Selling Your Library – Creative Displays

I was in downtown Edmonton last week for an APLEN meeting at the Stanley Milner Library.  While waiting for the elevator, I had the opportunity to glance at some of the display cases.  Like my hometown library, which, as a child, I visited weekly and during the summer daily, the displays did not have a single book in them, but they inspired me to read.  The passing glance before the elevator doors shut off my view was of amber coloured pottery.  Without time to read the display cards my mind considered the possible origins of those rounded pots.  Their shape made me think of the clay pots I brought back with me from Africa, but the glazing of these was too fine.  I next thought Aztec and Mayans, but the decoration of these pots did not match my experience of those cultures either.  My curiosity was piqued.  I wanted to know more.

And that is exactly what a library display should do: intrigue, inspire and encourage curiosity.  While books tend to be the focus of libraries, displays don’t have to be book-focused.  By choosing a topic, theme or day to celebrate, providing visual stimulation and a few interesting and/or entertaining facts, you may find that people will want to discover more.

I realize that a good number of libraries within the Northern Lights System are rather limited on space.  Your displays do not have to be big, so long as they are eye-catching.  To make a display eye-catching it should be at eye level.  I’ve been in libraries where displays have been set out on low tables.  The only way I noticed them was by accidentally walking into the corner of the table – ouch!  By then I was too grumpy at the darn table for bruising my thigh to enjoy the display.  Set displays on the tops of low shelves, on the corner of circulation desks, or the old stand-by, a bulletin board, is generally effective.

Use strong colour.  I’m not a fan of neon and find it painful to look at, but in small doses it can be highly effective.  Look at your library’s décor.  If your walls are that standard yellowy-beige, consider purple as a strong colour to work with (opposite yellow on the colour wheel).  Or use contrasting colours within the display itself (red with green, blue with orange, yellow with purple).

The next two things to keep in mind are planning and change.  Don’t just throw up a display for the sake of having a display; the end result tends to look, well, thrown up.  Plan a calendar for yourself.  Your displays really should not be up for longer than 6 weeks, so try coming up with a new display for each month.  Keep a list of ideas for displays months down the road, giving your brain time to percolate ideas.  For some reason I have my most creative ideas while in the shower, so that something I’ve been struggling with at work, will come together in my head between lather and rinse.

There are websites devoted to library displays.  One of the best I’ve found is by Anita Vandenberghe - www.creativelibrarydisplays.com.  She provides the basics to creating displays, as well as offering a plethora of ideas, both theme and date related, with pictures.

Google images pulls up a caboodle of library displays, as does Carel Press: www.carelpress.co.uk/libraryresources/Displayphotos.  You’d have to sort through these carefully, as not all of them are very good.  One of my favorites is a living display, found at: http://boingboing.net/2008/10/03/library-celebrates-b.html.

As for text, use it judiciously.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so be as visually exciting as possible.  Quotations are popular in library displays and can be easily found in topic based sites, such as www.quotegarden.com and www.bartleby.com.  A number of libraries also have Bartlett’s Quotations in the non-fiction section (808.882 BAR).

Now here is your challenge:  over the next week you will be receiving posters in your van run for Adult Learner’s Week.  Create a display (either a flat, wall display, or a 3D surface display) promoting Adult Learner’s Week.  Take a picture of the finished display and send it to me.  I’m hoping that a good number of you will be able to do this and send the photos in time for me to include them in the next issue of the Aurora.  We will have a draw for a prize for winning submissions at the Library Managers Council in May.  Good luck and let your creativity go wild!