Read something spooky!

By Gabrielle Meares

Thanks to Gaby for sharing her Halloween / Day of the Dead displays. 

There is some interesting detail in them. 

Here are Gaby's comments:

'This year I showed the students the difference between the traditions of Halloween and Day of the Dead. Mark the skeleton was dusted off from the science labs and adds a certain authenticity to the display! 

Our students are enjoying colouring-in Day of the Dead masks, making Day of the Dead paper marigolds and watching ‘spooky’ movies in the library at lunchtime'.

Halloween

 

By Fran Karmann

Another feast for the eyes from Fran - this time a themed display for Halloween.

Fran says they try to keep the students coming into the building by displays and a themed environment.

I'm sure it works! I would definitely keep visiting to see what new surprises there are.

These themed displays must take a lot of thought but don't need to cost a lot of money.

Take a leaf out of Fran's book (a great librarian pun):

• Change displays regularly.
• Try  extending a theme throughout the library, with surprises around each corner.
• Beg, steal and borrow props from everyone you know!
• Get help from the students.
• Be brave.
• Have fun!

Fall into a good book!

By Fran Karmann

Thanks to Fran for sharing her latest display - I love Fran's displays because they aren't limited to one space - the theme spreads all over the library and gives a great impression.

This year Fran has gone with mainly black and white with a little fall color. 

The books that are in black and white have (in the last photo) a quote in front of them to entice readers by the catchy quote, which she tells me has worked!

Creepy Woods Display

By Michelle Reid

This creepy display from Michelle should inspire us all as we think about Halloween! 

Here are her comments:

'The inspiration for this display came from a couple of different book blogs. One was on incorporating humor into library displays, and the other was on 10 books featuring creepy towns or creepy forests. “These Woods Give Me the Creeps” includes titles that feature creepy woods – perfect for October as we lead in to Halloween'.

Thank you for sharing Michelle.

Grab a good book

By Erika Brysiewicz

Thank you to Erika, librarian at Suriname International School in South America for sharing this display. A great display to remember for Halloween.

Hispanic heritage month

By Angela Burke Kunkel

A big thank you to Angela, a librarian in the southwestern United States for sharing this display.

A great way to celebrate Hispanic heritage month which runs from September 15th to October 15th. This display uses traditional Mexican papel picado and paper flowers, along with fiction by Hispanic authors.

Haunted

 By Elaine Pearson

I liked Karen Waschinski's idea of using 'haunted' as a theme for Halloween so I came up with this easy display.

The window is made from four sheets A4 paper. I chose a coloured background and simply inserted clip art pictures of spooky stuff. The letters were printed on card, cut out and strung on string. 

Leaf through a good book

By Susan Duncan

Thanks to Susan, Library Assistant at Lester B. Pearson High School for this display. Here are her comments:

'I covered a tabletop tri-fold with brown Kraft paper then traced a projected clip art image directly onto it. An outline in black paint and a bit of brown sponged color ended up giving me this very cute tree who is so obviously shocked to see all his leaves falling off. A fall garland tacked along the bottom of the display finishes it off quite nicely. Keeping with the fall colours theme, I choose books on a variety of topics to display on the counter around it'.

I do love your tree Susan!

Haunted

By Karen Waschinski 

At Stratford Public Library Karen is getting into the Halloween mood with two displays.

This one is called "Haunted" - here are her comments: 

'The Haunted display has spooky nostalgic items and a dark tone: an antique camera, a broken clock, a lock of hair tied with a black ribbon, along with a beautiful soft sculpture lady bear... doesn't she look like a mourner walking through a graveyard?' 

Thanks for sharing Karen - it is nice to see some different approaches for Halloween.

Get ready for Halloween

By Karen Waschinski 

At Stratford Public Library Karen is getting into the Hallowe'en mood with two displays.

This one is called "Getting ready for Hallowe'en" and features three crafts along with books to help you dig in: paper mache, card making and fabric pumpkin making.

Thanks for sharing Karen - it is nice to see some different approaches for Halloween.

Halloween

By Susan Kay

Sue needed a quick display to tide her over while preparing displays for her school's 75th reunion in November. This is pretty good for a quick display and will certainly draw the students' attention to the books - which is what it's all about! Thanks Sue and I hope the reunion goes really well.

Here are Sue's comments:

'I had bought this piece of fabric last year for next to nothing so that was my starting point. I pinned it up then added the net and a few black witches, pumpkins and boo signs. I had made the red back spider last year for a school assembly so that was dusted off and suspended from the ceiling. An old purple cloth was used on the display table and spooky books were collected from the shelves. That's it....done. Good enough to get me through the first couple of weeks of next term'.

Celebrate Halloween with some Devilishly Good Books!

By Barb Edwards

Remember this stunning display to use in October!

Thanks Barb - your displays are pretty amazing – in style, execution and idea!

Please click on the picture to see the detail.

Halloween

By Denise Borck
Denise Borck is the Media Specialist at William James Middle School in Statesboro, GA.
Denise's ghost is made from window screen mesh. Very clever - and creepy! For more grizzly photos and details of her display (and a great example of a library blog) take a look at 'LIFE IN THE LIBRARY'

Read tales of Horror

By Stephanie Trzeciakiewicz
As Halloween approaches why not take some inspiration from Stephanie's new display?

Stephanie is a Library Media Specialist in Virginia Beach and has done this timely display to highlight the Horror section.
She is in the process of genrifying the fiction section...changing it from alpha by author's last name to grouped by genres. I have never heard of anyone doing this with fiction before, it's certainly something to think about. Stephanie says it's a huge job (I bet!) but says it is already well worth it.

The closest that I have come to this idea is putting together some 'genre boxes' for classes of students to select from (just as a one-off). It's good fun and has introduced another way of looking at the collection.

Good luck with your project Stephanie and thanks for sharing your display.

Halloween - Ghosties and Ghoulies

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!

Halloween

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.

Halloween

[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!

Halloween

By Lisa Stofac
An opportunity to promote all those scary books! Lisa has "carved" the letters spelling READ out of the pumpkins. Lovely and bright - a real attention grabber.