Booklist Adds Popular Backlist-Focused Blog "Shelf Renewal" to Growing List

From an ALA News Release:

The highly regarded blog Shelf Renewal, dedicated to readers’ advisory focusing on backlist titles, has joined the Booklist family of blogs.
The idea of the blog was born at ALA Annual Conference in 2008, when librarians Karen Kleckner Keefe and Rebecca Vnuk (now Booklist editor for reference and collection management) attended a program that included what people were doing to get pre-pub information out to librarians. “We started feeling a little sorry for those backlist titles that just don’t get enough attention, “ said Vnuk, “so we brainstormed what we could do for those awesome books that languish on the shelves, while library patrons walk away empty-handed after putting in their reserve for the newest thing.”
Shelf Renewal followed soon after. The heart of the blog is readalike suggestions – matching old books to new releases, finding older titles relevant to what’s happening in the news and in pop culture today.  The blog has two regularly scheduled features:  “Dusty Books”– those books that someone, somewhere, will love, if they only knew they were still on your shelves—and “Web Crush of the Week,” showcasing every Friday a different website that you must know about if you want to be a great readers’ advisory librarian.

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