Due to the newness of the COVID-19 virus there is a lack of printed material available for libraries to put together information displays for our patrons.
Below is a list of links to scientific organisations around the world that provide trusted medical information that can be used for displays. There is a wealth of information online, many of these have downloadable materials that can be used for educational purposes.
With the US elections looming in the distance it is 271 days away (why yes I am counting down). I have set up a display in the teen area of my library that I want to share.
I put together the I Want You to register to vote poster using the image by James Montgomery Flagg from the US Army recruiting posters from the Great War. The poster can be downloaded by clicking on the image below:
The register to vote strips are Kansas specific so if you work in a library in Kansas you can download it here (you can also use it as inspiration for something similar in whichever state you are in):
I have been writing the definitions of various political terms used in election cycles, using simple English. There are several websites that have lists of political jargon and their definitions that can be utilized. Some of the more useful ones are below:
You can mix parts of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas/Yule into a single interactive display enabling library users to choose a book that they may not previously have considered prior to participating in the interactive part of the display.
Using the Kwanzaa mkeka mat as the base upon which to spin the dreidel (or in this case the d-read-l) the library patron will then take the book that matches the symbol on the side of the dreidel that is facing up.
You can also match one of the four letters to different genres instead of specific books as shown below.
Once the patron has taken a book or respun the dreidel if they wanted to try something else, they can also take a Yule Reading Log to keep track of the books they will read over the holiday season.
There is a perennial discussion amongst library workers around the world at this time of year about the appropriateness of Christmas Trees in Public Libraries. I am not here to further this discourse, rather I would like to share some of the resources I have created to recognize the festivals of those patrons that do not hold Christmas traditions.
I put together an introductory ‘zine that can be read with the display. It contains basic information about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Ōmisoka & Sol Invictus. This can be downloaded here:
I have created a dreidel that can be printed out and used in a library as a way of selecting books – a d-read-l if you will. The idea is to match a genre with one of the four letters of the Hebrew alphabet on the sides of the dreidel – נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hei), ש (shin) then when a participant spins the dreidel they get to borrow a book from the genre that matches whichever letter comes up.
I do not have templates for the Kwanzaa parts of the display but for the candles I used red, black and green card-stock that I rolled together to make candles and white card-stock that I folded into a triangular shape to make a candle-holder. I used strips of each of the three colours of card-stock woven together to make a small Mkeka mat.
Yule or Yuletide (“Yule time” or “Yule season”) is a festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht. Terms with an etymological equivalent to Yule are still used in Nordic countries and Estonia to describe Christmas and other festivals occurring during the winter holiday season. Today, Yule is celebrated in Heathenry and other forms of Neopaganism.
I created a Yule Reading Log, that, when rolled up resembles a log and has the dual purpose of being used to record one’s reading over the holiday season.
These resources are very simple and can be supplemented by books held in most if not all public (& school) libraries. I hope to extend what I have done here in future years to make the displays more complete. This is just the beginning.
I have just set up a Magnetic Poetry interactive display in the teen area of my library. I have gone for the imaginative title of Magnetic Po(l)etry as it is on one of the metal pillars holding up the ceiling in my branch.
It should be very easy to set up – all you need is a magnetic board or something similar (in my case it is a pillar) and some magnetic words. You can find a whole range of magnetic poetry kits online or in stores at reasonable prices. Some kits can contain <ahem> mature words so if you live or work in conservative area it may be worth knowing what you are purchasing before you buy it. On the other hand this program is aimed at teens, people who can make even the most innocent words into suggestive phrases so this sort of thing can be a risk no matter how much care you put into organising it.
Once teens start playing around with it I will update this post and possibly share whatever they create using it.
In the run up to kids going back to school where I work, I set up a back to school display.
I created a classic chalkboard image that can be downloaded here:
To keep it interactive I added the interactive jokes in a mug that allows kids (or parents) to take a joke home (or to school) and share it.
US:
UK:
The display featured books about going back to school or going to school for the first time for students of all ages.
I also included a guide on how to access the homework and research pages on the Library website as well as how to use your library membership to access the resources online resources that the library offers.
I have had to restock the books several times and have spoken to several parents who were keen on finding out more about the homework help resources that the library provides
Thinking about this sparked the idea for a Fred Rogers display in the library.
The idea itself is very simple, the backdrop could be an image of the set from Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood, props are optional but a folded red sweater and a pair of sneakers should suffice as well as DVDs and CDs of the show and a selection of books by and about Fred Rogers and his creations.
The sweater and sneakers can be borrowed from colleagues or sourced from a thrift store/charity shop and are not strictly speaking necessry but would be eye-catching and recognizable to fans of the show.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a trilogy of books containing a mixture of urban myths and folklore that were compiled by author Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Caldecott-winning illustrator Stephen Gammell.
The stories and artwork terrified a generation of readers from 1981 to 1991. The books also muscled their way to the front of the ALA’s 100 most frequently challenged books for 1990-1991 and hit seventh place in the 2000-2009 frequently challenged list. The challenges were often down to the violence of the stories as well as the ” surreal, nightmarish illustrations” in the original books.
On August 9th, a film adaptation produced by horror-maestro Guillermo del Toro will be released by Lionsgate and CBS Films.
The movie and books release in August will be a perfect centre for a display along the lines of Tales to Chill the Warmest Months… featuring urban myths and horror stories for younger readers.
If you have never heard of or read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark then now is the perfect time to change that. These books are phenomenal and the stories are sure to chill the blood of all who read them!
This interactive display has been more popular than I ever expected, a simple question: Where would YOU like to live in the FUTURE? and then four options of future residences with little laminated astronauts for participants to stick under their choices rapidly mushroomed.
I could not cut out astronauts fast enough to keep up with demand (I eventually dragooned two colleagues in to help me keep up with demand), currently close to two hundred library patrons of all ages have participated in voting as can be seen in the image above.
If anyone would like to make their own display they may download images below. For the first time I have made downloads available in US and UK paper sizes:
A fairly simple idea using origami fortune-tellers (also known as cootie catchers, chatterboxes or whirlybirds) as a passive activity for library patrons to choose books or authors that may be diffrent from their usual tastes.
I have included a craft element for patrons that wish to learn how to make their own fortune-tellers to take away.
The instructions on how to make and use fortune-tellers can be found below.