11 Ways to Promote a Great Top 10 Book List

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Book lists are a wonderful resource for librarians and readers alike. Often times though their true value is not captured.  Why not give them some legs?

Recently, author and Booklist Associate Editor Donna Seaman composed a list of the “the best environmental books reviewed over the past 12 months—works of extraordinary research, thought, passion, and artistry.”
 
Below are some suggested ways to capture the wisdom and efforts of Donna’s best-of list to drive your library’s green efforts:  

1. Create a bookmark for each book on the list.
2. Post the list on your library’s green bulletin board.
3. Showcase the books on the list in a special green display for a month.
4. Create a “match” game for patrons. Select one key quote from each book and put it in one column and the titles of the books in a second column.  Ask patrons to match them up correctly.  Offer an inexpensive green prize, like a reusable water bottle, to the winner.
5. Be a citizen journalist and submit an article to your local newspaper. Offer a few eco-friendly tidbits, a link to the list, and a mention of the above “challenge” in your submission.       
6. Plan a book discussion program at your library featuring one or more of the works on the list.
7. Link to the list on your website, and to your catalog for any of the titles that your library holds.
8. Include the list in an upcoming issue of your library’s newsletter.
9. Write a heartfelt letter to the author of one of the books that your library found especially inspiring highlighting one action that your library is now taking because of an idea found in their book. Include the author’s response (and there will be one – I promise) in your library’s newsletter and/or in your newspaper article submission.
10. Post an eco-friendly factoid from one of the books on the list in an inconspicuous spot at your library.  Offer an earth-friendly prize to the patron who finds it.
11.  Connect with a local eco-friendly organization and ask them to link to the list on their web site or include it in their newsletter. Mention these books are available at your library or through inter-library loan.  

See the Top 10 Books on the Environment, 2010.