Creative library displays with Anita Vandenberghe

It was a sunny Saturday morning when 30 or so dedicated and eager school library staff, teachers  and public librarians gathered at Kerikeri High School Library for a workshop with Anita Vandenberghe from St Kentigern College to be inspired to get creative with library displays.

These are some of the notes I took from Anita’s wonderfully practical and encouraging session…

•  Just do it – in the words of the Nike slogan, don’t be shy or nervous, people respond to effort and admire creativity, so your efforts are unlikely to meet with a negative response.
• Displays are about making connections – between the library and the wider community, between borrowers and resources, and we never realise how much we actually take notice of, how much we see, so everything you do will catch someone’s eye, will make an impact on their subconscious.
• Making a display is like telling a story – you become a storyteller, creating a scene, a mood, adding emotions – like a good storyteller, exaggeration and emphasis add to the drama.
• Make headlines- like a newspaper – use a title to grab attention!

Anita said there are a few elements to creating great displays:

Space – is it small or large, high or low…

 Budget – again – small or large?!  Become a fan of the $2 shop!

Time – much or little?

 If you have space but not much time, then budget comes into play.  If you have space but no budget, then you’ll need time.  If you have no time, space or budget, then you need a magician !

Topics – Anita talked about factual topics, eg marine reserves, cooking, Olympic Games, and the slightly more challenging abstract  topics, eg love, identity, freedom, etc.  Try googling these terms and see what images have been tagged with those terms and that might give you inspiration.

Now, ideas for displays :

1.  Check out your own collection – look at the books, eg chapter headings might make a good title for a display, endpapers can have great images to reproduce.
2.  Look at Google images for more ideas.  Use Creative Commons to make sure that you are observing copyright – see this great free guide for educators on the National Library website Free to Mix about using digital content. http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/21st-century-literacy-inquiry/sources-resources/guide-reusing-digital-content
3. Visit Anita’s website Creative Library Displays and have a look for more inspiration and ideas, including the Calendar of Events http://www.creativelibrarydisplays.com/ 
   Another great NZ displays resource is this blog http://schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.co.nz/
4. Keep a folder of images which catch your eye eg pages from a magazine or newspaper.  Start collecting and even if you don’t use the actual image, it could generate an idea…

Putting the display together :

• Plan – list requirements, shopping to do, tasks etc
• Gather tools – blu tak, scissors, ruler, tape, stapler and stapler remover, etc and invest in some equipment such as a laminator and hot glue gun
• Put up the display – laminated images really pop with colour and last longer, images stapled on not flat but with a curve add dimension, and you could even consider motion with fans, and Christmas lights add sparkle and highlight your display…  Gather materials such as driftwood, wrapping paper, netting… be a real magpie and soon your displays will be a force to be reckoned with!

The ideas, examples and suggestions went on, and so did the conversation, fuelled by Di’s fabulous “Devonshire morning tea” scones and jam and cream, superb mandarins from Julia, and a raffle which was “won” by at least a dozen people with books donated by Take Note, National Library and Ruawai College.

It was a great workshop, thank you Anita, and to all who came.

Now, all we need is a bunch of comments under this post with ideas from people of displays they have done… Clare at Northland College using Google and EPIC charts to create information research displays, Ngaire at Broadwood making fantastic roller coaster / ferris wheel / issue desk gazebo “circus tent” displays for the school's bookfair... and what about others ? 

Cheers, Jeannie 

PS Sorry no photos to add here - I had transferred them off my camera onto my computer, only to have it crash last week -  currently in Wellington at the National Library DIA computer hospital and making steady progress apparently!  Anyone else who took photos you might like to post some here ?