So the start of 2012 brought big changes to the libraries in my district. We finally entered the 21st Century and changed circulation systems. Exit boring old InfoCenter and enter exciting new Destiny. As you can imagine, a mid-year migration has had it’s challenges (including a somewhat unexpected inventory). But one of the great things that comes from these times of change (at least for me) is a greater sense of inspiration. Once the inventory was complete (insert sigh here), I was faced with a sea of empty display areas. What should I do? ‘ The possibilities always seem endless. ‘ Should I display by color? ‘ theme? author? ‘ topic?’ I was positively humming with anticipation. ‘ ‘ And then it hit me…I had display builder’s block! ‘ But then I got an idea. ‘ An awfully wonderful idea! ‘ What if I finally did something I had always thought of doing? I plopped down on my exercise ball to face my somewhat dusty collection of professional journals. Yes, those back issues that are filled with great ideas that I always intend to use, but never do. Well, no longer. I pulled out a year at random (2006 was the lucky winner) and dove right in. I was finally going to use the articles to build more than my collection. ‘ I was going to build some awesome book displays.
Display #1:
“It’s a Big World After All” by Kathleen Isaacs.SLJ
February 2006
Display #2
“Planet in Crisis” compiled by Eva Elisabeth VonAncken
SLJ April 2006
But that’s not all. ‘ I then used the Resource List in Destiny and created book lists that students (and I) can quickly access right from the catalog. ‘ No more searching next year for the books that I pulled for that “one cool display.”
And I plan to continue. ‘ I’ve decided to mark the outside of each journal once I’ve finished using it and I plan to rotate the displays every two weeks. ‘ Who knew that 2012 would be the year I really am getting it together (at least a bit).
I have Destiny envy! Our Follett is so old they don’t sell it anymore. It’s nice to hear some user feedback about the system. My fingers are crossed that we upgrade soon.
What a great idea! I have just four displays for all of youth services, and two of those are tiny pockets. I strive to make one of the big displays nonfiction-heavy and the other fiction-heavy. I hadn’t thought about using the SLJ featured reviews for displays. I wish I could Pintrest this great idea! Thanks for sharing!