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!

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.)