The power of the just-returned!

The popularity of return trolley, especially with fiction, is the same at the library I work at. Just- returned has such a strong power of attraction once I had a couple of patrons on my heels when I wheeled out a trolley of newly returned books to the fiction area. Actually one of them had just checked out some books and about to leave the library.

Taking into account such an important function of just-returned trolley, we even started to place books in an alphabetical order on the trolley so that patrons can easily find what they are looking for.

We also have a special display area of books recommended by patrons. It works like this: we place the slips which say next to our return bins and ask patrons to place a slip into the books they have really enjoyed. This simple system has worked well so far. Actually, more patrons start to take the trouble of placing a slip into their returns, as they found good reads from the display area and they wish the other patrons have the same experience.

In addition, the library has a monthly Bookchat where patrons can talk about their recent good reads and be free to agree and disagree. After each bookchat, the books and authors mentioned during the meeting are made into a list of recommendation for your next reads and displayed next to the list of recommendation by genre.