Thanks for the responses to this request!
My original target was:
I'm looking for ideas of objects to display on empty shelves at the high
school level. I know stuffed animals are good at the elementary level,
and as an adult I favor plants (artificial or real) or pottery, but I'm
trying to come up with some ideas that will really appeal to students in
grades 9-12. These items (in my case) will be displayed on the top shelf
along the fiction section. I have consolidated all of the fiction books
down to the middle shelves to make them more accessible, but now those
top shelves look bare.
Responses are quoted below:
We display student art work wherever possible.
Art work is one of the best things to put on high school shelves. I
have used vases, ceramics, and paper mache' faces. Make friends with
the art teacher and become the place where art work is showcased! I've
also used our walls to display paintings and pictures from the art
department.
I use this area to display books!~
Approach your art teacher(s) and ask if it would be possible to have
some student art of appropriate size displayed in the library. The art
could be labelled with title, type of art, and creator.
I think high school kids would also like plants and pottery, so don't
toss that idea out, either!
New Books......Pretty Books........standing opened with front cover
facing out? This helps fill up our empty shelves. Regardless of their
age, the children automatically gravitate to those pretty, new books
that are facing front cover out and that are brand new.
Or maybe a theme of books of a certain topic? Or items pertaining to
the theme? Maybe a donated well-done student report on the said topic
set-up on a small book easel along with books on that topic?
How about getting some of those 3-D jigsaw puzzles?
They have things like castles, space ships, cars, etc.
You could display over the appropriate Dewey area. Let the kids put
them together on a tray and add a little card "Assembled by Michael
Johnson, grade 12, 2003"
The kids will be thrilled at the prospect of leaving that behind.
Do you have an art department at your school? Some student art work
would be nice.
Does your high school have a ceramics or 3-D art class? Offer the space
to showcase student work.
Use the space like bookstores do to stand some recommended titles face
out so the covers are visible
Our empty shelves, ceilings, and the tops of the stacks are all display
space for student art. The art department comes in and puts it up and
changes it from time to time through out the year.
Ask your art dept if they have "museum pieces" on loan. Students love
to see their art work on display.
The Librarian before me weeded vigorously every section of the High
School library. We have neither the funds, staff, or time to replace all
those volumes.
Anyhow, to try to fill the voids, I placed interesting items relating to
the subjects on the shelves. The 550s feature a large petrified tree
limb. In the 570s one will find a teddy bear and a "taxidermied" bird.
The anatomy section has an arm dangling off the shelf (I purchased it
for $2.00 one Halloween). The 900s has a castle atop the Middle Ages
books.
The HS kids get a kick out of finding the objects and they serve as
landmarks and visual cues for many. For instance, I heard a student
direct a classmate to the Uncle Sam bobblehead doll for the books on
political parties in the U.S.
The science teachers were a great source for objects and I patrol the
halls after "locker clean out day" to see if I can scavenge anything
interesting and of course, being a former classroom teacher, I have lots
of "stuff" of my own.
I stopped putting live plants on the shelves because we had too many
water and dirt spills.
In the fiction section, I just do mini displays like, books made into
films, horror, local writers, etc.
I was thinking of doing that with my library (5-12) but was sort of
"pooh-poohed" when I mentioned it to others at our school because they
thought it was too "elementary"...however, I work with 5th graders who
come into the library at the 4th grade level and are "bouncing Tiggers"
when they check out books, so I think the "elementary" aspect is just a
little elitist.
I may go ahead and follow through on this idea just because I think it
would give some interest to a "dull" area on the shelf that is filled
with air. (I have tried placing books on display holders on the shelves,
but I noticed that many students (and library staff) often miss the
books on the stands when they begin looking for the call numbers on the
shelves. Then the book is marked as "missing" only to later be picked
up by someone who thought it looked interesting.)
Your idea might be one that I can use to eliminate so many of the stands
on the shelves and give some visual clues to students who still won't
use the card catalog for research. *sigh*
I'm enjoying hearing what others do with objects representing various
subjects, etc. I do this in our library with collections of stuff I find
on our travels. I have Kachina dolls, Mexican statues and carvings,
African baskets and beads, an "authentic" dinosaur bone, a collection of
rocks and fossils in a wooden box that the children can look through.
The children like "real" stuff - so they say. I have a Turkish rug
draped over a book case where I display the Cultures of the World books.
I have my dad's old ox hames hanging over the shelf where American
history books are located. I found a nice collection of carved birds at
a garage sale and when I told them I was buying them for a display in
the library they almost gave them to me. And so on. I use fabric on the
bulletin boards - it doesn't fade. Well...anyway...you get the idea.
This all keeps me out of the "teacher stores" with the shrink wrap-
ready made - stuff. The "real stuff" is also three dimensional. Another
benefit....I think it helps the children learn how to treat displays in
public places. I don't put up "do not touch" signs - they learn that
unless it says "please touch" they do not. Learning this social behavior
has helped to minimize spoilage when classrooms bring their projects to
the library to display. I believe that the library experience is an
opportunity to teach "public" behavior in many regards - citizenship, if
you will.
We show off students' artwork here - we happen to have a sculpture unit
in some of the courses and I then display them every where!
I have a "cat in the hat display" & a "where the wild things are". I
display the stuffed animals & the books. Many high school students will
pick up the books & read them. There is also a Winnie the pooh section
(many HS girls decorate & collect Winnie the pooh). I also have a Harry
Potter area with lots of Harry collectibles (a year or two ago they
were
on all the clearance racks). I've also started collecting statue type
things of people reading....those garden statues were easy to find and I
have found other interesting ones. It is fairly easy to find girls/women
reading, more difficult to find boys/men.
I don't find that the HS students object to the stuffed animals--they
have
rooms full of stuffed animals at home. I did have a parent object once.
Do your art classes make pottery or do sculptures? These items can make
a very effective display. We have also displayed paintings by propping
them against book ends.
At one school I displayed the trophies won over the year by the
speech/debate team. At my current school, I have some art work from the
ceramics classes and busts I have collected.
Last year I asked teachers to bring in any collections they may have and
put them on
display in my showcases. We had political buttons, crystal salt dishes,
antiquated
computing devices, etc. It was fun and I will do it again in the fall.
I don't have room by fiction, but have an extra shelf above biographies
so I display biographies! I select some that look good & fit the month
(poetry mo., Black History, Women's History,etc.) & stand them up on
book ends or little wire holders.
When I was in an elementary school, I tried to put things above that
would suggest what was in that section, but high school is different.
Mostly we have old trophies on the top of the shelves but finally broke
down & bought greenery a few mos. ago. (Had hoped PTA or someone would
donate some.)
I try to have the rows of books alternate on the shelves -- more
visually appealing -- and I try to leave space on some shelves to
display books. Hope to get some of those shelf end displays.
But, regarding fiction, could you use small posters -- author? genre?
Interesting problem. Might ask some of your readers for suggestions. Or
look in one of the big bookstores for ideas.
How about student art work? I did that when I was at the
high school and it was great.
At our school, our art teacher likes to put student art displays on the
tops of our shelves. It's colorful, the kids love seeing them and I love
them.
OUr high school has Permanent student art displays (from previous years)
but ours change often.
I also have put reading posters up on the blank (empty looking)
shelving. They are colorful and can be from many age levels.
Hi, we have various things displayed during the year but student art
work by far is the most popular.
I put out Halloween things out and Christmas things...Valentines
---spring type things---kites, butterflies, flowers etc. I have obtained
seasonal fabric which I use as a table covering with book displays. I
also occasionally bring toys/dolls and set those up near the check-out
area---that is popular too. Ceramic animals/Noah's ark, etc. too.
In my library, we have student projects on display all of the time!
Teachers call regularly to see if I have room to display their scholars'
work, and I generally keep things until I get an offer for more.
I, too, have a bare top shelf, and those three-sided project boards fit
great up there.
Deb Waugh
Librarian/Instructional Technologist
The Emmett G. Shufflebarger Library
at Graham High School
Bluefield, Virginia
debwaugh@frontiernet.net
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