I subscribe to Famous Daily and receive an email each morning showing fun informational facts related that day. The posts include 'on this day in history' events, celebrity birthdays, and even subject specific spotlights for 'On this day in' business, entertainment, geography, and sports.
Any one of these would make an interesting topic for creating a display.
Consider instead mixing the events together and develop a month long display featuring titles related to selected fun facts. Choose a specific day of the week, such as Monday, to use as a turn over point for swapping out the events and refreshing the materials in the display.
A simple full or half-size sheet (depending on the size of the display area) could be typed up listing 'On this day ...' topics along with a question or statement to tease the interest of customers. An alternative would be to make individual fold-over tents for each topic, matching them up with groupings of subject specific material throughout the display. Either could be switched out each week as the display turns over to highlight new events.
This creates a rotating display that can run all month long, keeping it fresh with the inclusion of a new set of materials each week. Staff can plan everything in advance by picking the day to use as the turn over point, choosing which events to highlight (or not), and then gathering material ahead of time to include in the display. Don't forget to mix Adult, Teen, and Children's titles along with varying formats, including e-Media!
For example, using the heading: Fun Facts for August 3rd
On this day ...
In 1996 - "The Macarena" reached #1 on the charts
- How many times/places did you see this dance performed at events throughout the year?
In 1980 - Closing ceremonies of Summer Olympics take place, without the U.S., who had boycotted the games
- Did you know anyone who was on the U.S. Olympic team that year?
In 1934 - Adolph Hitler became Fuhrer of Germany
- Ultimately leading to WWII and a sad time in world history ...
In 1492 - Christopher Columbus began the journey in which he 'discovered' America
- And look where we are today ...
Celebrity birthdays for days-of-the-month can make for a fun display as well.
Create a calendar, add a few names for each day, then find books, music CDs, DVD's etc, in the branch collection which are representative of all the birthday girls & boys. This is a great way to mix media into a display.
August 3rd birthdays:
- Evangeline Lilly (of 'Lost' and the current, popular movie 'Ant Man' fame) turns 36
- Tom Brady (Quarterback & Superbowl MVP/Champion) turns 38
- Martha Stewart (entrepreneur, domestic diva & TV personality) turns 74
- Martin Sheen (movie actor, father of Emilio Estevez & Charlie Sheen) turns 75
- Tony Bennett (pop singer, known for rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco") turns 89
Check out famousdaily.com for more August 3rd (or any other day) fun facts to consider using for displays in the branch.
