Getting to know our students

We completed our library orientations our first full week of school.  It was great to see our students and talk about books.  So many of them talked about how much they enjoyed reading our SC Junior Book Award nominee books this summer.  We also talked about their favorite books and genres.  "Hunger Games" continues to be a favorite, along with mystery, sports, horror and drama books.

In an effort to learn the reading interests of our students, I asked them to fill out a survey.  I plan to use the data collected to help develop library displays, book orders, book talks and book trailers.  I started off by brainstorming some questions, reading this post and this post to help me develop my own survey.  I wanted to keep it short and sweet.  The students completed a paper copy.  I will enter the data into a Google form that I will share with our ELA teachers.  This may take a while, but it will be worth it.  It will give us quick access to student responses without having to shuffle around sheets of papers.

                             Reader interest survey from Lorena Swetnam

Please share ways you learn about your students in the library. 

Getting the library ready

School started for us on Thursday, August 23rd.  On those two days, our media assistant and I browsed pinterest, worked on displays and other behind the scene stuff before library orientations brought 644 students through our library doors.  I read a blog post on my reader about "pinterest blowing up in my library."  Something similar happened in our library, too!  Pinterest has been a great tool for bookmarking library display ideas and quick how-to projects.  (I noticed that I pin almost an equal amount of recipes and library related stuff.  I love to eat and I love my job :))

I was also inspired by blog posts by SC media specialists Kristen Hearne and Tamara Cox with display ideas & graphics.  Reading their blog posts and viewing their images, inspired me to use my flickr account that has been dormant for a few years. I'm going to try to post pics from the library to my account.

Our media assistant is super crafty, creative & not afraid to use a hot glue gun (you'll see what I mean in a second).  I am so thankful to work with her and have her help in the media center.  Here are some pictures of our current library displays:

Pens & sticky notes are on the shelf for teachers & students to share books they read over the summer. 

Sports display with a sign that reads, "Kick it with a good book."

Lots of hot glue and pencils were involved in this project. This display will probably stay up till the pencils fall off.  We used sheets of loose leaf paper to cover the bulletin board.

Our SC Junior Book Award nominee list display.

Not everyone is on pinterest.  At least not yet.  Here is a short list of sites I bookmarked with ideas for future library displays:

Pinterest for bulletin board anxiety by Joyce Valenza

Bulletin Board Ideas

No Shhing Here posts labeled 'book displays' 

No Shhing Here post for September Bulletin Boards 

  Library Displays 

This year I want to create more interactive displays and smaller displays featuring genres and read alike titles.  I think this will be easier to keep up with and will keep the library interesting for our visitors.  

Please share your library display ideas!