Make new friends, but keep the old

Bethany the Librarian, sitting at the reference desk this evening. Patron comes up to the desk holding the New York Times best seller list.

Patron: "Excuse me, could you check if you have any of these titles in?"
BtL: "Sure."
Patron: "Double Cross?"
BtL: "Nope, all out. I can reserve it for you."
Patron: "No, I have some books on reserve, I'd like a book to take home tonight."
BtL: "I see. What other titles can I check?"
Patron: "The Shooters?"
BtL: "All out."
Patron: "World Without End?"
BtL: "No."
Patron: "T is for Trespass?"
BtL: "All out"
Patron: "oh...."
BtL: "Have you read either of Khaled Hosseini's books? The Kite Runner or ..."
Patron: "A Thousand Splendid Suns. Yep."
BtL: "Are there authors you really like? I could check what books we have in for them."
Patron: "I like Danielle Steel."
BtL: "How about Bungalow 2?"
Patron: "I read it."
BtL: "Coming Out?"
Patron: "Read it."
BtL: "Echos?"
Patron: "Read it."
BtL: "Maybe you would like to look at our displays. We have a staff picks display that is very popular and a display of new writers."
Patron: "Ok, thanks."

What is a librarian to do when a patron is interested in brand new, popular books that are all checked out and have 546 holds? I think some patrons do not want to go into the stacks where the "old" books are. New York Times bestsellers are their favorite genre. The readers advisory is a hard sell because it's not necessarily the subject matter or author they are interested in, but the buzz surrounding the book. Perhaps having a good list of new non-fiction that reads like fiction would be a good suggestion.
Another problem I encounter is blank, cheesy or embarrassing covers for really great older books. One library has two copies of Rebecca - one cover is red silk, the other is the cast from a 1980's Mystery! episode. I tried to recommend Enders Game to a tween the other night. He took one look at the cover and made a face. "Nah, I think I'll look around some more." Libraries cannot constantly buy updated covers on classic books to make them more appealing so I think the best advice is to not judge a book by it's cover ... or publishing date!!