October: Halloween Slime Display

It's Halloween time and the library has some awesome displays this year! Our first display is covered in slime! I got this idea from Pinterest, it was easy to make and looks great in person.

I started off by getting a stack of lime green paper. I cut out five different variations of slime and then used those as templates to cut out approx 40 pieces of slime.

For the top three shelves I taped the slime of the inside top of the bookcase along with the outside edge. The bottom four shelves you couldn't see the inside well so I only did the outside.

I made a sign for the display saying "It came from the library." and I made a second sign for our website.

Tech: 3D Printer: Makerbot Replicator 5th Generation

The library now has a 3D printer! It is the Makerbot Replicator 5th Generation; you can find out more about it here. This is not the first 3D printer for our school, but it is the first 3D printer for the library. I am unsure how many of you are familiar with, or have had experience with, a 3D printer. I had never had the opportunity to use or see a 3D printer, until I found out we were getting one. Before the printer arrived I took a day long workshop put on by Fabricastl, they are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you live close I highly recommend it. I learned about the 3D modeling program Sketchup by Google (you can download it for free). They gave a short lesson on how to use the basics of Sketchup, which I found very useful. Our school will be using Sketchup and Solidworks as our 3D modeling programs.  They also taught me a lot about the website Thingiverse which is an amazing resource for students. Thingiverse is a site that has pre-created 3d designs; you can easily print within minutes and they are free. Some of the files are even customizable. 

The Makerbot Replicator 5th Generation is amazing! When the printer first arrived the printer needed to have the build plate calibrated. Since the first time it was calibrated, it has never had to be manually calibrated. Once you tell it to print it goes through a process and it says it is "calibrating the build plate," but it never asks you to manually twist the knobs. It does it all on it's own (from what I have heard of the older printers you have to calibrate them yourself).

The printer has a built in camera where you can take photos of your work as it prints. We have found this to be difficult since the build plate sits so high at the beginning of the print job. If you are printing something very large I think the camera would be great once the build plate gets down about midway. There is a video feed as well that allows you to watch your item printing from your computer.

We went ahead and ordered multiple colors of filament for the printer. We have a clear/white, solid black, solid yellow, solid green, iridescent orange and iridescent purple.

With the new Makerbot program you do not have to export the Sketchup file to a separate program to prepare it to print. You just need it in stl format and then you can upload it to the Makerbot program. It allows you to place it on the build plate shown on the screen. You can resize it, chose the infill, chose whether you want to print it fine or regular, plus many more features. Makerbot automatically adds supports so you never have to worry about that.

You can do a multicolored print as well. All you have to do is pause the print job, unload the filament, reload the new color and press resume. I have noticed that changing colors works best on items that are thicker, the colors don't stick together if there is only a skinny surface and can easily be broken off of each other. For example: I printed this four layer bracelet: clear, black, clear, black, The first clear layer broke off, along with the initial supports.

I printed a "diamond ring" in two parts, each solid colors and that turned out great!

This has been so much fun to work with and the students are being so creative. Here are some pictures of what has been printed so far:

April: Graphic Novels Display

We are spotlighting our graphic novels for the next two weeks with this fun display! Our library parent volunteer pulled as many graphic novels as she could fit for the display. Then it was time to decorate!

I created some signage using Photoshop and printed it out. I was inspired by several displays I saw on Pinterest.

Then one of our student volunteers cut out the graphics. She then used construction paper and cut out similar shapes slightly larger to put behind the graphics, it helped give a more 3D effect.

For the top of the display I cut out large ZAP letters. I first made up a smaller version in Photoshop and printed it out, then I traced around the letters on construction paper to make them approx 7" tall.

There are so many things you could do with this display, I just love how it turned out!

Please feel free to use any of the templates.

April: Earth Day Display

April 22nd was Earth Day and the library created two displays to highlight the libraries "Earth Day" inspired books.

The display was really quick to put together. After the last week celebrating National Library Week and all the events we held, there was not much time to put together a huge display. I created two signs for the displays, one for each book case. They are really simple:

I then cut out some clouds, butterflies and snails and decorated the bookcase with them:

That's all there was to it, please feel free to use the signs or template.

Cataloging: Equity and Inclusion ( E & I ) Project

    Currently we are working on genre-fying our fiction collection. At the suggestion of our middle school librarian we have also chosen to add equity and inclusion information to the MARC tags of each title in our fiction collection. The library is an important part of our school's commitment to equity and inclusion and we strive to grow our collection to mirror the needs and wants of our school community. Our hope is that by adding specific information on gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity and more,  we can help students, faculty and parents access books in our collection that may have been overlooked in the past. We started this project back in October and I have already found the information useful for displays, student research and summer reading recommendations. Once the project is complete we will run reports to find holes in our collection and take necessary steps to make our collection more complete.

 We use Follett Destiny and when we catalog we import records that are relatively complete. Our parent volunteers work hard to add specific subject-headings that correspond to popular topics and lessons. Along with all this information we are also adding a specific list of categories to better embrace equity and inclusion. 

We began by creating a list of categories we felt would help us and our students embrace equity and inclusion. The list was very long and we had to combine areas and cut areas that we felt would never be searched for. Here is the list of categories and information we decided on:

A. E & I Categories/Information:

A. Protagonist Gender

1. Gender: Male

2. Gender: Female

3. Gender: Questioning

4. Gender: Transgender

         B. Family Type

                                1. Family: Nuclear

                                2. Family: Single Parent

                                3. Family: Divorced

                                4. Family: Parent Died

                                5. Family: Adopted

         C. Family Type 2 (May not apply to all)

                                  1. Family: Same Sex Parents

                                 2. Family: Only Child

                                 3. Family: Orphan

         D. Sexual Orientation

                            1. Sexuality: Lesbian

                                 2. Sexuality: Gay

                              3. Sexuality: Bisexual

                                   4. Sexuality: Straight

          E. Race/Ethnicity

                               1. Ethnicity: Latino

                                    2. Ethnicity: Caucasian

                                    3. Ethnicity: African-American

                                    4. Ethnicity: Pacific Islander

                                    5. Ethnicity: Asian

                                    6. Ethnicity: Native American

                                    7. Ethnicity: Middle Eastern

                                    8. Ethnicity: Multicultural

                                    9. Ethnicity: Indian

                                    10. Ethnicity: African

           F. Geographic Location

                               1. Location: North America

                                    2. Location: South America

                                    3. Location: Asia

                                    4. Location: Africa

                                    5. Location: Europe

                                    6. Location: Australia

                                    7. Location: Arctic Regions

           G. Religion

                               1. Religion: Atheist

                                    2. Religion: Christian

                                    3. Religion: Muslim

                                    4. Religion: Hindu

                                    5. Religion: Buddhist

                                    6. Religion: Jewish

            H. Disability

                                1. Disability: Physically Disabled/Illness

                                     2. Disability: Learning Disabled

Determining which MARC tags to use:
Our library uses Follett Destiny. Before we began entering information into the catalog, I contacted Follett to be sure we were using the correct MARC tag. I also followed up with a few google searches to be sure I was not missing something with the cataloging part of the project. I determined that we should use the 690 tag. It was repeatable and searchable through Destiny. For the indicator we used 5. At the advice of Follett, on the second line we used our school code with the 2 indicator. (Follett said out school code would be useful when creating reports). For each category entry that the title contains we add a new 690 tag. (We are entering the information exactly as shown : Gender: Male, we are doing this for two reasons: 1. If you do a keyword search on Destiny and just type in Male or type in gender the book will come up, along with any other books in your collection (fiction and non-fiction) that contains the word Male in the title/summary.... 2. If you only want to search your collection for fiction books that we have determined have a male protagonist you can search in a keyword search "Gender: Male" and only those books come up (There is a slight flaw here that you could run across a non-fiction book that has the words "gender" and the words "male" in their summary, you could also do a keyword search for "Gender: Male School code" and then you will be positive only the books you determined were male protagonists are found.) You can also do a bibliographic report using Gender: Male and your school code to get the specific books you want as well.

Finding information for each title:

Please keep in mind that we are completing this project simultaneously with our genre-fying project, To add the genre information we are already editing the MARC tags. Once we have added the genre information we then move on to adding the E & I information. Once everything has been added we save the title and update the call number. We have been using Goodreads.com as our main source of finding the genre. Once we have searched for the title in Goodreads we also stop and read the summary of the book. We then pull any E & I information given in the summary and we use that to update the MARC tags. If we can not find enough E & I information on Goodreads we are also using Titlewave, Shelfari, Amazon, Library of Congress and anywhere else (such as our local public library). If all else fails we pull the book off the shelf and read the back cover.  Our goal is to get at least three categories of E & I information for every title. The more complete the better.

February: Read Around the World Display

Spring break is quickly approaching, at my school that means that Interim will begin. During Interim students get several choices for activities and many of those choices include travel. Whether it is to a local city, domestic location or international location, we offer options for all. I decided to create a display around travel, but instead of out normal travel books I chose fiction books that had travel destinations in the title. I call the display "Read Around the World."  

Using Photoshop and Illustrator, I drew up some quick images of iconic locations from around the world.  Please feel free to use any in your display. I printed out the images and cut each one out to tape around the display.  

For the signage I made a blue circle to represent the "world" and then I placed the images around the "world." I manipulated the text to curve inside the circle and wrote the display title.

Once the display was up I felt it was missing something so I blew up the center text from the sign and cut out the words to place at the top of the display.

There were several ways I could have done this display and in the future I might dedicate two bookshelves and add travel books as well.

February: Celebrate! Freedom, Equality, Diversity, Pride Display (Black History Month)

For Black History Month I created a display called "Celebrate! Freedom, Equality, Diversity and Pride." We had already created a Black History Month Display that focused on biographies and speeches, for this display we used fiction books based on historical events and historical figures. We also used non-fiction books that focused on important figures in African American history.

For the signage I drew a picture of the Africa and then I manipulated  four words (Freedom, equality, diversity and pride) to fit the shape of the continent. I used the same color scheme as our other Black History Month display :red, green, black and yellow.

To make the display more decorative we cut out several stars in the same color scheme and taped them all over the display. Very simple and easy display.

February: Words Have Power Display (Black History Month)

February is Black History Month, we created two displays to spotlight famous African Americans and events in history. Our first display is titled "Words Have Power." I wanted to create a display that focused on biographies and famous speeches. We pulled all our biographies on famous African Americans and then we pulled books on famous speeches (We had a few Martin Luther King Jr. books with his speeches). To fill in the display we also added books on how to write speeches.

The signage for the display was simple. I took keywords that described the people spotlighted in the display. I used the following colors to write the words: red, green, black and yellow.I then cut them out and taped them around the display.

 For the display sign I just wrote out "Words Have Power" in the color scheme above.



 

Please feel free to use any of the signage for your own display!

February: Blind Date With A Book

Love is in the air and it's time to create a Valentine's Day display for the library. Last year I made a "Blind Date With a Book" display (all our displays stay up for a two week period).

I found many ideas on Pinterest and from other library blogs. Here are a few that I used to gain inspiration: http://littlethoughtsaboutbooks.blogspot.com/2012/02/blind-date-with-book.html
http://storytimewithmissmollie.blogspot.com/2012/06/display-blind-date-with-book.html
I will be repeating the display again this year, and I will provide images/details in a few weeks.

To begin my display I choose approx. thirty four books. Our display shelf holds approx. twenty six books, but I was hopeful that the students would check out several books and we would need to be prepared to replenish the display frequently. I kept track of the books I chose using an excel spreadsheet. (I wanted to be sure that I did not use the same books when I repeated the display in the years to come). I also used the spreadsheet to number the books, list the barcode for each book and to add notes about what genre/topics the books represented.

With the help of our parent volunteers, we pulled all the books for the display. I then created "Rate your date" slips to put inside each book. The students would rate the book and then turn in the slip for a raffle at the end of the two week period. 

We then wrapped each book using different types of wrapping paper. To keep track of which book was which after it was wrapped we used the spreadsheet. Since each book was already numbered on the spreadsheet we decided to draw a large number on each book after it was wrapped instead of placing a temporary barcode on the book (as others have chosen to do). When the students checked out a book they would not be able to use the self checkout computer, instead we made a sign out sheet that they could write their name and the number that was on the book.

 I saw many ideas on Pinterest to entice students to pick a book. Some wrote summaries of the book or gave hints on the topic/genre. We decided to use both "genre" hints as well as "similar" books. For example: if the book was about vampires we wrote "for Twilight lovers" on the tag.

 I then created signs using Photoshop (signage ideas came from Pinterest and other library blogs). One sign explained the Blind Date process, one assured students that they could check out the books (I highly recommend having one of these) and one just because:

Once all of that was done it was now time for the fun part of decorating the display shelves. 
I found a tutorial on Pinterest teaching me how to make the heart chains that I used on the shelves as added decor. Here is the link to Strumpet's Crumpets:  http://strumpetscrumpets.blogspot.be/2012/01/valentine-paper-heart-chain-diy.html

I added the heart chains to the shelves and I also cut out paper hearts in different shades of pink and red. I folded the hearts in half and taped one side down on the outside edge of the shelves. It made the hearts really pop out and look great.

Overall the display was a huge success and we had many students checking out books. The raffle was held at the end of the two weeks and one student won a box of See's candy. I can't wait to see how this years display turns out!

Please feel free to use any of the signage/slips!