Library Displays

Hidden Library Treasures

2011-12-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

By Suzanne E. Cucchetti
Suzanne, the Teacher Librarian from Grand Mesa Middle School, Colorado, US has sent this fabulous display of all her old treasures!

Here are her comments:
'While walking the stacks last week, I realized how many great books we have that kids have forgotten about. They ask me all the time for recommendations, so this display is sort of a mixture of books I’d recommend in each genre and also a “reminder” to the students that just because the book isn’t featured on the New Books table doesn’t mean it’s not a “treasure”.
When classes come into the library for the next few weeks, I’ll point out the display and remind kids of how to find great books that aren’t on display and give them an opportunity to add books to the display (as books get taken – my displays are always fair game).
Because the treasure chest is so cool (and it took me so long to create), the sign and the chest will travel to our neighboring high school next month and they’ll use the display there!'

Thanks very much for sharing it Suzanne. What a good idea to let other schools benefit from your hard work too!

Spring Migration

2011-11-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

By Amanda Kiely
Amanda does the displays for the children's section of the Ketchikan Public Library in Ketchikan, Alaska. Thank you for sharing your lovely displays Amanda.

This is another display specific to Amanda's environment which immediately makes it relevant to her students.
Is there anything in your area/community that can be linked with library resources to form a display?

Search for Amanda Kiely in the search box on this site to find more of her displays.

Salmon

2011-11-27T12:08:00.001-08:00

By Amanda Kiely
Amanda has taken something that is important to her community and focussed a display around it. Her students are bound to be interested by such a strong connection. Is there anything in your area/community that can be linked with library resources to form a display?
Here is what Amanda says:
'I have been so inspired by your site! I do the displays for the children's section of the Ketchikan Public Library in Ketchikan, Alaska. Our library is situated on the banks of a major salmon spawning stream, so the fish (and fish smell) dominate our summer'.

Do NOT Read these Books!

2011-11-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

By Amanda Kiely
Amanda does the displays for the children's section of the Ketchikan Public Library in Ketchikan, Alaska. Alaska - how awesome is that!

This is what she says about her display:
'I have been so inspired by your site! (great to hear this, thanks - Elaine). The banned books display I did got more attention than anything else I've done, probably just because it told the kids NOT to read those books!'

It's a very good display thanks Amanda. I love the way you have told the children not to read the books!

Guess the Reader

2011-11-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

By Cathy Fischbuch
Cathy Fischbuch from G.S. Lakie Middle School, Alberta, Canada has sent us this great competition idea which forms a fantastic display.
[Double click on the photo for a closer look]

Here are her comments:
'I accidently found your blog sometime last year, and I’ve been a follower ever since. The displays have given me inspiration and renewed energy towards creating theme displays for our middle school students. (That's great Cathy, thanks! - Elaine)
This year I started with a “Guess the reader” display, this involved getting our staff to cover their face (masking their identity) with a book they had read over the summer, a favourite book, or what they were currently reading. Students then tried to guess the identity of the readers. The winner of the contest got to go on a lunch hour book shopping spree, to choose books for our library. It was a great success and created a lot of interest in the library. Even the staff got involved with the guessing'.

What a fantastic prize Cathy I never would have thought of it! - Elaine

Banned Books

2011-11-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

By Michelle Olah
Michelle Olah Library Technician at Kincoppal-Rose Bay School sent these photos of her banned books library display.
She says: 'We created cards that the students had to turn over to find out why a book was once banned in the past and placed them around the library. The display was simple to create and a great conversation starter with the girls about censorship'.
Great idea Michelle! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Remembrance Day

2011-11-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

By Sue Kay
Sue Kay from Tincurrin Primary School, Australia sent these photos of her Remembrance Day display.
Sue has done the display on a mobile whiteboard this time as it was used for a service in the classroom for staff and students to refelect on those who lost their lives in the wars and will be used again on ANZAC Day for a short service for invited guests and families.
Thanks for sharing it with us Sue, I like the 'R for Remembrance'

The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies

2011-11-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

By Bree Forsyth
Here is a wonderful series of displays that Bree did for Book Week this year. They are gorgeous - this is what she says:
'This year I decided to base our display on the shortlisted (later to receive an Honour Award) book “The Tall Man & the Twelve babies. It’s been one of our storytime favourites this year, so we have recreated the characters to cause mayhem in the Children’s Area. Also I’m a huge Ruth Park fan & love her daughters’ work also. It might be the last works published by one of her daughter’s the late Kilmeny Niland who passed away in 2009. RIP
At the Children’s library entrance we have the Tall Man & the babies playing. Further down we have the climax when the tall man gets stuck in the cat flap! Oh no!
The colours & simplistic drawings “blew-up” really well with the overhead projector… I’m no artist & won’t pretend I drew a thing!'

The displays are obviously very effective and I'm sure the children loved them. This idea could be done with any favourite picture book. Thanks Bree.

Take off with a Good Book

2011-11-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

By Crystal Hutchinson
Here's a nice generic display which you can use to promote your favourite reads of the moment! The kite tails say READ READ READ ....
Crystal is a library aid at the Ellsworth Junior Senior High School. Thanks for sharing Crystal!

Optical Illusions

2011-11-09T16:13:00.001-08:00

By Sophie Blake
Sophie is the school librarian at Gladstone Park Secondary College (Melbourne Victoria Australia) and has kindly shared some of her displays with us.
This one has been popular with her students - Optical Illusions

Thanks Sophie. I find our books on Optical Illusions are also very popular with students - good for occupying boys on a rainy lunch break!

Here's one of the good books Sophie has on her display:

Refugee Week

2011-11-09T16:03:00.001-08:00

By Sophie Blake
Sophie is the school librarian at Gladstone Park Secondary College (Melbourne Victoria Australia) and has kindly shared some of her displays with us.
This one is for Refugee Week. I like the sub-title of Sophie's display which says: 'Read a true story and begin to understand..'

'Refugee Week is Australia's peak annual activity to inform the public about refugees and celebrate positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. Refugee Week 2011 was celebrated from Sunday 19 June to Saturday 23 June.
In 2012, Refugee Week will be celebrated from Sunday 17 June to Saturday 23 June, to coincide with World Refugee Day (June 20)'.
More details can be found on the website:
Refugee Week

Take a Dig at these Books

2011-11-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

By Sophie Blake
Sophie is the school librarian at Gladstone Park Secondary College (Melbourne Victoria Australia) and has kindly shared some of her displays with us.
This one is for Archaeology week. Sophie has included a World map of famous archaeological sites on her display, which looks really interesting.

If you would like to do a display for Archaeology Week next year this is the Australian site for details:

National Archaeology Week

Remembrance Day - 11th November

2011-10-31T13:08:00.000-07:00

By Sandra Hart

Remembrance Day (11 November) marks the anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War (1914–18). It is observed in Commonwealth countries to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty since World War I.

Thank you to Sandra Hart, Librarian at John Calvin School, Albany, for these photos of her Remembrance Day Display. Here are Sandra's comments:

'First I would like to say thank you for your great blog. As a part-time solo librarian it can be hard to come up with ideas for displays, your blog has helped me out many times. As a way of saying thanks to you and others who contribute I would like to share some of my displays.

For this Remembrance Day display I made lots of poppies using a pattern from here:

Tissue paper flowers for any occasion

We had received some posters from the Department of Veteran Affairs. I added a copy of the poem Flanders Fields and We shall keep the faith. I then had one of my volunteers look for books on wars - both Non-fiction and novels.

This display was very easy and very cheap but looks great'.

The Great Outdoors: Survival and Surviving

2011-10-31T12:51:00.001-07:00

By Sandra Hart
Sandra, from John Calvin School, Albany, reminds us that here in the Southern Hemisphere Summer Holidays are not far away! Yay!
She says:
'First I would like to say thank you for your great blog. As a part-time solo librarian it can be hard to come up with ideas for displays, your blog has helped me out many times. As a way of saying thanks to you and others who contribute I would like to share some of my displays.
This display about camping and survival in the outdoors was to coincide with a year 6 camp. As you can see I set up a tent and borrowed some camping supplies from the outdoor ed dept. The kids love the displays and the fairy lights look like stars I just used some Christmas lights. Once again we raided the books shelves for non-fiction and novels about the topic'.

Thanks very much for sharing this great display Sandra.

Halloween - Ghosties and Ghoulies

2011-10-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

By Gabrielle Karsai
Gabrielle (Library Assistant at Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta)reminds us that Halloween is just around the corner with her eye-catching display. She chose to narrow the selection to books that were specifically about ghosts and hauntings (with a few zombies thrown in).
Gabrielle says 'No vampires or werewolves were allowed as I think we are all very much over them!' Good thinking I say!

Poet-Tree

2011-10-06T13:29:00.001-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
I love the whole concept of Bree Forsyth's Poet-Tree (see Blog Post June 30th 2011). Here is my rendition! I thought all those bright green leaves were just right for the onset of spring.
Putting this display together was amazingly easy. I pulled one of the Wheelers book packages out of the recycle bin to make the trunk. The leaves have the names of poets on them and were gently folded in half at the trunk end to give some dimension.

A suprising number of our students enjoy reading poetry, this is our most recent aquisition:
'Does your face fit: Poems about fitting in and standing out'

Rugby World Cup 2011

2011-10-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

By Jocelyn Gardner
Jocelyn, Library Manager from Willowbank Primary School in Howick Auckland, has sent this dramatic display for the Rugby World Cup. I bet the students love the castle - it would be great to recycle it for another display. Here is what Jocelyn says:

'Our lovely caretaker Murray built a castle for us, as we Adopted Scotland as our second team. He also built the goal posts in which I suspended a blow-up ball.
I then collected all the giveways from the France/NZ game and put them on display'.

It's so nice that you have such supportive caretaker! Thanks for letting us see your wonderful display.

Spring 2011

2011-09-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

By Sue Kay
Sue Kay from Tincurrin Primary School sent this lovely bright and fresh display to celebrate Spring (sorry Northern Hemishere followers, but if you search the site for Autumn you will find some great displays!). I love the ants and artificial lawn Sue!
Here are Sue's comments:
'Once again I thought I would share with you our 'Spring' display. I just made some simple flowers to put on the board I had covered with crepe paper, then added a black border. Over the term during my spare time I had made butterflies, ladybugs and bull ants to place on the display. On the display table I have used a piece of artificial lawn in the centre and displayed books, a watering can and a bucket of paper flowers. I finished my display off with some great lettering I had downloaded off the internet. The kids were facinated with the artificial lawn!!'

Score with a Good Book

2011-09-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

By Joy
At the start of the American Football season, while her husband got stuck into the games, Joy was struck with inspiration to make a goal post for a library book display out of PVC pipes!

Here is her story, which is great fun:

'There are a lot of PVC pipes at Home Depot. Luckily a very friendly employee came over to see if he could offer any help and I issued him a challenge: to make a 3 foot tall goalpost for under $15. Challenge accepted, he drew ideas on the back of a receipt and got to work. We laid the pieces out and played around with the arrangement. He cut the pieces down to size and added everything together- it was $8.15! So then I bought some yellow spray paint to make it official.
I hemmed a yard of football fabric to add more to the display and then put my books out. The football is just an image I printed from google images and strung on fishing wire. This will definitely get the kids excited to read!'

It certainly will Joy! If you want to see the pictures to go with this story take a look at Joy's Blog: Story Crafting

Unfortunately, we can't guarantee such friendly and helpful service at every Home Depot!

Joy also gives a link to an awesome football book list by Katie at Just Ten Books!

Spring

2011-09-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

By Michelle Olah
Michelle, the Library Technician from Kincoppal-Rose Bay School in NSW, has sent in this lovely Spring Display. Here is what she says about her display:

'We wanted to share our new Spring Display which is promoting the books from the 2011 50 Books You Can’t Put Down list. To celebrate the coming of a new season, we gathered together the library’s indoor plants and purchased a few pots to “plant our books”!'

It works really well Michelle - no-one is going to miss it! Thanks very much for sharing.

If you would like to see the list of the 'Top 50 books You Can't Put Down' click on the following link:
Get Reading! 50 BOOKS YOU CAN'T PUT DOWN: Australia's Largest Celebration of Books

Chickalicious

2011-09-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

By Rosa Gray
Rosa is an old pupil of ours. She is training to be a librarian and working for Horowhenua Public Libraries. Here is one of her great displays. An eye-catching, pink, sparkly one for the girls.
Here is what she says:
'The hearts are just found on google images, and a dingbat font.
All fonts can be found for free from dafont, the book covers were copied from books we have and the 3d butterflies were made from a butterfly image off google.'
Thanks Rosa!

The Wild West

2011-09-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

By Fran Karmann
Franny has sent in several of her lovely displays. They are all very pleasing to the eye, with some great detail using related props. Hope you like her ideas and presentation as much as I do. Thanks Franny!
(Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the display in more detail).

Vampires

2011-09-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

2011-09-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Summer Reads

2011-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Princess Diaries

2011-09-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Careers in the Health Service

2011-09-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

St Patrick's Day

2011-09-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

Public Service

2011-09-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter

2011-09-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Moms

2011-09-11T14:35:00.001-07:00

Many Worlds, Many Stories

2011-09-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.

This one is a display promoting their Summer Reading Progamme: "Many Worlds, Many Stories"

Here is how Krystal made the balloons that are suspended in the display space:

'I paper mached the hot-air balloons. Once they dried, I spray painted them white and then painted on the stripes, then I took 2 pieces of twine and made an "x" on the top of the balloon and hot glued it down. After, I took a small dixie cup, wrapped it in brown tissue and punched 4 holes on the top rim then tied the twine to it. Last, I tied a piece of clear thread on top to hang it up with'.

Double click on the picture to see it closer. It's gorgeous Krystal! Thanks.

Spring into a Good Book

2011-09-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.
This one celebrates the onset of Spring. It's great, I love the way you have made the tree trunk Krystal.

The Very Snowy Day

2011-09-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.
This is a display where she recreated a scene from Ezra Jack Keats' "The Very Snowy Day"
It's a lovely one to celebrate winter with! Thanks Krystal.

Black History Month

2011-09-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.

This one is for Black History Month:
'We are not makers of history - we are made by history'
Martin Luther King

'Black History Month is a month set aside to learn, honor, and celebrate the achievements of black men and women throughout history. Since its inception, Black History Month has always been celebrated in February'. (About.com)

Your Library Card - Passport to the World

2011-09-06T17:44:00.001-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.
This is Krystal's current display promoting 'Library Card Sign Up Month'.
It's a great display Krystal, thanks.

Get Hooked on a Book

2011-09-06T16:44:00.000-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.
This is a lovely idea which could be used to promote books related to all things connected to seas and rivers, or a general selection of your favourite books of the moment!

Crochet Club

2011-09-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

By Krystal Morgan
Krystal does all the displays at the Victorvilly City Library in Victorville, and she has been kind enough to share some with us.

This one is a display put together to showcase some of the work their community crochet club did and to promote the club.

It's a great idea to do a display to promote a club or hobby.

Crochet it is becoming popular again, even amongst young people, who are inspired by the Japanese Amigurumi which literally means 'crocheted stuffed toy'. It is fast and great fun.

Our students are currently enjoying this publication by Cozy:

Roald Dahl Day - 13th September

2011-09-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

By Amy Hesterman
Amy Hesterman,(Elementary Librarian,Madison Christian School,Groveport,OH) remembered Roald Dahl Day, they celebrated all month and had a lot of fun! Here are her two great displays and what she says about them:

'I had one display in the lunch room (top picture) with interesting facts about Dahl himself (taken from the book "The Missing Golden Ticket") and made a large candy bar from poster board, foil, and purple paper. On a side note, to celebrate the month, one day during lunch each student received a small Hershey's candy bar when they came into the lunch room. In advance, I had put a gold star in 3 of the little candy bars. When told, students opened their candy bars simultaneously, found the "golden ticket," and 3 won a Roald Dahl book (wrapped like one of the Wonka Candy Bars) of their own. This was a really fun month for us in the library.

Second display (below) was in the library hallway. This was a giant book I made that had "Never a Dahl Moment" on the spine. The orange bubbles are simply titles of Dahl books, including the Roald Dahl calendar'.

Roald Dahl Day takes place every year on 13 September, on the birthday of the World's No. 1 Storyteller.
For more details and ideas see Roald Dahl Day
Have a peachy Roald Dahl Day in 2011!

Now Recommending ...

2011-09-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

By Amy Hesterman
Thanks to Amy,(Elementary Librarian, Madison Christian School, Groveport, OH) who sent in this great idea. Here is what she says about her display:

'Trying to mimic "Now Showing" signs from the movie theater, I created these posters to allow students to recommend books to their peers. I used black poster board, yellow circles to mimic light bulbs, quote bubbles for students' statements about the book (just taped onto laminated poster board so the poster can be changed periodically), and a picture of the student holding the book. In the space below, I used a wipe off marker to write the title and author of the book. While these were somewhat time consuming to make, I think they were well worth it and I am happy with how they turned out'.

Diary of a Worm

2011-09-05T19:57:00.001-07:00

By Amy Hesterman
Amy,(Elementary Librarian, Madison Christian School, Groveport, OH) sent in this gorgeous worm. Here is what she says about her display:

'Although this may be hard to see, I created a giant worm in the library hallway from Doreen Cronin's "Diary of a Worm" for my second graders. Each second grader completed a sheet that answered 2 questions:
"If I were a worm, I would like to...."
"If I were a worm, I wouldn't like to...."
I then glued their completed sheets to brown construction paper which created the body of the worm. Looking at a picture of worm, I tried to recreate his red hat out of construction paper as well. This took up a lot of hall space as I created two worms on either side of the hall'.

Lovely idea Amy, thanks. I bet the children enjoyed seeing their work combined to make the worm's body.

Rugby World Cup 2011

2011-09-05T14:24:00.001-07:00

By Jennifer Judd
Jennifer from Mahurangi College Library has sent in this great version of the World Cup Display. Here are her comments:

'I copied your idea for the goalposts but had to ask an obliging husband to make them from dowelling as I couldn't get the cardboard tubes anywhere. We printed out the flags from a British website called "activityvillage", and we have a display stand for the various lift outs from the NZ Herald and other magazines. We didn't have a big collection of current rugby books, but have been able to buy some really good ones this week from The Warehouse at great prices. The flag and ball are also from The Warehouse at very cheap prices. The ball is strung between the goalposts with fishing line so it appears suspended.
Hope this is helpful to anyone else'.

Thanks Jennifer!

One World, Many Stories

2011-08-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

By Michelle Olah
Michelle Olah, Library Technician at Kincoppal-Rose Bay School, NSW has sent in this creative and colourful display for Book Week. Here are her comments:

'I thought I would share with you our 2011 book week display. The idea was to connect an inflatable globe (which we purchased from the Australian Geographic store) with images of popular titles organised in genres to create a bit of interest and conversation between library visitors . We find it difficult to get secondary students excited about Book Week so we put in a lot of effort this year with our display. We also held a poster competition, created book trailers of the winning titles to play during breaks and had daily quizzes where the answers could be discovered by using our catalogue. We found it quite successful with our year 7 and 8students!'.

One World, Many Stories

2011-08-24T18:18:00.001-07:00

By Sue Kay
Gabi's display for Book Week 2011 inspired Sue (from Tincurrin Primary School WA) to send this wonderfully bright display in.

Here is her description:
"I used a single bed navy sheet (from home) for the background and printed out some eyecatching lettering for my headings. I made this mini quilt (it is actually to hang in my grandies playroom!) showing animals and countries that make up our world. The globes were either some we had at school or I brought from home. The six 'globes' on the wall were from clip art off the computer. This is the part of my job I love the most!!"

Thanks for your display Sue, it is a great part of the job isn't it! You are obviously very creative, I love the quilt and hope your grandies don't mind sharing the quilt!

Book Week in Australia this year is August 20th – 26th. The theme in 2011 is One World, Many Stories highlighting the ways in which cultural difference can be expressed and celebrated through literature.

More details can be found at: Children's Book Week (AUS)

One World, Many Stories

2011-08-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

By Gabrielle Karsai
Gaby from Parramatta has sent in this wonderful display linking stories to the world. Click on the picture to enlarge it and get a better view.

She says:
'We’ve been moving into a new library and I’ve finally been able to have my first display which is for Children’s Book Week. The theme is “One World, many stories”. I’ve photocopied covers of books in the collection and then linked them on a world map to the place where they are set. I also asked for teachers to lend us some globes: as you can see I received some beauties! We are also running a quiz, where the girls have to answer questions regarding countries (real and imaginary) in different books. Example: In what city does Clary Fray meet werewolves, demons and shadowhunters? (Answer: New York)".

I really like the idea of incorporating a quiz linked to this display.
If you want to see more displays by Gaby on this Blog use her name as a keyword search in the search box.

Rugby World Cup New Zealand 2011

2011-08-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
Having bought a good selection of rugby books to coincide with the world cup it was time to make a display to show them off!
I knew I wanted to make goal posts and, after a bit of thinking, asked our local soft furnishings shop if they could spare some inside rolls from material bolts. (Thanks Ashtons of Levin!)

After being painted white they looked quite good! The poster came from one of the books I bought. The flags were all printed from Google images. The rugby ball eventually stayed up with super-glue!

There are some good resources for display from the following sites:

Official RWC 2011 Site - Teaching Resources
SparkleBox

Aboriginal Art & Culture

2011-07-31T14:22:00.001-07:00

By Sue Kay
Students at Sue's school (Tincurrin Primary School) are studying aboriginal studies for the first few weeks of this term, so she set to work to create a display linked to the topic.
The result is this bright, eye-catching display.
Sue only used things she had on hand - aboriginal paintings from school packs, hessian and the aboriginal flag.
Thanks Sue for inspiring us to do some dispays linked to school topics and reminding us that we can use what we already have sitting around in our schools and libraries.

[Click on picture for details]

This Aboriginal Designs Source Book is one example from an excellent series by Search Press. The books contain line drawings which can be used for graphic and craft projects. There are over 23 different titles, I have just bought several and they are proving to be very popular.

Maori Language Week 4th - 10th July 2011

2011-06-30T20:36:00.001-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
Maori Language Week starts on Monday. I was able to get some great resources from the website Rauemi - Resources some of which I have used to put together this display. The writing inside the borders says 'Manaakitanga - respect for hosts and kindness to guests'.

Poet-Tree

2011-06-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

By Bree Forsyth
Another wonderful display from Bree. I love the play on words.
Bree says:
'I am constantly re-filling the “Poet-Tree”. Before putting this up some of our poetry books were only getting borrowed a couple of times a year, now they are constantly on loan. For this display I cut a tree trunk out of brown paper & did some bark lines with crayon. The leaves were made on Microsoft Publisher- clipart again with word art poet names over the top'.
Thanks Bree.

Wheelie Good Books

2011-06-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

By Bree Forsyth
Bree Forsyth, Children’s Library Assistant at Fremantle City Library (Western Australia) has sent this funny and artistic interpretation of the 'wheels' display. I love it!

She says:
'The “Wheelie big books” display has been a real hit- the kids love a pun & the simplicity of the display means it’s easy to make - the wheel picture is from clip art'.

Banned Books

2011-06-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

By Carrie
Shelagh from Barkly College Library in Northern Territory, Australia has sent this photo of a display put together by Carrie based on Banned books. In the speech bubble she has explained why the books were banned. This generated a lot of discussion with the students and staff. Shelagh says many of the books were borrowed out of curiosity.

It is an interesting selection, for more details of banned books click on the link below:
ALA Banned Books Week

Bee a Reader

2011-06-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

By Ellen Dutton
Ellen Dutton from Evelyn Grace Academy in London has put reading displays in different classrooms. She has made the theme relevant to the subject and it works really well! Ellen says that they are trying to create a strong reading culture in their school and also show that students who love reading generally do better in all different subjects.

I think it's a really good idea and would like to do a similar thing myself. It is a great opportunity to use display to promote the library, and reading, to subjects that rarely use the library resources. Thanks for sharing Ellen.

Reading is at the Heart of it all

2011-06-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Take a Bite out of a Good Book

2011-06-21T14:05:00.001-07:00

Fly Away with a Good Book

2011-06-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Take a Look

2011-06-20T17:51:00.001-07:00

By Pamela McKirdy
Here's a really strong display from Pamela (Wellington East Girl's College).
It's a real eye-catcher!
She used CD's for the eyes and found books with big eyes on the covers covering a range of topics. I am now intrigued by how many 'eye books' we have in our collection!
I love it, and I'm sure your students do. Thank-you Pamela.

NB You could go one step further and add under the display ... borrow a Book!

Harmony Day

2011-06-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

Harmony Day is celebrated around Australia on 21 March each year. It's a day where all Australians celebrate their cultural diversity. The day is also the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
For more details check out the following website: Harmony Day

By Carrie
Shelagh Walsh, Library Technician from Barkly College Secondary, Northern Territory, Australia has sent us these photos of banners and displays that Carrie, her talented Library Aide, put together for Harmony Day a couple of years ago.
Shelagh says: 'The banners were made as a class activity by Middle School students and were then hung up. The display had hands with photos of some of our staff from other countries so that students and staff could gain an idea of what a multicultural school we are. We also followed this with a week long program of activities in the Library during lunchtimes with staff teaching handicrafts from other countries – e.g. floral garlands from Kiribati and origami from Japan'.

This is a great idea for those of you who have very litle wall space for displays - create hanging displays in the form of banners!
It is lovely that Carrie has used the children’s work to make the displays, they look amazingly bright and cheerful and I’m sure the students enjoy being reminded of their creativity when the visit the library.

Maori Language Week 4th - 10th July 2011

2011-06-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Maori Language Week is coming up soon.
The theme is "Manaakitanga” - respect for hosts and kindness to guests.

This website is an excellent resource for bilingual signage:
te reo Maori in Libraries

Check out the official website for information and ideas:
Maori Language Week

Back to School Bus

2011-06-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

By Tonya Cross
Tonya works in the Children's Room of the Dayton Metro Library's Main branch (Ohio). Each month, 3 staff tackle 5 different display areas - quite a task! Last fall, her co-workers challenged Tonya to turn their large display case into a school bus for a "Back to School" display. She created this wonderfully bright display which I'm sure made every child feel welcome!
Well done Tonya, I love it!

Check out Dayton Metro Library's great website:
Dayton Metro Library

Wheels

2011-06-08T13:56:00.001-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
Here's another one for the boys!
I visited 'Tony's Tyre Service' and got an old car tyre, cut out the letters to spell 'Wheels' stuck them to the tyre and collected together all my books on cars and bikes - fiction and non-fiction.
Cost - nothing!
Time - minimal!
That's the way we like it!

PS The book 'Motormouth' by Sherryl Clarke is great. I use it with my reluctant reading group who love it because of the story and the fact that it is a verse novel so there is less text and lots of lovely white space on the page, with pictures too! A real winner. [Click on the picture for more details]

The Colourful World of Reading

2011-06-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

By Alynn Tiongson
Alynn Tiongson from Bangkok has sent in a lovely colourful interpretation of Annalise Taylor's 'World of Books' display.
She cut a big circle using light blue poster paper then used small scrap coloured papers and folded them to look like books and handwrote different classic titles. She printed the title and mounted it with what was left from her blue poster paper.
The end result is very eye-catching. Thanks for sharing it Alynn.

Samoan Language Week

2011-05-30T18:06:00.001-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
Talofa Lava
June 1st - 7th is Samoan Language Week, the dates selected to coincide with Samoan Independence Day on 1st June 2011
We invited some of our Samoan students to help with this display and found some of our best books about Samoa and Samoan tradition. Click on the picture to get a closer look. I think you will agree that they have done a great job!

Reading is Out of this World

2011-05-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

By Nickie Slater
Nickie teaches at Eastern Hutt School in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. She enjoys creating displays to delight and inspire her students and has shared this lovely one relating to reading. It's great - thanks Nickie!

Dear Diary ...

2011-04-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
This is another simple display. I printed off a copy of a diary page from google images, enlarged it and stuck it into an excercise book then cut the book to fit. I chose the date on the diary page to be the first day back to school next term. See the detail below.

We have a wonderful and diverse collection of books written as diaries. I have found that many students love the way that diaries present as short chunks of reading and many reluctant readers feel more confident to pick one up.
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is proving to be popular with students of all levels and ages. You can see from the photo that we have the whole collection of the 'My Story' books, if students like them (and many do) they often like to read through them all. The Louise Rennison books hardly need promoting as they are rarely on the shelves and Liz Rettig has also become popular.

A World of Books

2011-03-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

By Annalise Taylor
Annalise, the librarian at the International Community School in London (and originally from Auckland) has sent us this photo of the display she put together for World Book Day - A World of Books.

She says:
" It was very simple to construct. I selected all my blue or green books and laid them out in a rough circle on the floor. Thinner books were simply bluetacked to the wall. Thicker books had a rubber band around all of the book except the cover then were attached by 3m sticky pads (apparently/hopefully removable). I had some help from my book club and other students in the library at the time. The display has attracted so many remarks that I am loath to remove it - but we need the books back!"

It's a stunning display and a great idea. I bet it looks even more amazing from a distance! Thanks Annalise.

For anyone wanting more information about World Book Day Take a look at the website:

World Book Day

100

2011-03-30T12:57:00.001-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
This super-quick, super-cheap display is a great way of bringing together books from different genres. I found books on painters, sports people, cakes, composers, engineering feats, just about everything .....
The covers that I have photocopied to brighten the display are from a series which I don't think is available anymore but you can use covers from any of the books you find in your library. The cartoon '100' was from Google images.

These fascinating books by Anna Claybourne have been very popular in our library:
100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet
100 Most Awesome Things on the Planet
100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet

Just out of interest I did a search on one of the online bookshops I use and got some very interesting hits. One for our reluctant boy readers which I have ordered:
Top Gear - 100 Fastest Cars

And one for me, which I have reserved at our local public library:
The 100 Thing Challenge by Dave Bruno

Happy Displaying,
Elaine

Who Kidnapped the Easter Bunny?

2011-03-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

By Kateri Wilson
There is lots of fun behind this new display by Kateri. Read about it, and get some more ideas, from her excellent Blogs:

Bear Bahoochie: The Snow Days and Holidays of a Crafty Librarian Guider.
JYHS Library Blog

Thanks for sharing once again Kateri.

Free Your Mind: Read Every day

2011-03-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

By Glee Stormont
Spring has sprung in Kailua and Glee has sent us her wonderful celebratory display to see.
I love the way the butterflies morph into books.
I think this display could be used successfully at other times of the year too.

Fuel Your Mind

2011-03-09T17:40:00.001-08:00

By Elaine Pearson
I have used this simple display to promote some fact books, maths books, car books and science books. You could, of course, use this to promote anything from your collection. I have found that the boys have particularly gravitated towards it and I have taken advantage of their interest.
Try 'Fuel Your Imagination' for promoting fiction books.
The fuel gauge is from Google Images and has been enlarged.

Across the Story Bridge

2011-03-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

By Narelle Robertson
Thanks to Narelle, the AudioVisual Technician from Santa Sabina College [Sydney], for sharing this dramatic display idea which she used for Book Week 2010. I really like the idea of making 'books' out of old VHS boxes.

This is what she says about the display:
'Here are some photos of our library display for bookweek 2010
It was very simple to make.
We used old VHS tape boxes with photocopies of book covers inserted.
Then we drilled a hole throught the boxes to ‘stack’ them to make pylons.
Then using a plank of wood with a hole drilled into it at each end, we built our bridge.
We used old plastic tubs painted as bricks donated by boost juice,
We placed house bricks (which had holes in them) in the base of the tubs to anchor the whole bridge.
We then printed the banner associated with book week, and added our cut-out children.

Fill Your Trunk With Books

2011-03-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

By Tameka To
Here's another display from Tameka with a strong visual image and message. It certainly draws your attention to the books on display. To fill in some extra space in the background she added some interesting facts about elephants. Thanks for sharing Tameka.

To find other displays by Tameka just type 'Tameka' in the search box on the Library Displays home page.

National Sea Week 2011

2011-02-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

By Elaine Pearson

February 26 – 6 March 2011.
Sea Week is an annual event run by the NZ Association for Environmental Education. The theme for 2011 is Back to the Future! The culture, history and traditions of the sea. Kia kaha tangata moana!

For more details and some great free resources check out: NZAEE Sea Week

Our teachers went off to a paid union meeting yesterday afternoon and the students were sent home. I took the advantage of a quiet afternoon to prepare this display for Sea Week. I simply tore some strips of coloured sugar paper (courtesy Art Department) into wavy lines to create sea and sand, got some cheerful images of sea creatures from Google Images which I printed on white card, cut everything out and put it together on the display board. The poster was printed from the Sea Week website and laminated.

There is a wide choice of books to display, I found some books about sea life, some adventure sea stories and some fiction stories based on a sea theme. Don't forget Seal Boy which matches this year's theme well and Kevin Boon's Whalers and Sealers:

It's all about Love

2011-02-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

By Elaine Pearson
I was sitting thinking about a display for Valentines Day. I haven't done one for a couple of years and have loads of new books to promote.
As I was pondering the International Students came into the library for a meeting and an idea popped into my head:
I gave them some pink paper and asked if they would write "I love you" in their home language. Later I cut them out into hearts and put them altogether to make this display. It pleased them to be asked and see their languages displayed.

This is a good site if you need more languages:
I love you in 100 languages

From GoodReads, "Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along." Look out for the sequel: 'It's not summer without you'.

Lights..Camera..Read!

2011-02-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

By Stephanie Huffnagle
Stephanie is a librarian at McGrath Library at Hilbert College, a small liberal arts college located outside of Buffalo, NY, USA.
She has shared this "Lights..Camera...Read!" display focusing on books turned movies and movies from books.
To get students interested in the display they gave away free bags of popcorn to the first 20 students who borrowed a movie.
Stephanie included some classics, such as 'To Kill a Mockingbird' along with some new favourites such as 'Twilight'.

I like the clever "lights..camera..read!" wording. It's lovely to see yet another successful interpretaion of the popular movies/books theme. Thanks Stephanie.

50 Book Challenge

2011-02-03T12:06:00.001-08:00

By Elaine Pearson
Bridget Schaumann, the Librarian at King's High School, Dunedin, wanted a competitive reading competition which had decent prizes to raise the profile of reading in the school. We all know how boys love competition!
She developed the '50 Book Challenge' and has been willing to let others use the idea in their schools.

So, this year I am starting it here...
I am running it basically the same as Bridget with a few adaptions for our school. The students sign up to the competition. Books must be at least 180 pages long and must be from the school library. They have to fill in a short form to have each book counted. At the end of October every student who has reached 50 books receives a certificate and small prize. The student who has read the most books gets a $50 book token and two runners up get $25.

My display shows our two top readers from last year - a year 9 and year 12 student who tied at 104 books each. They are pictured next to the piles of books they read which they found for themselves and dutifully put back. It was very interesting and rewarding for them (and me)to physically see what seven months of reading looked like! I was so delighted that these two students were so proud of their achievement. It sent a great message to the rest of the school.
The books on display are generic collection of popular books - a good introduction for our Year 9's.

Many thanks to Bridget for sharing her idea.
Take a look at her school library Blog.
She has just posted a wonderful video of Julian Smith rapping about reading a book: King's High School Library Blog

Manga Mania

2011-01-31T18:35:00.000-08:00

By Glee Stormont
Glee and her 13 year old son created this great display at the request of the librarian, it seems she has a stalwart group of young boys who can't get enough manga. It is actually quite popular here too, there are a group of students who enjoy creating the style themselves.

Our students have enjoyed this book which includes digital animation.

'Red' any good books lately?

2011-01-31T18:07:00.000-08:00

By Kelly Butcher
Here is Kelly's lovely variation of the 'red any good books' display.
I love the trolly!
Thanks Kelly.

The Snowy Day

2011-01-31T17:36:00.001-08:00

By Kelly Butcher
This lovely display by Kelly was inspired by the art in the book. She then used the display to place all of her snow books.

Have a peep at her Library Blog:Lemme Library

Let it Snow

2011-01-31T17:23:00.000-08:00

By Kateri Wilson
Kateri and her students have approached the worst weather in the UK for over forty years very creatively by producing their very own library snowstorm!
She used it for her Christmas display so the books are festive reads.
Thanks for sharing it and we hope it's warming up over there now!

The Gift of Reading Lasts Forever

2010-12-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

By Glee Stormont
Here is Glee's holiday display for the Kailua Intermediate School library.
She made the wreath from a dictionary she picked out of the free bin at the public library's used book store. I LOVE it!
The gift of reading does indeed last forever - what a great Christmas display Glee - thank you!

Winter

2010-12-06T12:27:00.001-08:00

By Judith Dickson
Judith is a Teacher Librarian at Weber Elementary, in Iowa City, Iowa.
She has shared these delightful pictures of her winter library display and says:

'One way to create a nice winter feel in the Media Center is to have Gingerbread Libraries on display. This week, we had 30 5th/6th grade student helpers come in for the special project of constructing them! They had a ball and ate lots of candy while designing them! The new book table certainly attracts attention with 15 Gingerbread Libraries of varying sizes nestled amongst the books!'

A very timely display as many of you in the Northern hemisphere battle (and enjoy?) the snow. It's a wonderfully creative and yummy way to get the students involved and I can see that it would attract plenty of attention! Well done and thanks Judith.

Read Something Delicious

2010-12-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

By Kelly Butcher

Kelly says:
'This display was inspired by a photo on your blog- it is all books about food. I used a checked tablecloth, and put pans and hotpads on the shelf. I hung kitchen utensils from the ceiling'.

The result is great Kelly, well done and thanks for sharing!

Chick Lit

2010-12-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

By Kelly Butcher

Kelly's comments:
My Chick Lit (for girls) display is all pink and girly books. I bought the boxes at Target- they can be moved in to any position and tacked together.

Good one! - thanks Kelly.

Chick Lit

2010-12-01T13:33:00.001-08:00

By Kelly Butcher
A completely different take on Chick Lit!

Here are Kelly's comments:
'The Chick Lit display is a play on my "Chick Lit for Girls" display... It is all the best chicken books in my library. I used an old ladder and placed extra bookshelves on the rungs'.

Lovely! I like the way you use the ladder as a shelf Kelly, it's a really good idea.

Fall is in the air

2010-12-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

By Kelly Butcher
Kelly sent this message to the Library Displays Blog:

'I feel like I should share some of my displays since I have found your website to be so inspiring and helpful! I am the teacher librarian at Lemme School in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. I am always looking for a new display to grab my kids!

For this fall book display. I used an old ladder, a wooden basket, some fake fall leaves and little pumpkins as decorations. I put all of our fall, pumpkin and leaf books on the display'.

Thanks for sharing your great displays Kelly.
If you would like to see Kelly's Library Blog click on the following link:

Lemme Library

iRead - Connect at the Marriott Library

2010-11-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

By Bess Gonglewski
Here's a clever display by Bess that is sure to catch the attention of our techno-savvy students.
Its message is that through the library, like an iPod, students can 'connect' with books, ebooks, the on-line bibliography tools as well as all the databases. Each square is a different e-tool or type of book.
This could be a great way to visually back up the introduction of your library resources to new students as part of library orientation.

Whip up Something Fabulous

2010-11-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

By Bess Gonglewski
This is a cookbook display, with various whisks hanging from above and cooking implements mixed in with the books. Click on the photo for a more detailed look.
I like the idea of the hanging whisks, they give added dimension and interest to the display but are not hugely time consuming to put together.
Thanks again Bess.

Banned Books

2010-11-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

By Bess Gonglewski
Thanks for sharing this display Bess. Cliick on the photo to see the detail - I like the strong image of the ropes binding the books, it gives a lasting impression to the display.

'Banned book week' in the USA is is an annual event against banning books and celebrating the freedom to read. It is held during the last week of September, you may like to time a display to link with this.
More details can be found at the following link:

American Library Association">Banned Books

Rake in a Good Read

2010-11-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

By Bess Gonglewski
Bess Gonglewski is responsible for the displays and bulletin boards at the Marriott Library at the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland (USA).
This is a lovely bright, eye-catching display. Bess says that it's all made out of paper (the brown is all recycled, the rake made of rolled up paper, and the book covers are color copies).
Thanks for sharing Bess.

Myth, Magic and Legend

2010-11-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

By Glee Stormont
Another lovely display by Glee. I think this is a great topic and would potentially get lots of interesting books movng off the shelves. Love your lettering Glee! Thanks.

These books by Anthony Horrowitz are popular because Horowitz's reputation as a great storyteller goes before him...

Halloween

2010-11-02T19:42:00.001-07:00

By Sheryn Smith
Sheryn, Library Administrator at Wairoa College has been busy remodelling her library for halloween! Scary things sway overhead ... things move when you don't expect them to .... I'm sure the students appreciated this gory transformation!
Thanks for sharing Sheryn.

Oh the places we have been...AND...the places we will go

2010-11-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

By Mary Beth Spivey
This is a great display by Mary Beth Spivey, Library Media Specialist at Riverside Middle School, Evans, Georgia. She used it to start the new term off with a very positive message, celebrating the activities of summer and encouraging the students to try new activities in school. I love the way Mary Beth has used the wordle idea.
This is what she says:
"To start the new school year off, I wanted the students to be aware of fun school events/clubs they could expect throughout the year by comparing it to typical activities they may done over the summer. Using wordle.org, I created a display of activities “words” with the saying…”Oh the places we have been AND….. the places we will go”. I used real flip flops to emphasize the summer activities, and tennis shoes, cleats, etc. for the school activities. It’s been a great visual for students (especially 6th gr.) to learn of various team sports and clubs offered at the middle school level".

Click on the link below to find out more about Wordle:
Wordle

Halloween

2010-10-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

[Click on the pictures for a closer look]

By Heather Stapleton
Heather works at a Catholic boys secondary college of 1400 boys and says that the horror genre is very popular at her school. 'The boys really enjoy the Skulduggery Pleasant series and one of our booksellers gave us the life size cut out of Skulduggery (he is a very popular addition to our library). Other popular titles are the Darren Shan series, Wardstone chronicles, Darkside series, Mortal instruments and the Twilight series. The skeleton strikes many interesting poses. The horror display would be one of the most popular at our college'.

Thanks Heather, love the display and it is certainly worth befriending your local bookseller, the Skulduggery cut out is great!

Horrible Histories

2010-10-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

By Heather Stapleton
Heather is a library technician working at St Joseph’s College, Geelong, Victoria. Thanks for sharing the "Horrible History' display. It's a good one - I like the use of the plants.

Banned Books Display

2010-10-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

(Click on picture to enlarge)

By Gabrielle Karsai
In the USA books are regularly banned and removed from schools and public libraries. This may be at a national or subnational level (when legal penalties for infraction are applied) or at a local community level.

Gabby (Library Assistant at Our Lady of Mercy College, North Parramatta, Australia) has put this display together to raise her students’ awareness to how lucky they are in Australia regarding the lack of censorship. She especially chose titles that are her students’ favourites, i.e. Twilight; My sister’s keeper; Harry Potter etc.
A very thought provoking display which should initiate some intetesting discussion.
Thanks Gaby.

'Banned book week' in the USA is is an annual event against banning books and celebrating the freedom to read. It is held during the last week of September, you may like to time a display to link with this.
More details can be found at the following link:
American Library Association

Red any Good Books Lately?

2010-10-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

By Elaine Pearson
Possibly not the most artistic and creative display ever - but boy, was it quick!!
It took me about 15 minutes to cut out the letters and I used recycled card so it was also free. It was easy to find lots of red covers from the collection!

The idea came from Kateri Wilson's excellent Blog from James Young High School in West Lothian, Scotland:

JYHS Library Blog

Bookopoly

2010-10-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

Detail:

By Tameka To
This is an extremely inventive idea by Tameka. The students must have found it very intriguing - I certainly did!
Here are the details from Tameka: "The second board took a while to make but I knew I wanted to make it for the new school year so I would make up a couple of board pieces whenever I had a little bit of free time. I chose the popular books from my schools and found pictures of their book covers. I printed each one off on a regular size piece of paper and then cut out different coloured construction paper for the top of each board piece. The "Bookopoly" letters are popping out from the bulletin board by attaching them with straight pins, pushing the pins into the board just enough to stay and then pulling the letters to the front of the pins".

Bury Your Head in a Book

2010-10-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Detail:

By Tameka To
Tameka has shared another of her wonderfully creative displays, this time a friendly Ostrich with its head buried in a good book!
Here are her instructions: "The Ostrich is created by rolling up pieces of paper that I found in the recycling bin. I rolled the paper diagonally and then taped it to keep it rolled up. I rolled with the printed side of the paper showing to make the black and white colour of the feathers. I cut a cardboard box into a large egg shaped and glued the paper rolls to it until it looked right. Make sure you use some strong glue so it doesn't fall apart. It really won't look like anything until you finish the project! I cut the head and feet out of consruction paper and attached the body of the ostrich with thumb tacks. I also put some random ostrich facts on the bulletin board to fill up some more space. A lot of people comment on the fact that they liked that I used recycled materials to make it. I attached a close up picture of the body in case anyone needed a better look".
Thanks Tameka, I love it!

Fall for Books

2010-10-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

By Glee Stormont
It's Autumn in Hawaii and Glee has shared this lovely Fall display - a great one to promote all your favourite books!
Thanks Glee

Blast off with a Book

2010-10-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

By Helen Muxlow
Helen Muxlow, Library Manager from Karori West Normal School has let us share her wonderful Space display. It makes a great impact! I like the title 'Blast off with a Book' and the school initials on the rocket. The rocket is made of card and just staple gunned to the wall giving a semi 3D shape.
Thanks Helen.