Collection Development

I know this has nothing to do with displays or programs. However an important part of my job is collection development. That means that I have the opportunity to help keep a section in the library filled with reading materials.
My area is the paperbacks for adult readers. I love ordering new books! But there comes a time when old and unpopular books need to be "weeded." I spent a good amount of time in October reviewing books and deciding what to "let go."

Some of the books I decided to delete.

Some of the things I watch for:

• Books falling apart (then I have to decide if a new copy needs to be ordered)
• Age of the book
• How often does it check out?
• When was it checked out last? (this time around I deleted books that had not been used in 4 years)
• How many times has it been checked out?
• Is it part of a series?
• Do we own it in another collection?
• Is the book out of print?

Weeding is a little stressful because I don't like to get rid of books. So it is good to keep in mind that 1) they go to the Friends of MPL Book Sale and 2) it makes room for more new books.

Dinosaur Books

This month we have first grade field trips. They are always asking for the dinosaur books. So I have taken books from the nonfiction section upstairs and put them on display downstairs near the children's area to make it easier for them to check out.

I am only putting 15 books out at a time so that one class does not take them "all" at once. 

For the sides I used dinosaurs from a past bulletin board. 

I love how simple this was to throw together and the kids get so 

excited when they see it. Now the challenge will be to keep it filled.

Banned books week 2016

Its that time of year again to celebrate our freedom to read. This year instead of just displaying the books I wanted to make the display interactive.

 Poster and bookmarks are from ALA. Lists are from their website found here.


 First I took 6 books that are on the banned/challenged books lists and randomly copied 6-8 pages front and back, plus the cover. I then took these copies and cut them up and shredded them (individually so I could keep the books separate). I then gathered the shredded papers and stuffed them into a jar. We are having a contest to see if patrons can name the books in the jars.

Reference book, so titles can be looked up.

Stickers in the books are left over from summer reading last year.

Lists from years past contain the top 10 banned books for each year. (We posted 10 years).

Classics; Read Return Repeat

Classics can always be found at the library and it is always fun to highlight them.
This is a display I did back in 2013 and decided to redo again this year.

Read Return Repeat with a recycling symbol. 

 Original idea came from a library bag from upstart.

Side view of book display. I used letters cut from the cricket machine in white and glued them onto green arrows. I free handed the guy in the middle and glued it all onto a big green circle.

Display is filled with classic books from all ares of the library.

To make the sign on top I color copied the side picture and shrunk it down. I also added our library pamphlet that lists several of the classics that are available at MPL.

First lines

Each book has the first sentence from a book written on the front. Library patrons must try to guess the book

After they guess they can open the "book" to see the correct answer.

May the 4th be with you

Star Wars book display for the month of May.

The force is strong with those who read.

I love the images used. They are from here.

Filled the shelves with Star Wars books for all ages.

bookmark found on Pinterest that we printed on colored paper.

Minions

I realized when I took down the minions display that I forgot to take pictures of it. So, I have a few pictures for the parts and pieces used. The display was filled with popular books.

Pattern for minions is found here.