SPARK Feature Highlight/Library Spotlight – May 2022

Welcome to another feature highlight, in which we share ideas for using some of the features that SPARK offers.

Today’s topic is NoveList Plus and finding pop culture read-alikes for library displays and booklists!

We were inspired by yesterday’s presentation from Caleigh Haworth at EBSCO – it was packed with good information about searching NoveList.

As librarians, we get super excited when someone tells us they “don’t read” because a. We like a challenge and b. We know there are so many entry points to reading.

For people who tend to watch movies or TV rather than pick up a book, NoveList Plus is the perfect tool for finding a book that hits their favorite movie/TV themes.

Think about summer blockbusters, for example.

Maybe you want to create a book display or recommended reads list for fans of “Downton Abbey” – (the second movie is coming out this week, in case you missed the news!)

There is no one way to do this, but we started our search for Downton Abbey read-alikes in advanced search using the field code “SW” (time period) and the search terms  “1910s” and “1920s.”

This gave us 3,880 results – too many.

We used the limiters on the lefthand side to narrow down “location” to England.

Still, there were 316 results. We further narrowed it by subject “Social classes,” which plays a big role in the Downton Abbey world.

We’re left with 33 results to check against the library catalog! Each of these titles also has a “title read-alike” button to take you even deeper into similar books.

If you’re pressed for time, you can also use the NoveList librarians’ lists “For Fans Of…” found in the recommended reads list on the homepage.

As Caleigh said in yesterday’s session, NoveList will make your own TBR list miles longer.

 LOWER MACUNGIE LIBRARY

This week we announced that Evergreen carousels can now be embedded in websites other than the OPAC!

Did you know there are also other options for creating external carousels?

Lower Macungie currently uses the “Bookshelves” WordPress widget to populate carousels on their homepage.

ChiliPAC also allows you to embed carousels on any website.

You can create a carousel from a booklist or from one of the dynamic lists such as “Latest staff lists” and “recently reviewed items.”

With ChiliPAC carousels, you can also customize the colors, font size, and cover image size.

You’ll just need an admin account in ChiliFresh to get started.

You can see the WordPress and ChiliPAC carousels in action on this page if you’re curious.

If any of these ideas intrigue you, please reach out to support@sparkpa.org for more information!

Have fun!