Reading Promotion

In order to promote reading I sent teachers an email that explained that I was setting up a display of books recommended by them, the teachers. If I were to do this particular display again i would include the support staff and administrators. All of the adults in a school have an impact on the lives of the students and should be represented in the type of displays that i created at the middle school and high school. Before I go on I should mention that I have been working as an interim library media specialist in the greater Milwaukee area. My time is split between the district's middle school and high school. Below is an example of how I start the dispaly of teacher recommendations. Just a simple picture of the book cover on one side with the title, author, call number and who recommended the book on the other side. This display was arranged on an empty wall above the tables where the library's printers are located. A good place to catch the eye of students and staff alike as they pick up their printing.

At the start of the school year I created different book displays and moved the portable shelving dispaly unit to various points in the library. So far, displays on this unit have consisted of fall sports, new books, spooky tales and holiday tales.

How ever, the latest display consists of the teacher recommendation signs along with the book. The portable display case has been moved so that one can't help but notice it when entering the library. If you have a sharp eye you will notice that the book signs below don't have a call number. Stephen King's 11/22/63 was a recommendation that the library didn't own, but was still displayed with the others above the printers. When the books that were recommended y staff were purchased for the library the recommendation signs were moved to the new book display. A plus of moving the display case closer to the door is that since it wasn't against a column, as pictured above, more books could be displayed on it.

Recently, a bulletin board was installed above the printers, so the teacher recommendation signs needed to be moved. The most logical place seemed to be the area of the library where the books are kept. Here are a few of the non-fiction books that were recommended by staff. I work with a great staff who are also helpful in promoting reading.

To promote reading and new books I also set books out on display in various locations around the library.

 Students tend to gravitate towards the windows.

 Book standards are great when you have them, but sometimes we run out and have to revert to standing the books up, like on the left.

 Something new this year was to set some of the new issues of magazines out on the circulation desk to try to interest students in picking them up.

The Summonings by Kelly Armstrong was a book club selection. The one page advert for to the left of the books was also shared with teachers in the English department and others who were willing to promote the book club. The great thing about book clubs is it is never to late to join.

Return to Blogging?!?

Why after a several years hiatus have I chosen to return to blogging? This is a question I have often asked myself lately as I have contemplated reestablishing my blog. Should I blog again? I don't have to for a class at this time, but the recurring thought that goes through my head is that it would be good to have a personal record of some of the various tools, techniques and methods I use as a teacher librarian. Also, it may help me avoid disasters like the one this fall where I had access to an awesome display case at the high school I work at and had recorded via photos on my phone two different book displays that had received positive comments. More importantly, the book displays had resulted in students asking if they could check books out that they saw on display, which in my mind is what book displays are all about. Sparking that interest in a book that maybe a potential reader hasn't considered before. Getting readers to spread their reading wings and try new genres, or authors. Now, it is time to go back to the statement about photos on my phone. Shortly after taking the last set of pictures but before I had backed up the photos onto another medium my phone died. Not only did it die it was pronounced dead and sent to cell phone heaven. So, not only was I faced with the inconvenience of having to replace the piece of technology I rely on the most, I faced the lose of one particular type of files that I had not backed up. MY PHOTOS!! How could I be so neglectful. I had purchased a memory card for this phone. I had been so excited with this particular phone because it had a memory card, but low and behold I never followed up and set up the backup system for my photos to be stored on the memory drive thus negating the drive. After a few tears and digging through emails and asking friends to send me pictures that I had shared with them I was able to recapture some of my photos and videos. Needless to say, the first thing I did after I purchased my new phone was to set things up so that my pictures are automatically saved to Google Photos (TM) and the Micro SD memory card. I even check now on a regular basis to make sure that the contents of my phone are backed up. For some reason I still feel a bit sheepish about losing photos and videos through my own laziness of failing to back them up. Perhaps this is from the mantra that I have tried to instill in students since computers first began to be adopted in the field of education . .  Back up your files! Do it Often!

However, there is a somewhat happy ending to this story. Some of the displays that I had developed were still up, so I was able to do a "redo" in terms of photographing them. Unfortunately, another group had taken over the big display case at the high school Perhaps I will have the opportunity at another time to set up a book display again in that case.