When you look at bookshops, it's all about the covers, books face-out to entice browsers to engage and then to buy.
.
For a school library, there may not be space to have lots of books face out. But there are always opportunities. The ends of shelves are one. We can't afford slat-wall, or some of the other solutions, but I wanted to do something about the shelf ends in fiction, for starters. Since a lot of our shelving is against the wall, we don't have as many 'ends' as some libraries.
.
But take a look at fiction. The picture books are in a face-out stand, and the free-standing spinner more than earns its keep - we are constantly refilling it. But on those tall shelf units, blank ends. An opportunity for improvement.
.
.
Then I found some perspex pockets at Office Max (they were cheaper than I found at Officeworks). When you're searching for these, 'brochure' or 'brochure holder' seems to be useful keywords. We bought enough for the top three shelves, plus some self-adhesive hook and loop tape. And thus you have...
.
.
...enticing books at eye level, books rather than blank shelf ends. We are going to improve the letter signs, and we may buy more perspex pockets for the bottom shelves - weren't sure if these would get bingled by kids or trolleys. The A5 pockets hold most fiction books and were around $10 each. Not cheap, but not impossibly expensive either - certainly cheaper than slat-wall.
.
What you need: some brochure holders (ours are wall-mounted rather than free-standing) and some self-adhesive hook and loop tape (when I priced brand-name Velcro, made in the US, versus hook and loop tape, made in China, at Bunnings Hardware, the same size - 2.5m x 25mm white self-adhesive - was over $25 for the Velcro vs $4.95 for the other). We put a couple of vertical strips of the tape on the shelf/holder, and it's hidden when there's a book on display.
.
We have plans for downstairs in nonfiction, too. Later...
.
Cheers, Ruth
.
* GIFSL = Good Ideas For School Libraries
No comments:
Post a Comment