Display Ideas
One of my favorite things to do is to have a good display. I pull idea from Pinterest or my own imagination. Here are just a few of the display ideas I've had and why I chose to do that display at that time. 
Bruin Bookshelf

For the 2017-2018 school year I am trying to adopt a new theme through my library of the "Bruin Bookshelf." I've incorporated it into our new book display and now I have finally found a cool use for these 99 cent Ikea frames I always see everywhere on Pinterest and Librarian Facebook groups! From this frame I created in PicMonkey a suggestion for a book to read and a QR code that leads to a 30 second summary narrated by me about the book. It's simple but effective! And looks GREAT! All 20 are spread throughout our fiction section and the tables in the library.    
Literary Elements Display

I like to mix things up a bit and throw a bit of science in my book displays! Using inspiration I found from Pinterest, I created a Literary Elements Display. I took actually elements from the periodic table and transferred them into different genres in literature such as "Action Adventure" or "Humor." I had the elements displays with a single book sitting next to it. This turned out to be a nice looking display that helped students find books they were interested in quickly. 
Shakespeare Month

April is Shakespeare's birth/death month. (It's actually the same exact day, but no one REALLY knows the exact days he was born and died!) So all of April we celebrated The Bard throughout the library. I created multiple posters with quotes and fun facts about Shakespeare to post all around the library. In addition to this, my main display was an interactive display of "Who Said It? Shakespeare or Tupac?" This was a fun way to engage students as well. Also,  we had a display of a "Shakespeare Laugh a Day" posted at the front desk. Various memes, comics, and pictures were posted every day. Students very much enjoyed this and got a kick out of it!

Finally, on our Facebook page, I posted a new fun fact or video about Shakespeare every day school was in session. Just another fun online way to engage students and the public. 

To access my Shakespeare or Tupac? slides, you can click HERE. Use them and love them! 

For my Shakespeare memes, comics, and images, you can click HERE. 
Thankful Tree

This was a simple but engaging display. I simply cut out some leaf shapes in my Cricut, got our grounds crew to bring me some branch pieces, and pulled out sharpies, clothespins, and put out some signage. Simple but effective. Write something down you are thankful for, pin it to the tree. We actually had one of our Special Ed classes come in and participate as well. Fun! 
Holiday Makerspace

I do not currently have a devoted Makerspace in my library (plans for the future!), but I do some Makerspace activities as the holidays come around. ​In the Christmas season of 2016, we created three separate craft projects (one for each week before break) that were holiday themed and a Make-and-Take for the students. 

First was the most expensive part of the the project and the most popular: Peppermint Sock Snowmen! Created with a couple of socks, some twine, rice filling, markers, and some peppermint essential oil. 

Next was the much more simple and less costly Snowmen Log Ornament. My assistant had her husband actually cut and sand these small log pieces for us. Students simple painted everything on and added twine! 

Finally, there was the Origami Christmas Card. This was not costly but did require some brain power out of the kids, as any origami does. 

If you would like any of the instructions for these you can access all my signage HERE. 

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Valentines Day Makerspace

For Valentines Day this past year, we created these heart cards. My assistant headed this project up and acquired all the needles, thread, and pre-punched all of the cards with a cookie cutter for an outline. The project took a bit longer than anticipated, but overall it was well received and looked SUPER cool! 
2 Sentence Scary Story Contest

Wow! What a wonderful contest we ran through the library right around Halloween. The challenge was put out to students to create a two sentence scary story. I gave the students examples in a quick one minute video and then created a Google Form for all of the entries. I asked English teachers to either offer it as extra credit or to do it as a warm-up one day in their classes. I also offered a Kindle Fire to the winner of the contest.  I received almost 200 entries into the contest! From there my assistant went through the 200 entries and pulled what she felt were the top 50 or so for me to go through. From that top 50, I pick the top 10 and put them out in the display. However, I did put some honorable mentions put in the library as well. From there, students and staff voted on their favorite from the top 10. You can see the winning entry in my picture of the display.

This was SO much fun! Definitely an involved contest, but students really enjoyed it. Well worth the price of the Kindle!  
Steampunk Book Display

Just a simple display with the novels we have that are Steampunk themed in the library. I was actually surprised at how few we have! It made me start to seek some more out! On my display, I kept it fairly simple with just some signage about what Steampunk is all about and some decoration. 
Banned Books Week 2017

I kept it pretty simple put powerful during Banned Books Week 2017. Just simple paper bags over books with a statement written about why they were challenged. Students had to lift the paper bag to see what the books was. I was surprised how many students were engaged with this display! They really found it interesting and had some great discussions with each other about it. For 2018, I would like to keep with the same theme but see if I can burn the edges of those banners I stored away. 

I also hung up posters around the library that I completely stole from the Harwood Library posters I found online. Again, I was surprised how many students paid attention to them and interacted with them. I'll be sure to spread these around the library this next year a little more. You can access my version of these posters HERE if you would like to steal them for your own!  
Gamer Reads

While I did have books out in our main display area of various books pertaining to "gaming" such as Ready Player One, Insignia, and Eye of Minds, the spotlight for this display was the post-it art we created in the windows of the library. This was a TASK, but it was great fun all at the same time. First, I went through and found pictures of pixel video game characters. Then I bought a variety of colored post it notes and went to work! 

It was very eye catching and a great addition to our Gamer Reads display!
Museum of Old Technology

I'm a little upset at myself for not taking more pictures of this awesome display that took over the whole front half of my library! What didn't I take more pictures?! 

Well. . . . .anyway. . . .over the course of about a month, I collected a variety of old pieces of technology from our own dusty clutter and from our staff. I put out at e-mail from them and received back all kinds of amazing pieces of old technology. From walkmans to record players to gameboys to and original Nintendo, it was fantastic to bring back the past and let these kids experience it first hand. 

The most popular part of the display was an old school TV cart we wired up with an original NES and Atari. Right next to this was an original Gameboy and GameGear. Every day at lunch, before school, and after school, students played their way through a variety of games. It made quite the scene to watch a group of kids so intensely involved with a game of Tetris in black and white on a Gameboy. It was also fun to switch out the games and have students excited to see what was coming next. Super successful display! And fun to put on for the students!  
Open House 2015 Movie Trailer Display

Being six months pregnant and having to stay late for open house as a librarian is *not* the most fun thing in the world. However, just a few days before I had received 10 Chromebooks for the library. I had previously decided not to do anything for open house because I was too darn tired. Then I got inspired. 

I pulled up a variety of movie trailers, and my goal was this. . . .to get the trailers to play full screen and loop for the entire open house night. It's really simple. . . . just pull up the video and double right click on the video. Then just press "Loop." The video will then loop over and over until you tell it to stop. Pretty simple. 

Then I just attached headphones and a few signs I had leftover from a previous display. I added some signage on the different tables, tried to make sure the book was next to the trailer, and decided each one should have a theme. One table was "Tearjerkers." Another was "True Stories." 

I managed to use all of the Chromebooks and all the front tables. Way to go on last minute displays!! 
Buried Treasure in the Library

I loved how this display came out! I wanted a display that was about the books that used to be popular but seem to collect dust these days. Lucky for me, my assistant has been here in the library for a LONG time, and she was able to help me pick up some favorites from years past. 

This one required a little bit of Amazon ordering. In total, it was only about $20. I first bought some gems to scatter around the display. I had some coins I actually broght from home that we've used in Mardi Gras parties along with some beads I've used for that as well. In addition to the gems, I bought a pirate flag and treasure chests. 

The display went over nicely! It got students to pick up some books that otherwise would never have gone out. Our big user library patrons loved getting into new series that have been pushed aside by the dystopian craze! Especially popular was Michael Grant's Gone series. 
All You Need is Love

February always seems to call for a love inspired display. In 2014, our theme was "All You Need is Love." 

This one was fairly simple with just a trip to the dollar store to pick up various heart shaped things. I used PicMonkey to create the signage. 

The books pulled were just books about teenage love or just love in general. Really simple and quick display for Valentine's Day!
Book Ornament Contest

This was one of my very favorite displays I've ever done! I've always seen things in Pinterest for ornaments with book shreds inside of them AND I've seen a contest where a book is shredded into a jar and students have to guess the book.

So I decided to combine the two ideas!  I went through and found various classic books that were beat up and could be discarded anyway. Then, I put various pages through our paper shredder. Next, I got from JoAnn's Fabrics these plastic clear ornaments. Then it was just a matter of putting the book shreds into the ornaments and attaching a tag! I made sure that the shreds had clues like character names and places so it was somewhat easy to guess. 

We already usually displayed out fiber optic tree in the center of the library. Now it was really the center of attention. 

The English teachers completely embraced this and even offered extra credit for students to come down to do the contest. It really got students to think about the books in a different and fun way. 
Fall For a Good Book

The first display of the 14-15 school year was "Fall for a Good Book." It was a little more labor intensive though than other displays. 

My first year in the library, I bought a Cricut for us to use for displays and other projects. For this project, I dusted it off and put it to good use! 

This one required "fall colored" cardstock and my Cricut to cut out the squared and letters. The leaves came from the Dollar Store, my favorite place to find items for my displays! Just a little fishing line after that and BOOM! There we go. 

​The hours on the Cricut made this a little more labor intensive, but I think it was worth it. 
Rainy Day Reads

I love a book display that allows me to pull any book from off of the shelf and put it there. This display "Rainy Day Reads" allowed me to do just that. Ironically, it didn't rain a single day I had this display up. . . . .just further proof that we're in a drought here in California! 

Making this display was simple. I just found some clip art of rain drops and clouds and used those as a template on white and blue card stock. I just eyeballed it with another piece of yellow poster board for the lightening. Finally, I used fishing line to string it all up. The raindrops have a hold punched in the very top, and the fishing line is taped onto it to hold it in place.

This display was fun and eye-catching!