Ideas for Promoting Non-Fiction Reading
Cathy Belben, Librarian, Burlington-Edison High School
301 N. Burlington Blvd.
Burlington, WA 98233
cbelben@be.wednet.edu
http://www.be.wednet.edu/Hs/library/library.htm

Promoting Non-Fiction Reading: Ideas to Use With TEACHERS

	Distribute a monthly newsletter highlighting new materials in the library
	Send a weekly email with a “Book of the Week” recommendation
	Send emails to specific departments/teachers recommending newly acquired materials
	Present an in-service to staff: how to promote reading; include recommended books and lesson plan ideas, such as book report ideas
	Collaborate with teachers: go to them and suggest ways you can work together to promote a particular type of reading (for example, a leadership library—the ASB might be willing to donate funds!)
	Make it a habit to scan the table of contents when new magazines arrive—copy articles of special interest to individual teachers and send them a copy
	Post suggestions about individual books—or complete booklists—on your website
	Form a staff reading group that focuses on non-fiction materials
	At faculty meetings, display new books on the tables for teachers to browse through
	Create a bulletin board in the teachers’ lounge advertising new books
	Solicit ideas from staff: ask what their favorite NF books are, take their photos, and post in faculty room or in library
	Lighten the load: when you find or think of a great lesson plan idea, flesh it out as much as possible and present it individual staff members
	Create tie-in bulletin boards or activities in conjunction with other events, such as Physical Fitness Month (May), Black History Month (February), etc.
	Create a recommended reading list for the WASL—books teachers and/or students can read in the “down time” while students are taking the tests AND books they can share with students to help them prepare for the test (opinion pieces they can read and analyze, for example)
	Do booktalks using the Internet (students visit pre-selected sites and read book reviews)
	Make sure all staff members have:

	A list of the newspapers the library subscribes to
	A list of the magazines the library subscribes to
	A quick, easy-to-use explanation of how to access the online magazine/newspaper source your district uses, such as ProQuest or SIRS

Promoting Non-Fiction Reading: Ideas to Use With STUDENTS

	Create mini-displays with “tabletoppers” (plastic display holders)—Use pictures of book covers and brief descriptions of books
	Post bulletin board displays that focus on popular topics: skateboarding, patriotism, book censorship, music, etc. and display NF books with them
	Create a student book group that reads and discusses non-fiction books
	Take photos of students and post in the library, along with a mention of their favorite NF books.
	Use music to get students interested in specific titles or subjects
	Use movie clips to get students interested in specific titles or topics
	Advertise newly acquired books in the daily bulletin
	Advertise newly acquired books or other NF books with posters in the halls
	Create displays of books with colored bookmarks that indicate their subject: Leadership; Great Book Report Reading; Recommended Memoir, etc.
	Buy what they want: survey classes or individuals and build a collection that reflects their interests
	Post suggestions for books on your website
	Create a scavenger hunt that draws attention to specific sections or titles (this is a great way to practice OPAC, too)
	Cook something and serve it as you recommend a cookbook written especially for teens
	Sponsor a trivia contest: take questions from NF books in your collection; require that students document sources, offer rewards
	Expand your repertoire of booktalks to include NF titles
	Create a PowerPoint presentation that displays bookcovers—use to accompany booktalks
	Create a notebook of recommendations (laminate pages or use page protectors) that students can browse
	Add non-fiction titles to recommended booklists—make sure lists are easily accessible
	Display a “Book of the Day” at the check-out counter
	Create a one-page insert for the school newspaper that advertises new books and services available in the library (better yet: have students create it!)
	Create special library-within-a-library collections (I create one per year) that focus on a specific area: crafts, music, sports, natural history, leadership, medical memoirs, etc.
	Host guest speakers focusing on specific areas and then create bulletin boards and other displays that highlight that speaker’s specialty (for example, we recently had a doctor come to talk about medical careers, and a bulletin board/book display featured career books, memoirs about doctors, etc.). A similar display was created when firefighters came.