ALL the New Fiction

Remember all of the awesome new fiction books we got last week?  Well, we got even MORE this week!  We have no room for all of the new books in the New Books display.  So, Amy wanted to try something new.

I took a portion of the new books and put them on the "back book display."  This is where I put most of our bigger displays.  We want to see if the books go faster from the back display as opposed to the New Books display that the students see as they walk into the library.

I've been creating informal tally sheets for each display to keep track of which books are checked out from each display.  I've done the same thing for this "display race."  Both displays have some pretty spectacular new books, so I hope a lot of books get checked out.

WHO WILL WIN???

VS.

For the back display, I did create some signage, so students would know what was up.  I even decided to use some Snoopy, because new acquisitions always make me want to do my happy dance.  Winning.

Finally, our awesome library technician, Paul, came up with some great yellow tags to put in each new book to flag it for students. 

Students here at Uni work so hard in their classes, but several do come in to check out books for pleasure reading.  A lot of them tend to check out the same authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, Tamora Pierce, Kristin Cashore.  All are fantastic, but I hope all of this teamwork to push the new books works, because they are awesome and deserve to be read, too!

Teen Read Week!

It's Teen Read Week!  

I promised I'd let you know about the shenanigans I'm trying to get our students to participate in, so here we go:

1.  FLASH US YOUR BOOKS!  I'm collaborating with friend Kristi Danger Murray Costello at Arkansas State University Writing Center for this one, everybody.  Her group had the great idea that everyone should flash their favorite books.

They are meeting at their campus' fountain, by the student union, on October 22 at noon.  Everyone will read aloud the first line of their favorite book.  Sounds awesome, right?  Well, we might not have a fountain to gather round here, but I am hoping students AND staff will come take a picture holding up their favorite book, so I can create an iMovie/slideshow.  So far we don't have any takers, but it would be a great way to participate with A-State's Writing Center, and I'd upload the iMovie to our YouTube channel at noon on 10/22, as the A-State students are reading.

2.  RECORD A BOOK TRAILER!  Supervisor Amy and I are hoping that this week's recorded book trailers are just a jumping off point for a year-long trailer drive.  We want to post these on our YouTube channel.  We ask, however, that the students have a small index card to consult during their reading/recommendation recording, so it's not just a bunch of rambling.  We'd like them to have a bit of structure and to have their book with them.  We want to continue to record these throughout the year.

3.  TEEN READ OUT!  We want to end the week with a read out.  During our Uni Period on Friday, we want students to come in and read their favorite poem, short story, or the first chapter of their favorite book.  We will have snacks to try to lure those teens in....MUHWAHAHAHA!

Didn't like my ideas?  Well, for Teen Read Week Inspiration, visit the official website.  There are programming ideas, products for purchase, and other information for this awesome week of reading.

I'm super excited about all of these activities, and I hope there's a high level of participation.  I'd love to have at least ten students present for the Teen Read Out on Friday.  We'll just have to wait and see!  Read on, Teens!  Read on, EVERYBODY!!!

Let's Go to the Movies!

It's here!  It's finally here!  We finally figured out where to put our monthly movie display.  My supervisor, genius that she is, suggested just making a small, mini-display SIGN and placing it on the circ desk.  Each month we can put the book that might be the most popular read/movie next to it.  NOTE: We had our one copy of Gone Girl next to the display for about 30 seconds before an undergrad student requested it.  :(  We had to ship it off to them.

Methodology, you ask?  Well, here it is: Each month I'll replace the titles portion of the board.  I envision just gluing the new sheet on top of the old.  I hope this works, so I don't have to mutilate and shape new cardboard every month.  (It took way too long for me to cut this cardboard from a huge tri-fold we had lying around.  More librarian problems.  Note to self: Learn how to better use an exacto knife.)

With this mini-display, we are publicizing the book to movie selections (like the student advisory committee wanted us to do), and we are utilizing the circ desk to have another layer of information (and fun!) available from where the students check out and ask reference questions.

So far I have already caught several students checking out the display...and mercilessly mocking Nicolas Cage's Left Behind effort.  (There's a grassroots student movement here where they post pictures in each other's lockers with Nic Cage's visage photoshopped on top of cats, princesses, or anything else.  Yes.  It IS mildly disturbing.  Upon seeing the display, one student exclaimed, "NICOLAS CAGE!  YES!"  I wouldn't be surprised, though, if a couple check out the movie just to laugh at him the whole time.)  This is awesome news!  Yay!

Suggestions Board & Tracking Books

TWO topics for the price of ONE post!  It's your LUCKY library day!

Suggestions Board:

My supervisor wants to make sure that the students have a voice in the library, and I couldn't agree with her more.  We want to know what books they would like us to purchase for THEIR library.  There is a small bulletin board inside the library, just to the left of our entryway.  Students can see it on their out of the library.  I tried to use bold colors (again), bold print, and inviting, eye-catching borders and clip art to make the board come to their attention.

My supervisor, Amy, started this board last year, and I've only added colors to make it stand out.  I have brainstormed a different theme for each month of the year, and I will change the Suggestions Board at the beginning of every month.  (I'm super excited about this!  Oh, and don't fret: I will post pictures of them, too.)  This board was all Amy's idea...and one that I will take with me to my library.

NOTE:  Amy suggested that there should be a pencil, and it most definitely should be attached to the board.  Oh, these high schoolers and always needing to steal writing tools.

Keeping Track of Display Books:

We have no way to mark or designate which books are on displays in our catalog.  Our catalog is connected to the entire catalog of the University of Illinois (which makes Uni High's library THE largest in the country, thank you very much).  But, for the student workers, there has to be some way to know what books go where.   What could I do?  How could I communicate with them?

It's simplistic.  It's old school.  It's...a list.

I've created a list of each display and what book is on them, and I've taped the lists onto the circulation desk..  If a book comes in to shelve, and I'm not here, the student workers (we are blessed with TWO), can look at that list and know where to put the books.  I will also keep a tally of which books are checked out.  (That will just be noted next to the title.) 

The Art of the Lib Guide

Oh, library guides (or lib guides for short)...I'll never forget my first time.

For those of you not in the know, a lib guide is like a mini-website.  It's usually made by the librarian or library assistant for a particular class in the school.  They are actually kind of fun.  My first lib guide was on The Roosevelts, and it was a team effort.  I received a list of sources from Head Librarian Amy, found some on my own, and also used the lib guide template from a previous project assigned by the same teacher.  (One thing that makes lib guides easy is you get to use previous lib guides as templates/inspiration.) 

It was fun digging up legitimate, viable sources on the Roosevelt family(--TR, FDR, and Eleanor are the focus of the class project).  The teacher of the class met with us, discussed her goals for the project, told us the project was to be going on at the same time as the PBS Ken Burns documentary entitled "The Roosevelts - An Intimate History," and then we got to fly on our own from there.  Amy assisted me in a brief lib guide tutorial, some spacing/layout advice, and then I got to cut/paste/drop the info where it needed to go.  A team effort for sure, and it was an enjoyable one at that.

I loved looking up the resources for the students to use and creating short, concise descriptions of each one for the lib guide.  I hope the students can use the lib guide, and I hope it helps them conduct their research and gain new knowledge into this important and influential American family.

Oh, and if you're really curious (and/or bored), you can check out my first lib guide HERE.