HIT:Display Ideas Part 1

["Paul G. Connell" <connellp@wantree.com.au>]

Here are some terrific display ideas!
Thank you to everyone who sent messages.

I have two displays (in 10 foot cases) that feature fantasy.  One is all
sparkly and features unicorns, fairies, with a base covered in white
spun
glass covered with sequins.  (There's a name for that glass, but I'm
blank.)

The other case is the enchanted forest theme.  The base is covered with
moss and flowers.  I have a big gnarled paper tree.  It includes carved
owls,
clay castles, King Arthur books and bookmarks.  The students seem to
love
these displays.

This year I inherited a small curio case with lots of small shelves.  It
is great for featuring one kind of book e.g. origami, with examples
tucked all around.  The students are encouraged to select books from it.

*
While visiting a middle school library in central Texas, I noticed that
she had an Egyptian theme and was displaying some beautiful art.  Turned
out that she had xeroxed outline copies of King Tut's mask onto heavy
paper and then students had used colored markers and gold, blue, etc.
glitter to decorate them.  She had them displayed them on book easels
along with her books on Egypt.  She also had a life-sized cardboard
cutout of a mummy wrapped in gauze, and some other cutouts-- one was a
stylized Egyptian cat.

*
This spring our Automotive Technology (the old Auto Mechanics)
classes came to the library to do research. They used EBSCO's Elite and
the Internet to find car maintenance ideas. The students were divided
into
groups and researched Summer Car Maintenance and others did Winter Car
Maintenance.

They then used graphics (clip art) and the scanner to create very nice
bulletin boards on large poster boards taped together (staggered).
Students used Word Perfect to list maintenance pointers and to document
sources. The teacher laminated the large displays at our local Education
Service Center where they have a huge laminating machine, and we placed
them in the display cases at each entrance of the libary (we have two).
The best one went to the Administration Building to be displayed there.
(Of course, I scattered a few of our car books beneath each poster in
the
display cases.)

The original idea for creating car maintenance posters came from a unit
designed by EBSCO's companion research units that we purchased for the
first time last year (forgot the name of the package). Those units have
been helpful in suggesting ways to use EBSCO's Elite Magazine Full Text
CD, but we expanded the idea to include the Internet and other library
material.

*
I have a large glass window with a book case below it.  I put a large
world map in the window and call it "our view to the world".  Weekly, I
clip newspaper articles that are world wide in scope  and are
interesting.
I put these next to the map and use yarn to connect them to the location
on the map.  On the book case below, I put magazines, books, and
newspapers that are about the subject or location.  It creates an
interest
in things other than those happening in a student's backyard. I found
that
after a period of time students were bringing in articles that they
found
interesting and wanted to share.  I am on the high school level and was
skeptical about the appeal but I shouldn't have worried.

Thanks to Anne, Becky, Betty and Lynn.

Deborah Connell
Loreto Nedlands Primary
Perth, Western Australia
mailto:connellp@wantree.com.au