St John’s College Library Newsletter L
LENT 2018
Ground Floor Displays Although we’re told not to judge a book by its cover, the display area is where the Library wants people to do just that – to get their eye caught by an image, a title, or a topic of interest to them. Enticing students into looking beyond their reading lists is tricky, but a lot of fun, and we hope that having varied displays makes the Library a bit more colourful and welcoming to visitors.
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 displayed items together, rather than just picking books at random. Seasonal themes are some of the easiest to devise – for example, getting the horror DVDs and murder mystery books out for Halloween – and provide the opportunity to put up decorations too. Thematic displays can also be used to promote specific events, charities and so on. In November, we celebrated the men’s health charity ‘The Movember Foundation’ with a selection of books by moustachioed authors.
That said, there are many reasons to have displays beyond creating visual interest. One of our main goals is to promote materials which may otherwise be overlooked. For this reason, we focus on three key areas: the General Interest section, which includes fiction, non-fiction, poetry and more; the Audio-Visual collection, containing classic and modern films, music CDs, language learning materials, etc.; and our ‘new acquisitions’, meaning items we have recently added to the Library collection. By promoting these sections, we hope to encourage students to explore the Library beyond their particular topic of study.
Although producing a humorous effect, the downside is that we only showcased male writers on this occasion – we hope to address this imbalance with a Women’s History Month display in March. Choosing items which will appeal to (and represent) our diverse user base is something we try to consider.
Many of the Library Graduate Trainees who have created displays over the years, including me, have taken a thematic approach. This means choosing a topic or event to connect
We also try to create displays which will be useful based on the time of year. For example, we plan to promote books on assessment skills, revision, and handling stress during the busy exam period. Our recent January display was themed around the New Year. We chose books which related to common New Year’s resolutions – hence we displayed materials about mental health, wellbeing, diet, exercise, and language learning. Although library displays can seem unnecessary, we do put serious thought into what our users (particularly undergraduates) might benefit from seeing. The disappearance of an item from the shelf is usually met with an excited “somebody has taken something from the display!” It’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Alice Read, Library Graduate Trainee