[Publib] Re: Good Displays?

[Andy Barnett]

You can sure spend a lot of time on seasonal displays. We knew that 
we did not have the time/staff to change displays on a regular basis, 
so we focused on displaying our new books to maximum advantage. All 
fiction from the last 12-18 months is on display in a dozen 
categories (thriller/suspense/romance/CF/mystery (two units)/Chick 
Lit/ historical fiction/ crime/ SF & fantasy/ graphic novels). 
Usually three shelves of regular shelving and two of display (face 
out).   We do the same thing with the NF, in 17 categories. This 
displays our best looking, most in demand titles and does not involve 
constantly recreating collections.

Having items in semi-permanent collections is important to us because 
we are in a shared system and we ship 7000 items out each month to 
fellow members. We can't have books in temporary displays and ad-hoc 
collections without creating a lot of work for staff looking for 
these high demand titles.

Also, it takes patrons some time to find and get accustomed to 
displays. Displaying a collection of genre fiction (or non-fiction) 
in a stable location is a real help to the reader.

We aim to have these collections guide readers to new authors and 
subjects, which are represented in greater depth in the regular stacks.




Andy Barnett, Asst. Director            McMillan Memorial Library
490 East Grand Ave. Wisconsin Rapids, WI  54494
                 www.mcmillanlibrary.org
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that 
matter.  -  Martin Luther King, Jr.