LaterPost: What Did You Do on Unofficial?

Every year on the University of Illinois campus, a couple of weeks before Spring Break, Unofficial St. Patrick's Day "celebrations" take place.  This is basically an excuse for all-day binge drinking, or in some cases all-weekend binge drinking.  Since our school is on the UIUC campus, we can't help but be directly affected by this yearly gathering of green beer drinking yahoos...I mean, celebrants.  This year was different, though: this year the Uni campus was on lockdown.

The students were inside ALL DAY.  This was difficult for these young minds, who are used to being able to roam free throughout the campus for lunch and during their free period.  We did the best to keep them occupied.

We had an impromptu Game Day, which had pretty good attendance.  (And, during which I got to see faces I didn't even know.  Hey, when the chips are down, guess you better go to the library, huh?)

Amy gets in on the Bananagram fun! 

Here's the winning hand.

I also put up a lovely new Author Spotlight display for students to gaze upon.  (Pretty sure I saw ONE student notice.)  This month we're having a Pisces Party and spotlighting five different authors born in March under the Pisces sign.  (That title Amy's awesome idea.)

And, if those two efforts weren't enough, Paul created a new poetry contest to whet the students' appetites for National Poetry Month in April.  He's always had Poems of the Week posted, but few students ever take notice.  He brainstormed with another teacher to get ideas on how to highlight these awesome works of poetry he so carefully selects.  The display is now called Poem of the Whenever, and it comes with a quiz!  We've cleared the library doors of clutter, and the poems are now the focal point of the entryway.  Students can now read the poems, complete a quick quiz, and get a prize when they have all the correct answers.  (Yes, we let them use the poems while they take the quiz.  Yes, we let them correct the answers until they have them all right.)

It was a long day, but we all muddled through.  If anything, the students probably appreciate their freedom even more this week...at least I'd like to think they do.



SPECIAL NOTE: We had one student come in and complete the Poem of the Whenever quiz today.  He walked out with a pencil, a piece of chocolate, and a high degree of self satisfaction.

It's That Time of Year

Yes indeedy.  It IS that time of year.  So many commitments: final papers to write, books to read, presents to wrap, things to do...but life would be boring without a little stress to keep you on your toes, no? 

All of sudden November's over, and December's already in its ninth day!  Since my last post, we've celebrated Thanksgiving, an anniversary, and two December birthdays at our house.  I've been busy around the Uni Library, too.  (Maybe too busy?  I really need to finish a couple of papers, but I keep finding things to think about/do in the Dragon's Lair.) 

Our monthly bulletin board and circ desk have been updated:

There's been another successful Game Day:

MORE new books have been put on overflow display:

 Awww, SNAP.  One's already gone.  Nice.

Another newsletter has been published detailing our December events, AND two displays have been created (more on those later).  PHEW!  THAT'S A LOT! 

 Oh, it's still so much fun, guys.  I'm so, SO lucky to be working at this library, if only for a year.  I get to stretch my creativity with bulletin boards, dream up displays that I hope will get students' attentions (and draw them into more pleasure reading and less studying...MUWAHAHA!!!), I get to hone my research skills as I help students learn theirs, and I get to learn and work with consummate professionals, like Amy and Paul.  This is the sweetest graduate assistantship EVER, and I'm VERY thankful for it during this time of year (no matter how busy I get!).

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Here's a lesson for student advisory groups: If you ask for something or make a suggestion, there's a good chance that your librarian will in fact listen!

My supervisor has a student advisory group, and so far we are doing our best to implement what they desire.  Their requests are reasonable, well thought out, and will make their library a better place.  The first thing they wanted was a book to movie display.  I have started working on this, but with limited display areas in our library I haven't quite found a "home" for it.  My vision is for it to be a rotating display, constantly updated as the movies are released throughout the year.  More on this if I actually get it up and displaying.

The second thing they want is to know about the new books.  We try to do this with our New Books display, which is constantly updated, but the shelving unit we have is well...kind of horrible.

It's really hard to see the books through the black bars, so I decided to do another new book bulletin board.  (This is another Pinterest idea.  I've simplified it a bit, but I still think it looks good.)

The display has pictures of all of the library's newest acquistions since the school year started.  I will have to do this "new book" bulletin board throughout the year but with different themes.  I like this one: it's bold, eye-catching, has a fun border, and includes a text message and rhetorical question that will hopefully gets students' attention.

Finally, they asked for games (games, games, games, GAMES!).  No, not these games:

These games:

We tested this out for the first time today during Uni Period, and though it might not look like a lot of students attended, I thought it was great for a first go.  I love this programming idea from our student advisory board.  I want to keep the games coming.  Maybe once a month?  First Friday Game Day?  I'll work with the title.  Maybe by the end of the year we could even have this game to play:

Oh, a librarian girl from the late 80s/early 90s can dream, eh?