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Dazzling Displays
Why Spend Time on Displays?
• Library collections are big.
• The stacks contain a wide variety of topics.
• Patrons prefer smaller groups of items.
• Allows the highlighting of materials that otherwise may not circulate widely.
• Older items need an opportunity to shine.
What Should Be Displayed?
Remember the 3 Q s.
• Quality
• Quick
• Quantity
Where Will Displays Fit?
Anywhere and Everywhere
– Near the Circulation Desk
– On the ends of the stacks
– On a book truck
– In the center of a round study table
– On the top of short shelves
– In an empty spot on the book shelves
– On the bulletin boards
– Hanging from the ceiling
Designing Displays That Last
• No Holds
• Shorter Lends
• Put Displays Up Front
• Have a Plan
• Make a Small Investment
• Evaluate the Space
Bulletin Boards You Can Keep Up All Year
• Window– Get some window valances and a curtain rod. Use sheet protectors
for the window panes to display student work all year. Cut strips of
darker paper to use as lines to divide the window panes.
• Map– Find a giant world map to cover your board. Students place a pin on
it to mark the setting or location of books they read.
• Question– Post a new random question each week. Students put their answers
on a sticky note sometime during the week and stick it on the board.
They enjoy looking at the answers, some funny, some serious.
• Tree– Draw a large tree. Hang leaves for each book the children read. Add
leaves all year.
Displays for Any Time of the Year
• People You Ought to Know- Biographies.
- Novels that have a person’s name as the title of the book.
• Have I Got a Story for You- Pair fiction and nonfiction books that are about the same event or
location.
- DVDs of films that tell a good story.
• Staff Favorites- Each book should be accompanied by an explanation of why that
particular staff member likes it so much.
• Back to the Book- Include books that have pictures of a person’s back on the cover.
• Books to Read Before You Die- Find a “Best Books” list and use it to keep this display stocked.
Monthly Displays
January• A New Year, A New You (self-improvement books)
• I Resolve to Read More (fill this with recent non-best-sellers)
• Losing Weight and Feeling Great (healthy cookbooks)
• Get Moving (sports, exercising, anything active)
• Ready For A Money Makeover? (getting out of debt, budgets)
• Make The Most Of Your Money (investing, thriftiness)
• Organized At Last (storage, time management, filing)
February• Making Valentines (craft books, card-making, calligraphy)
• Winter Reads (books with snow in the title or on the cover)
• Cozy Up With A Good Read (book with a muffler, stocking cap)
• Black History Month (famous African Americans, Civil War)
• Books From The Bottom Shelf (overlooked b/c inconvenient)
• Not Your Mama’s Romances (Anti-Romance YA books with cut up broken hearts)
Cold? Check Out a Book!
You’ll still be cold, but you’ll have a book.
March• Women’s History Month (biographies of interesting women)
• Quick Reads (short story collections, Chicken Soup series)
• Irish Fiction (novels set in Ireland or by Irish authors)
• Armchair Travel (scenic destinations around the world)
• Piece by Piece (National Quilting Month, patchwork projects)
April• Author of the Week (choose one author each week, run all year)
• Green and Growing (books on pruning, planning gardens, spring flowers)
• Hug a Poet (National Poetry Month)
• It’s Rhyming Time (Children’s Poetry)
• Anniversary of the Titanic sinking (Titanic books and DVDs)
May• Mothers Are Special (books about mothers and motherhood)
• Love is Blooming (romance books with flowers on the cover)
• National Home Improvement Month (home repair, decorating, storage)
Well-behaved women…Seldom make history
Get in the Game -- READ
June• How Does Your Garden Grow (vegetable and flower gardening)
• After Graduation (finding jobs, independent living, learning to budget)
• Something related to the Summer Reading Theme (this year is music)
• Dads Are Special (books about fatherhood, biographies by dad)
• Audiobook Month (feature all audiobooks)
• Hurrah for the Red White and Blue (celebrate America, patriotic themes)
July• Beach Reading (light fiction, paperbacks)
• Cooking on the Grill (cookbooks on grilling and BBQing)
• I’m Bored (activities for kids—crafts, trips, science, nature, games)
August• Cool Reading (fiction with snow in the title, Antarctica, penguins)
• Fixer Upper (home repair books, painting, plumbing)
• Potty Training (children have to be potty-trained to start preschool
• Go Multi-Lingual (books and CDs for learning various languages)
Cooks & Crooks: Mysteries with Recipes
September• Autumn Fiction (novels with fall or autumn in the title)
• Talk Like a Pirate Day (9/19, feature fictional pirates)
• School Days (school stories for kids, education)
October• Spooky Reading (Goosebumps books, scary short stories)
• Carve Out Some Time to Read (carved pumpkin, Halloween books)
• Teen Read Week (mid-October, popular teen titles)
• Harvest Time (fall leaves, making scarecrows)
• All Things Pizza (National Pizza Month, books with pizza in the title)
Books To Treasure
These Books Will Scare Your Pants Off
November• Fall Pleasures (pretty books about autumn, pumpkins)
• Things to Be Thankful For (family, pets)
• Find Your Family Roots (genealogy, oral history, grandparents)
• Oddities (odd architecture, unusual animals, circus sideshow)
• Thanksgiving fiction (stories about the holiday)
• Spy Stories (espionage fiction)
December• Holiday Stories For the Whole Family (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa)
• Homemade Christmas (gift making—woodworking, cookbooks, sewing)
• All About Santa (fiction and nonfiction)
• Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (12/7, Pearl Harbor, World War II)
• Let it Snow (fiction with snow, blizzard, or winter in the title)
• Winter Reads (skiing, skating, sledding, snowmen)
Read It and Weep
Flash!
Take pictures of your really good displays and file them according to holidays or themes. The old displays can spark new ideas and sometimes patrons will remember that there was a book they wanted to read on a particular display.
More Sources For Display Ideas
• Monthly Email from System– A minimum of 10 display and/or activity ideas emailed out
each month.
• Follow Me on Pinterest– https://www.pinterest.com/repvalley/displays-for-libraries/
• Today in History
– A chronological timetable of historical
events that occurred on this day in history.
Facts of the day in the areas of military,
politics, science music, sports, arts,
entertainment and more.– http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history
Final Thoughts• Get extra mileage out of your displays by posting a photo on
your webpage each month.
• Display graphic novels (sometimes called comic books).
They are incredibly popular.
• Color themes can be fun. Find as many books as you can
that have a bright neon green cover. Then display this
hodge-podge of books with a sign that says “Its Not Easy
Being Green” or “The Readin’ of the Green.” The same
could be done with red or blue books. “Red Hot Reads” and
“Books With the Blues”
• Take advantage of major news events for display ideas such
as a hurricane, an earthquake, the Olympics, release of a
major film, or a celebrity in the news.
• Whenever you see a catchy slogan, note it down for future
use in a display.
• Displays offer Readers’ Advisory without us saying a word.
• Displays are the best and easiest way to promote your
library’s collection.
References
Allain, V. (2015, June 11). “Library book display ideas.” Retrieved from:
http://hubpages.com/literature/book-displays.
Candler, L. (2014, September 8). Corkboard Connections, “25 Bulletin
boards you can keep up all year.” Retrieved from:
http://corkboardconnections.blogspot.com/2014/09/25-bulletin-
boards-all-year.html.
Pearl, Nancy. (2012, April 9). Check It Out with Nancy Pearl, Publishers Weekly, 259.
Saricks, J. (2007, May 1). Marketing our collections. Booklist, 70.
Saricks, J. (2010, September 1) Marketing 201. Booklist, 43.
Tips and pointers. (2009, November/December). Library Media Connection, 9.
Vinjamuri, D. (2015, April 1). Building a display-driven strategy. LibraryJournal, 46.
