For example my daughter’s Fairy Chronicles came with a card for a hip girl and doll matching-outfit boutique. A mildly “chick” novel smuggled home a card for custom jewelry design, and a bathroom remodeling guide conveniently provided the card of a door and window distributor.

Interestingly, these weren’t dog-eared old scraps, but fresh, colorful cards advertising services which coincidentally matched up with purchasing habits one could imagine of the reader.

The first few we discovered seemed innocuous—just the remains of a reader’s bookmark, right? But then the cards began to add up. Looking back I can recall insurance, a hair stylist, handyman services, and probably some others.

So what’s up library peeps? Coincidence, or are those subversive direct marketers attempting to turn your collection into another distribution channel? I’ve found some mention that makes me think I’m not making this up. The folks at the Closed Stacks blog hate it; opportunistic, low-budget marketeers praise the practice as an effective, low-cost tool.

For all I know, maybe patrons at the SPL NE Branch just lean toward business cards as bookmarks. Or maybe someone in my neighborhood thinks they are onto marketing gold.

New practice? Old trick on the rise? Let me know what you’ve been seeing.