Hello, Everyone,
Recently I posted a request for suggestions for decorating a large high
ceiling brand new middle school library. I have received some great
suggestions Here are the edited comments I received....
My library is also decorated by El Cheapos Rejects and the number of visitors
that say that it looks
like a downtown bookstore, not a kids' library is astonishing. But I am
passionate about having
attractive displays that have as many books cover-out to the kids as these are
always the ones that
move first.
There are some photos of some past displays online at
http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au/library/peek_inside/inside_library.htm
but I have just undertaken a huge re-arrangement by moving the computer lab
out and so haven't taken
new photos yet. (We are on school break right now so that is my plan for next
week!)
But some ideas -
I bought a number of plastic troughs from the gardening section ($A2.50 ea so
that's about $US1.50)
and now all the series have their own home together. Those with only a few
titles have little
plastic baskets which were even cheaper. The whole lot live in a spot called
Select-a-Series, and
it would be the most used part of the collection.
I made a Returns box by gluing two large cardboard cartons on top of each
other (think they
originally had computer monitors in them) and then painted them with a mix of
brown paint, PVA glue
and sand to give a roughcast look. Another box made a triangular roof, and
that was painted red. I
cut a slot in the front of the top box and removed three-quarters of the back
(easy access and saves
bending), stuck dwarves on the roof, plastic flowers on the base, insects and
spiders and stuff on
the sides, a 7 (for the Seven Dwarves), a sign saying No Junk Mail and another
one saying Returns.
Kids love it, brightens up the entrance and it stops the problem of kids
taking a book before it has
been returned thru the system ( which had been a huge problem.)
I wanted a waterfall effect so I put silver paper on the wall, strung some
chasing Christmas lights
over it, covered the lot with bunched up bubble plastic and then stuck some
thinly shredded silver
foil Christmas decorations on the 'outcrops' - they look like a grass skirt
but they move in the
breeze like water splashing. I bunched up black crepe paper down each side to
make it look like
rocks and then stuck plastic plants in to give it a tropical look. Works well.
My current project is painting an L-shape shelf arrangement that I got from
the junk shop ($A8.00)
and with a bit of braid and some fabric I will have the perfect place for all
the teddies that I
bought so each child had one to cuddle during our teddy theme. And I have a
section called Books
for Blokes (because the boys are the worst for searching through books on
shelves) and so I used
some cardboard tubes and strung some netting across them hammock-fashion,
plonked a boy doll in
there and that looks just right too!
I shall let you know when I update the photos so you can see for yourself. But
imagination is the
key. Whenever you see a display in a shop window that you like, take a few
minutes to figure out how
they have achieved the effect and how you might use it in your library and
when you are in your
local El Cheapos just see what there is that might spark your thoughts.
The ALA book store has great posters with popular celebrities promoting
books. Enjoy your great opportunity!
work in a middle school and our library is very nice. Our librarian put large
letters to identify sections in the library and some stuff has our school
mascot on it. It ties in nicely with the overall theme. I think having a theme
is important and maybe draw from your mascot. Bean bag chairs, couches, etc
are great for middle school kids to feel comfortable on-they come in such
varying sizes (the kid that is!!) Also having something for sale like
bookmarks, suckers, etc. is a nice touch so they see it as a safe place for
them to hang out.
The teacher section has a nice round about shelf with all the videos on it and
is easy access from the front door. A backpack shelving system is nice at the
entrance too. It's just a bunch of larger shelves that they can throw their
backpack in as they enter. We have fake flowers and vines all over and a nice
copper basket to put library passes in. She has a candle melter in her office
(due to not burning candles in school building) and it always smells good in
there.
We have very little wall space in our library too, but above the shelving
there is about four feet of empty wall space. Here, we have some of the
READ posters from ALA--these feature famous people holding usually
well-known books. The posters are very attractive and my students grades
5-12 love these. The online address is alastore.ala.org/
What I might do (and it does seem you're in heaven!) is go with a theme at
first. Example: What green things do you and kids like? Frogs? Rainforests?
Alligators? Maybe some green- covered books or related ones will soon be
there.
Gather green things from garage sales, home, or catalogs and display them
all around.....not too many, so later you can change them. Green plants
would look good too.
Demco and Highsmith have things that would help with this!
I would display READ posters featuring celebrities too. ALA Graphics.
Maybe some two or so colored cubes can be ordered for temporary book storage
and display in high traffic areas...adding color and beauty. I think these
are available.....Since your background is elementary you might know more
about this than I.
With your high ceilings you could do hanging-type things (like mobiles or
banners, or plants in baskets, etc.) but do check with your fire dept.
codes first before you invest money. Some don't want anything hanging that
could catch fire and then fall onto students.
One thing I would have in the library is plants. I just took over a middle
school library last year and my predecessor had huge plants under the sky
lights. I added my geraniums to winter over, they flowered and looked great.
I also don't have much wall space for display of posters so I used the windows
on both sides and pillars for display.
Your library sounds ALOT like mine which opened new last fall! (Like you, I
moved from elem to middle.) I too have glass on either side of the doors.
If you can put a lighted display on your desk when possible, that draws
patrons' eyes into the library itself from the outside hall. I have gotten
some from Terry's Village:
http://www.terrysvillage.com/home.html
For example, see their tabletop Leprechaun holding the pot of "gold"
(lights) here:
http://www.terrysvillage.com/webapp/commerce/command/CategoryDisplaysequence
=20020710.57382&newRow=28&cgmenbr=1981&cgrfnbr=122751&startItem=19&noimages=
I am not affiliated w/Terry's Village in any way! They are, however, very
reliable to do business w/.
I also have a jack o lantern and a haunted house that light up, a spring
scene w/mushroom, snail, etc. each of which lights up, etc.
I pick up things at yard/garage sales and there is a chain of stores called
Dollar Tree wherein everything costs just $1.00 and I have gotten many
things there. I put a little seasonal figurine on top of each hard drive in
the computer bank and scatter them across the tops of the low bookshelves.
For example, snow people for January, all kinds of bunnies--even some
"stuffed animal" ones for April, dolphins for June, etc. In February for
decorations, I had glass hearts plus some large Valentine themed gift bags
w/tissue paper in them and some empty candy boxes. At Christmas the art
classes made tiny, tiny gift boxes from old Christmas cards and I scattered
them all around too w/my other decorations--they were adorable. In May I
found some mini-pots of silk flowers for display. One other thing for
January; the art classes cut snowflakes and I scattered them across the
bookshelf tops as well. Very pretty.
I also put an artists' easel in the window area w/ "Artist of the Week" on
it which is one piece of outstanding student work the art teacher chooses to
display in the library each week. I bought one of those little round tables
w/a tablecloth to display sculpture, shadowbox, etc. on. if needed. People
are constantly peeking into the windows or coming into the library to see
the art work. (Can you tell I have a good relationship w/the art teacher?!)
In December I put up a small corrugated paper fireplace I ordered from
Lillian Vernon catalog and decorated it w/cat and dog stockings and patrons
brought in donations of food and supplies for the local animal shelter which
I put all around it. Next to it I put a yard-display type Santa Snoopy I
splurged on at K-Mart. It was a cute display and one that did some
charitable good as well.
I keep several personal Discman-type cd players so that students can bring
in their own music and listen to it. Not a decorating tip, but good PR.
My walls are still bare because frankly I am still at a loss as to what to
put up. I have looked through catalogs and seen some cute posters but I
know how ratty and sometimes dated posters can get after a few years. I am
thinking of going with some nice banners to be hung poster-style on wooden
dowels even though they can be expensive and I could only purchase one or
two a year. I would also like to add some silk flowers. In my
magazine/lounge area, I want to put up a fake fireplace/mantle.
One thing you need to be careful of is hanging decorations such as
windsocks. The fire marshall would not let me have those at my old school.
I very much wanted to put a lava lamp on my desk but it was too much of a
fire hazard.
Many people say they have come in to see what decorations I have up for each
month so it does draw people in!
The two decorations in my library that get the
most comments consistantly are a pufferfish and a very large horseshoe crab
that hang over the circulation desk. (My technician swears that if we ever
have an earthquake that pufferfish is going to fall down and give her a
lobotomy!). I bought these at a church rummage sale. The biology teacher
sends students up to the library to look at them. I really believe in
having interesting things (beyond the interesting books!) for kids to come
an look at. I also believe the things that work in an elementary library
will work in a secondary setting as well. We had a millepede as our library
pet for a while this year. He brought LOTS of kids into the library. We
had a name the millipede contest (the winner was Milo) and when he kicked
the proverbial bucket (or buckets in his case) we had an obituary writing
contest. I know, sounds gruesome, but we had some quite decent bits of
poetry come in as obituaries.
Upstart (division of Highsmith)- http://www.highsmith.com (800)448-4887
Demco - http://www.demco.com (800)356-1200
Brodart - http://www.brodart.com
Library Store - http://www.thelibrarystore.com (800)548-7204
ALA Store - http://www.alastore.ala.org/
I'm not sure where you would put this, but if you have a place, the middle
school library where I did my internship had a very popular display. They
hung a long sheet of bulletin board paper on the wall and gave it a heading
like, "OMS students in the news" or something like that. Then they watched
the newspaper and added every clipping that mentioned the middle school or
one of their students. The kids loved it - there was always someone looking
at it.
Some Ideas that Really worked for me :
- an old limb of a tree (without the leaves) suspended from the ceiling
: used to hang all sorts of things, including items that all/part of the
classes made for it. We had great success especially at Halloween and
Christmas, but also with snowflakes, easter eggs, etc. Great place to sit
under to read to the kids. Even the teachers appreciated the involvement ;
- purchase sale remnants of material : can be made into banners (vertical
and horizontal). I had a few sewn at both ends so that I could insert rods
(actually, broomsticks). Eye-hooks at the ends of the rods saves
tremendous time. I made a frame and stretched some over it. Materials
with brown and orange useful for Fall Theme and be sure to keep important
celebrations in mind as you make selections ;
- plants - but a bit different idea: I purchased or had donated many,
many plants that I used as a sort of garden and kept throughout the
year. Plants were well used by teachers - art teacher especially liked the
"Mother-in-Law's Tongue" for its simple lines, but violets were regular
pinched to show students plant propagation, etc. And, yes, we did sign
them out!
- Chinatown has a tremendous number of those folding paper fans and the
like - great not only for hanging on the wall, but as mobiles, too. Easy
to store and put together.
- some suggestions are to always be on the lookout for items you can
use, Garage sales, thrift shops, "liquidators", etc. all MIGHT have
something to use later. BUT, be sure you plan ahead or you're sure to not
buy enough or, worse, overbuy.
- and, not matter what you're told in Education School/Library School
travel agencies, card shops, and the like are NOT good sources of display
materials (Unless you have a real friend there).
I don't know much about design, but I noticed an interesting element in my
daughter's gym last week. (gymnastics) Someone had taken fabric that looked to
be 3'x4' and hung fifteen solid color pieces from the ceiling (4 rows, odd
spacing). It really brightens the place. Their ceiling is closer to 20', but I
have seen travel posters hung in places with lower ceilings. You might
consider hanging something from the ceiling. As I pondered the gym ceiling, I
considered what it might look like if the colors were parallel with the
ceiling instead of flat, and it just wouldn't make the same effect......
Keep 'decorations' minimal ... it's easy to clutter the eyes. Lots of open
spaces and long, unbroken lines are pleasing........ See if anyone in the PTA
is a decorator who might help with placement of objects, etc.
Thanks so much to everyone for your great suggestions!
Elizabeth Dumas
Elizabeth P. Dumas, Library Media Specialist
Good Hope Middle School
400 Good Hope Road
West Monroe, LA 71219
Email: dumas@mail.opsb.net
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