Inspiration from Flickr

All of the following are from Pesky Library on Flickr:

Again. colour coding! I love the idea of colour coding a display. The original poster of the photo said it is nice to get books aired that may not usually be selected for display. I think its really eye-catching. Would love to work through the rainbow!



This one is a pic of a display, 'Read the Book - Watch the movie', which I really like the idea of.

These next two pictures reminded me of something my mother said during a discussion about my new library. She got all excited about an idea of having a puzzle all children can work on. I'm not sure whether it will work in my school, but would nice to give it a try. It obviously can work!

Search strategies for the net

I stumbled across this from another blog (This one), and liked it. Would be good for a session on search engines.

Here is one explaining twitter in plain english



Blogs in plain english



Wikis in plain english

Organising fiction

Now, traditionally fiction is all under the same Dewey code, and so it just organised by author. But how does this encourage and inspire perhaps less motivated readers to pick up a book?

However, what if books were organised by genre? You like horror...well come over to our horror section and find something else you may like.

This library Hinde House Library organises fiction by genre. The librarian told me that a year after doing that lending went up by 30%.

I really like this idea.
The rotating shelves I have would be perfect for highlighting different genres, which could change regularly.

There is the issue of books that cross genre...where do you place them? I think I will email the librarian from the library above, and ask how he addressed that issue.


Edited to add - I got a response from the Librarian in question (librarians are so helpful!).

He said that he has the following genres -

Horror, Sci-Fi, Humour, Mystery, Fantasy, Adventure, Best seller, Sports, Historical, Young Adult, Animals, Romance and War. He also has FSr (Fiction Short reads) for quick reads.

I really liked this final bit of advice he gave me, 'Never be afraid to go against the grain, even with Dewey. Put it where you think the kids will find it. Don't get too bogged down with beng correct.'

I guess that is the main point isn't it - where would the kids expect to find it?

Ooohhh.......another opportunity to colour code......


Edited to add point 2 -

LFC genre stickers These pre-printed genre stickers have these genres -

sports, classics, crime, poetry, sci-fi, fantasy, animals, romance, short stories, reference, horror, historical, young adult, war, mystery, multi-cultural, adventure, best seller, fairy tales, suspense, biography, historical fiction, language.

Colour coded Dewey Labels

I want to colour code the Dewey stickers. I did hear that this is some what babyish but I disagree, I think it makes it easier to use for students and librarians. Here are some pictures of successful colour coding. Thanks to Holmesdale Technology College Library for pictures of their displays.

My first task

The first job is to choose, buy and set up a Library Management System and security system. Without this the library remains a room of books, to be looked at but not used. We need the systems in place for children to take books home.

It is a big choice, and I think I will have to have different companies in for demonstrations of their products before I can start to weigh each one up.

Here are some companies I think I will need to contact:

Access It
3M
Eclipse
Alice and Oliver
Heritage

I understand that some are web based and some are based on your own computer, which I imagine is one big thing to consider. My personal hunch is that a stand alone system may be better, as I wouldn't need to rely on a strong net connection, and it would be a one-off payment.

Reading Connects

Downloadable Library Things Here are some useful looking posters/activities/bookmarks/shelf markers from Reading Connects

Database Here is a list of useful addresses and contact details, as well as publications and websites.

Case Studies 5 Case studies of school libraries. They are short, but inspiring.

This post is more a bookmark for myself, to remind myself of the Reading Connects Site!

Skerricks

http://skerricks.blogspot.com I am really enjoying reading this blog, and get inspired almost every post I read.

I was pleased to see they have used sorting by colour in one of their displays (one of my previous posts is filled with books sorted by colour). Here is the one from Skerricks blog -
I also love the display and the returns box. I am determined to get a returns box. It would really work to cut down the queue of children waiting for me. They aren't cheap though! But as I'm finding out, nothing is!

Skerricks is also the place I first saw bookmarks as a library initiative and I definitely will do bookmarks (I've seen a lovely bookmark display rack too!).

So if you haven't checked out this blog (and have an interest in libraries) I would highly recommend it.