Moveable display shelving create reader advisory opportunities anywhere. Effective displays spark interest and offer information while eliminating the (sometimes onerous) need to consult with a librarian. Teens hate nothing more than having to ask for help!
Supervisor: Renee Kirchner
Monday: 9am-2pm
Today was a slower day at the library. Renee and I manned the Youth Services desk and discussed display ideas. Displays are a great way to sneak in passive programming, reader advisory, and to highlight sections, titles, authors, or events. The library typically uses a large display area in the main walkway of the building to highlight monthly celebrations or themes. Inside the Youth Department, displays are more targeted. Reader advisory displays typically use photocopies of read alike titles to interest young readers. Section displays typically use a table and hold a selection of titles from a section of the collection such as kids cookbooks. Indigenous Peoples’ month uses the larger display and photocopies of relevant books from all children’s genres. Well crafted displays do a lot of the work for librarians and can be invaluable in a smaller library with limited staff. But only if everyone knows how to restock the display! A title list for the display is critical.
Renee asked me to research different monthly display topics. Something not usually done; something new and different. I approached the project with a couple of ideas. First, I wanted to create a monthly themed display and utilize as many formats and age ranges as possible. Next, I wanted to highlight sections of the collection that are lower circulating. The research was very interesting as monthly celebrations can be nationally recognized, locally recognized, randomly recognized, or weirdly only a week long! I settled on National Wilderness Month (September) with possible table displays featuring Save A Tiger Month, Alpaca Day, and InternationalDay of Peace. I was able to create a title list for the display that used picture books, early readers, juvenile fiction and nonfiction as well as different formats. For this display topic, I included authors who typically write wilderness themed books and nonfiction sections books could be pulled from. I used the same process to create lists for October (National Family Literacy Month) and Pet Awareness Month for November. I intended the Family Literacy display to be an interactive display. Each shelf will have a question like who is your favorite character? Genre? Author? Series? Book vs Audio- who did it better? These questions are meant to spark discussions between parents and kids and share a love of reading. Hopefully, the displays will be engaging overall.
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