BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : November. Eh.

     So I had the library half-decorated for Halloween when I had to do jury duty. I hoped I would be excused after sitting around for a while, thus I left all my decorating stuff out in the library, thinking I'd be back the next day to finish it all up.

     But no, I ended up being selected for a case that took 8 full days, and was emotionally draining for all of us.

     So when I finally got back in the groove in the library, Thanksgiving was almost here, and I just quietly slipped all the Halloween stuff back into the storage room and slapped up one temporary November/Thanksgiving board, which you see below: 

We're thankful for... (genres)

     Eh. It's okay, but no great shakes. I already had all the elements in a November folder, having made the acorns and leaves a few years ago.
     I did think it was a happy coincidence that the November page of the My Little Pony calendar coordinated perfectly with my fall colors.

     One of the students had asked me when I was going to update our "Coming Soon" board behind the circ desk, because we finally caught up with all the upcoming releases. So I cruised our library's wishlist on Amazon for popular series, and put this list together:

Feb. 5th:

Cross My Heart, Hope To Die by Sara Shepard

(The Lying Game #5)

March 5th:

Day of Doom by David Baldacci

(39 Clues: Cahills Vs. Vespers #6)

March 5th:

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

(Delirium #3, the final book of the trilogy)

March 12th:

Chasing the Prophecy by Brandon Mull

(Beyonders #3, final book in the trilogy)

March 19th:

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

(Infernal Devices #3, final book of trilogy)

April 16th:

Fyre by Angie Sage

(Septimus Heap #7)

     A few little thoughts on this list: Cassandra Clare's series (plural) seem kind of cool, but the titles "Mortal Instruments," and "Infernal Devices" remind me too much of my beloved His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. I'm just referring to the titles, not the actual content. Haven't read Clare's work, yet.
     Regarding the 39 Clues sub-series Cahills Vs. Vespers, I think the publishers of that series must want to annoy library catalogers. It's bad enough each one is written by a different author, and I resorted to making the call # "FIC 39."
     And one more thing-- I think it's interesting that there always seems to be some apparent trend in the "Coming Soon" lists I put up. Obviously this one is March's trio of final books in trilogies. March being the third month. I GET it already. 3.

   

BACK TO SCHOOL LIBRARY BULLETIN BOARDS : part 1

Coming Soon in late 2012...

     So, I'm back at work after summer break.
     Things feel a little grim because the district is in such dire financial straits, and they followed through with their threat to eliminate all but ONE of the credentialed Librarians in our district. Which means all of us Library technicians will be running our libraries single-handedly ALL the time, rather than just half the time. It's a sad joke to expect ONE credentialed Librarian to manage 18 libraries.
     As of this writing the district hasn't even told our lone Librarian where she's supposed to report on her first day, whether she'll have an office at the district to work out of, or if she's supposed to just float between all 18 campuses, or what.
     Anyway, at least I still have MY job. For now.
     7th grade orientation is this week, likewise registration for all students, so I realized I needed to get something up on all the bulletin boards and display areas in the Library.

Ray Bradbury memorial wall

      One of the students asked me in mid-June right before school was out if we could do some sort of tribute to Bradbury in the Library, and I felt bad that I didn't have time right then to get something together. Better late than never, right?

Vintage Muppets library-themed poster featuring Kermit and Miss Piggy

      My site Librarian who just retired (since she would have been eliminated anyway), brought in this awesome old Muppets poster, which had a little bit of mold damage on it, but I carefully used some Windex and then laminated it. I love the Muppets and this old poster is great because there's absolutely NO nod to any current obnoxious trends. I'm guessing it's from the late '70s because of Piggy's outfit.

James Patterson article, plus "Maximum Read" poster, and various Patterson book cover images

      The now-retired Librarian was always bringing in book- and reading-related articles from the newspaper (the actual print version!), and I tried to use them around the library when possible. I figure it's a good idea to visually remind kids of various formats, and that it all counts as reading. Know what I mean? Print-rich environment, etc.

New book posters, plus My Little Pony calendar

      Behind the circ desk I did a simple board with some free book posters the Librarian and I grabbed at ALA in Anaheim this summer.
     We have a lot of Asians at this school, and I predict that the Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. will make some snipey comments about the poster that proclaims, "THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE."
     (I would)

"BEWARE: QUIET READING TIME IS SACRED." "A Library is for Peaceful Reflection..."

     Since the Librarian is now officially retired, not to be replaced, her old office was just sitting there, and even though it felt a little weird... Well, it's MINE now.
     To put some of my stink on it, I took an old Sweeney Todd movie poster, printed out my own slogans, and glued them over the original wording. Now it's a threatening library poster complete with a straight razor!
     I love working with the kids, and create a welcoming environment and stuff, but seriously- when it comes to my breaks, I want my book, a cup of coffee, and SILENCE.

COMING SOON

Gotta keep things fresh in the 'brary.

          When I started working here I thought it was weird that we had this big Whiteboard right behind the circulation desk.  Then eventually we found cool ways to use it.
          The "Coming Soon" wall is very popular with our students.  We highlight the series they're most frantic for.  They check the Coming Soon wall all the time, and let me tell you, we'd better have these books the DAY they're released.
          The most annoying part of maintaining it is figuring out the series #.  For some reason a LOT of teen and YA series don't want to make it CLEAR what # each book is.  I'm assuming it's a marketing tactic, so readers don't get put off by a book clearly marked "#9" or whatever, if they haven't read the 8 ones previous.  Anyway, sometimes I have to check Amazon and even the author's website before I find the #.
          Our students very specifically want to read series in order, starting from #1.  When I was a kid, I didn't mind reading #3, then backing up and reading the first two.  I thought it was kind of cool, almost like turning them into prequels.