is for the female side of the population, but as they make up the majority of our patrons, beach reads must be big business for publishers.

Bloggers Publish Books

We have recently seen a trend in mainstream books, where blog owners take it to the next level and publish a book.  This has to be one of the best ways (barring a known author) to ensure a ready made audience of book buyers.

This book has been very popular in our library, as I am sure it has been all over Canada.   One of my co-workers gets recipes from Angela Liddon's blogs but I love the book itself.


And then there's

I enjoy her podcasts, blog, and now the book.  Has your favorite blogger written a book?  Hold on and it may happen soon.

Summer Weather

Summer weather, even in the spring, does strange things to libraries.  First of all, those who love to walk come out to the library, but those who don't stay away doing outside chores, and other tasks.
Generally, it is quiet time for the library UNTIL the summer programming get going.  Then the whole children's section is happily depleted.  We all have memories of going to the library in the summer as a child, as the days stretch out before you. 

Lately, when I mention the due date, the juniors believe it is a very long time indeed, and the adults are just shocked it will be June in three weeks.   Time is so bendable.

Chicken Bones

Lately I have been reading while eating Chicken Bones.  Every Christmas season out come mocha cakes (which, by the way have zero coffee flavor in them) and Ganong's chicken bones.  Sure only a Maritimer from Atlantic Canada would love the taste of cinnamon in the pink candy part mixed with the chocolate.  The candy actually looks like a bone, which is a little macabre.  However, when you grow up with them, that just seems to be the correct shape.

Chicken bones make every book just that much better.  I have tried them with fiction and non-fiction, and the book was always enhanced.

Know someone from Atlantic Canada?  Put your order in for next Christmas!