LIBRARYREADS ANNUAL REPORT 2018 EXECUTIVE In six years, LibraryReads has gone from a DIRECTOR'S volunteer-run group to a NOTE registered 501c6 nonprofit organization with a full Board of Directors and Executive Director.

I'm pleased to bring you the 2018 Annual This year we said goodbye to several of our Report for LibraryReads. Now that we've founding board members but one of the formalized our status as a 501c6 nonprofit wonderful things about librarians is that organization, our fiscal year has changed to they never stop wanting to be helpful, and end June 30th each year, so this report will I'm grateful for all of the ways they continue cover our activities from the spring of 2018 to work with us—their knowledge and through June 30, 2019. assistance is crucial to our success.

LibraryReads was formed in 2013 by a group And we are of course so appreciative of the of passionate librarians and support we receive from our publisher supporters who wanted to see a national list partners. LibraryReads would not exist harnessing the power of library staff without their backing. If you have any recommendations. In six years, we have gone questions about the information in this from a volunteer-run group to a registered report (or about LibraryReads in general!), 501c6 nonprofit organization with a full please don't hesitate to contact me at Board of Directors and Executive Director. I [email protected]. am the organization's first Executive Director, and I could not be more pleased to be working with such a talented, smart, and Best, committed group of people.

Allison Escoto, Administrative Assistant, NYC Rebecca Vnuk, Executive Director,

0 2 ABOUT LIBRARYREADS

LibraryReads creates the monthly nationwide library staff picks list for adult fiction and non-fiction. Our goal is to help connect librarians’ favorite to as many readers as possible, while drawing upon the incredible power that public library staff has in helping to build word-of-mouth for new books, and the important role that play in creating audiences for all kinds of authors.

LibraryReads is unique in that the list is not trying to pick “the best” of anything, and there are no judges or juries. The monthly list is the collective favorites of the library staff who have voted — the books we loved and cannot wait to share! Participation is open to everyone who works in a public library, both senior staff and new arrivals, no matter which area of the library they work in. The more the merrier—LibraryReads is designed to be inclusive, representing a broad range of reading tastes and showcasing a variety of new titles, including buzzed-about debuts, genre favorites, bestselling authors, and midlist titles that public library staff are raving about.

Each month, LibraryReads is announced via e-mail, social media, and on our website. Our list is also featured in a range of media outlets such as Booklist, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, and the NoveList database.

MISSION

LibraryReads puts in list form what library staff do with patrons every day at the desk, in the community, and online: connecting readers with books, suggesting titles that will generate lively conversation among readers, and encouraging staff and readers to share further within their own reading network. LibraryReads is dedicated to celebrating reading and encouraging a sense of delight and discovery for readers of adult books.

0 3 L-R: Kenn, Lobash, Anderson, Nesbitt, Vnuk, Sposato, Winsor, Cruz, Santangelo, Tangri, Currie. Not pictured: Annabelle Mortensen LIBRARYREADS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair, Stephanie Anderson, BookOps Andrienne Cruz, Azusa City Library Kelly Currie, Delphi Public Library Polli Kenn, Lawrence Public Library Vice Chair, Lynn Lobash, New York Public Library Annabelle Mortensen, Skokie Public Library Michael Santangelo, BookOps Stephen Sposato, Chicago Public Library Shayera Tangri, Los Angeles Public Library (2019) Secretary/Treasurer, Gregg Winsor, Johnson County Library

Rotated off the 2018 Steering Committee: Stephanie Chase, Hillsboro Public Library Kaite Mediatore Stover, Kansas City Public Library Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Library David Wright, Seattle Public Library

0 4 OUR REACH

LibraryReads picks are seen by thousands of library workers and library patrons each month via our outreach efforts and social media channels.

When the list is published on our website each month, it is picked up and publicized by a number of media outlets and hundreds of public libraries.

Purchasing lists are immediately made available to librarians via OverDrive, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Bibliotheca and Midwest Tape.

Libraries and staff share our lists and information widely with their patrons and on their social media.

Our users are engaged and listening: the LibraryReads email newsletter currently has nearly 8,000 subscribers; and our open rate averages a robust 40%.

0 5 NUMBERS

TOTAL VOTES, 73,500 JANUARY 2018- JUNE 2019

Jan 2018-Dec 2018: 42,800, a 5.5% increase over YTD 2017. Exciting news: YTD 2019 has surpassed 30k votes in the first 6 months alone.

SOCIAL MEDIA 17,300 FOLLOWERS Facebook: 9050 followers Twitter: 6250 followers Instagram: 2000 followers

0 6 EVENTS

Spring 2018: BookExpo America: "Writing Powerful Annotations" Session; LibraryReads Adult Librarian Dinner; LibraryReads Adult Author Lunch

Summer 2018: ALA Annual, New Orleans: "Best in Sci Fi/Horror and Fantasy Authors”; "LibraryReads 101" Session; Bookalicious Breakfast

Fall 2018: 2nd Annual LibraryReads Readers' Advisory UnConference, Johnson County, KS

Winter 2019: ALA Midwinter, Seattle: LibraryReads Debut Author Panel; LibraryReads/ALMA Adult Author Breakfast Readers' Advisory PLUS Unconference (LibraryLinkNJ), Sponsor

Spring 2019: BookExpo America: Annual LibraryReads/ALMA Adult Librarians’ Author Dinner Event; Annual LibraryReads/ALMA Librarian Author Lunch HWA StokerCon 2019: Sponsor for "Librarian Day" Illinois Library Association Reaching Forward Conference: "Level Up Your Career: Professional Involvement Opportunities for Library Staff" LJ’s “Evaluating, Auditing, and Diversifying Your Collections” course, Stephanie Anderson featured speaker

Summer 2019: ALA Annual, Washington D.C.: "Fiercely Female" Author Panel; LibraryReads/ALMA Bookalicious Breakfast

0 7 2018 UNCONFERENCE

In October 2018, 90 library staffers from across the Kansas City metro area joined our board (and many of our past board members!) for a day of readers’ advisory training. Several break- out sessions covered high interest topics suggested by and voted upon by attendees, including "Keeping Up with Genres," "The Art of the Booktalk," and "Building an RA Culture at Your Library."

Our keynote speaker, NoveList's Danielle Borasky, held attendees enthralled as she spoke about "Reading Advocacy." Special thanks goes to NoveList and BiblioCommons for sponsoring breakfast and treats for the day and to the numerous publishers who provided tote bags and ARCs!

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0 8 WEBINARS

In 2019, LibraryReads and NoveList partnered on a series of genre training webinars. We think of the series as a crash course for some of the more popular genres, designed to give librarians a sense of why readers are drawn to the genre; some tips for talking with fans; key books in the genre to know; sub-genres and crossover titles to keep in mind; and more. Whether attendees have never read in a genre or it’s just been a while, these webinars provide them with the grounding they need to talk with confidence about all books. These 1- hour sessions are offered at no cost to attendees, and consist of a full hour of training (with bonus NoveList content following the first hour).

It has been a delight to work with the staff at NoveList and the response has been tremendous. Our shared love of books made this webinar series seem perfectly natural. Each session brings together some of LibraryReads’ top readers' advisors currently working in public libraries with the book specialists at NoveList—a winning combination.

Over 6,000 people have registered for thBeI LfirLsIt O4 Nwebinars of the year, and the feedback has been universally positive. We anticipate continuing the series the rest of 2019 and into 2020.

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0 9 SOCIAL MEDIA

We continue to see great reach via our social media channels. We break each title Many libraries post our list for their patrons on the list down to single tweets, so that and followers throughout the month. authors and publishers can easily share individual title posts.

Publishers do a wonderful job utilizing social media to promote LibraryReads and to help engage their followers by featuring their eligible titles.

1 0 SOCIAL MEDIA

1 1 FIFTH ANNIVERSARY UPDATES We began offering more robust annotations featuring multiple read-alike titles chosen by annotators, LibraryReads board members, and NoveList staff.

For consistency, #1 spot has been officially named the "Top Pick" and the list has been rearranged to title alphabetical order ranking—removing any confusion as to where titles “place” every month.

“Hall of Fame” Authors—when an author has hit the LibraryReads monthly list twice, their subsequent eligible titles will be given special recognition as a Hall of Fame placement. This change has resulted in an increase of 23% more diverse authors represented, and we've had great feedback from list users. BILLION

Additional lists were added in early 2019, including board member picks and book group selections, with more to come.

In December 2018 we changed the voting deadline to the first of each month, making it easier to remember, and giving readers a bit of extra time to tackle the TBR pile!

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1 2 In the spring of 2019, thanks to generous support from NoveList's LibraryAware platform, we refreshed the look of the monthly list emails and print materials.

1 3 THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS

LibraryReads benefits from strong partnerships and collaborative relationships with a wide variety of organizations and companies.

Special thanks goes to those who help promote LibraryReads: our voting partners, Edelweiss and NetGalley; media outlets including Library Journal, Booklist, BookPage, ALA Book Club Central, BookReporter, EarlyWord, and RA For All; and vendors such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Midwest Tape, NoveList, and OverDrive.

Finally, we must thank the many staff members from public libraries across the country who read, vote, and share the list with their patrons.

Our list would not be possible without the support of the publishers featured in our monthly lists, as well as the support of NoveList, Edelweiss, NetGalley, and the Adult Library Marketing Association.

The following publishers provided support to LibraryReads in this reporting period.

Our founding publisher partners: • Hachette Book Group • HarperCollins • Macmillan • Other Press • Penguin Group (USA) • Quercus • Random House, Inc. • Simon & Schuster • Workman Publishing •W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1 4 LibraryReads, Inc. Rebecca Vnuk, Executive Director 1413 Elgin Avenue Forest Park, IL 60130

708-552-0515 [email protected] www.libraryreads.org

LibraryReads is a registered 501(c)(6) organization We d o not solicit funding from the public. FEIN: 82-3941281