NoveList offers a lot of services to help your library to connect with readers. They are easy to use, easy to buy, and easy to set up. While easy is great, it’s also worth taking a little bit of time to go back to some of your NoveList services and make sure they are running in tip-top shape. If you’ve got NoveList Select, here are some suggestions for you to get the most out of your subscription and show off those curated, expert read-alikes from NoveList that your patrons love to explore — right in your catalog.
Remind your staff about recommendations in your catalog
Staff are the library’s most valuable resource and that’s especially true for getting the word out about the recommendations in your catalog. If your staff remember about the title, author, and series recommendations in the catalog (along with the fun Story Mixer), they are more likely to share it with the patrons. And once your heavy reader patrons discover all that great book data, you know they’ll come back again and again and again.
Activate the NoveList Select dashboard for your library
The NoveList Select Analytics Dashboard provides a window into how your library’s patrons are viewing and interacting with information in the catalog. You’ll find information on engagement, including total views for the last month, total clicks, and what kinds of features people are clicking on.
But there’s more! You’ll also find lists of the top titles, authors, and series that your readers have looked at in the last month. The dashboard is available to anyone working at the library, so readers’ services librarians can use it to make displays, children’s librarians can use it to keep track of the series that are flying off the shelves, and marketing staff can use it to promote hot titles. Email novelistselectsupport@ebsco.com to get access.
Update our support team with any recent changes to tech staff or your ILS
Change happens. Staff change. You switch your ILS. Email novelistselectsupport@ebsco.com with any changes they need to know about to keep your subscription humming along.
Name your ILS displays and drawers with reader-friendly language
This tip obviously depends on your ILS, but many allow you to change the name of the area where NoveList Select displays. We call it NoveList Select, but you can call it all kinds of things. Some good choices: Recommended Reading, Other Suggestions, Further Reading, Read-a-Likes, More Books... Whatever you think would entice your patrons to discover new books in your catalog while at home in their jammies is the perfect thing to call the NoveList Select display. Check with your ILS provider if you’re not sure how to do this.
Customize Select for your collection
Depending on the size of your collection and your community’s needs, you can choose to have NoveList Select suggest only items in your collection or anything in the NoveList databases. Depending on your ILS, you can also show what books, in what formats are available before a reader even clicks on the recommendation. This feature, On the Shelf (OTS), shows your patrons and staff real-time holding information in your library. (It’s also available for your NoveList databases and in LibraryAware). You can learn more about OTS on our help pages or email novelistselectsupport@ebsco.com for information about OTS or local collections.
Jennifer Lohmann is the Direct of Sales and Marketing at NoveList. She is currently reading Sissy by Jacob Tobia.
