Spring 2016 Projects

This spring has been a busy time for us here in the library! Here's a few highlights of some projects we've been working on: 

Classic Book Archive

We've been adding books to our classics archive. These are older materials that are often out of print. We've pulled them from the main collection, given them new covers to spruce them up, and put them on display near the main circulation desk downstairs. You can still check these items out, so stop by to find some gems!

Interactive displays, puzzles, and tinkering

We've teamed up with Maker's Lab and the technology department to provide more interactive opportunities on the second floor. We have a mini museum of old tech, old yearbooks to flip through, puzzles, marble runs, and multiple tinkering toys. These are out on a rotating basis so keeping checking back to see what's changed. 

Furniture Fun

As part of our collaboration with Maker's Lab and Tech we've experimented with furniture arrangement. The stacks are on wheels, so it was easy to rearrange them from traditional rows into two squares with an open side. This creates space for students to work in groups and has the additional benefit of providing the pleasant sensation of being surrounded by books!

Comics Re-Organization

We added a new comics section to accommodate our growing comics collection. Readers familiar with our monthly infographic reports know that comics is consistently our most popular section. There are many benefits students can reap from reading comics (​http://cbldf.org/resources/raising-a-reader/) and the pictures can provide context clues to assist emerging readers and help them build fluency. We now have a comics section downstairs for our youngest readers, a middle grade comics section on the second floor by the stairs for 3rd-5th graders, and a young adult comic section in the second floor stacks for our older studnets. We keep them in themed bins to encourage browsing and make it easier to shelve this high-circulation section. 

Picture Book Subject Labels 

We've redesigned the subject labels for the picture books to really make them pop so they're easy to spot. We've also added some new categories including dance, farms, global, history, and sports. We're still working on adding them to the books, but you can see an example above. We're hoping this will help our youngest students find books that interest them as well as highlighting our global and historical picture books for parents and teachers.