RA Tip: Display Ideas for August

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.

RA Tips from Staff: Create Displays Using Monthly Themes

Displays are a great way to promote the collection, especially the back list. 

Do you create displays for your library? Always on the look-out for new ideas or themes to use with a display? An easy way to find ideas for display themes is to check for holidays or events being celebrated each month.

Try picking a theme tied to the current month and create a display. Pull some older titles from your shelves along with a few new titles and be sure to include multiple formats (Audiobooks, Music, DVDs/Blu-rays, even highlight titles available in eMedia) and reading levels (Adult, YA/Teen, Children's) so there is something for everyone.

There are plenty of themes to work with in May. Saturday, May 2nd is Free Comic Book Day and staff may be hearing the catch phrase "May the 4th be with you!" from eager movie fans on Monday, May 4th: Star Wars Day.

You probably know about Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) but did you know that at Booklist Online 'May is Mystery Month'? Why not create a display with all kinds of mysteries?

Were you aware that May 7th will be the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Lusitania? You could include titles on ships, naval disasters or expand it with a World War I theme. 

Did you know that International Nurses Day is May 12th, the birthday of Florence Nightingale? May 10th is of course, Mother's Day but did you know that May 15th is the International Day of Families? 

The month of May is also National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, National Military Appreciation Month as well as the month in which Memorial Day is celebrated, on May 25th in 2015. 

Any of these would be a great theme to use for a display and there are plenty of others you could tap into throughout the year! 

Does your library own a copy of Chase's Calendar of Events but you don't always have access to it? Could you use some online tools which may help by providing similar types of information? Here are a few I've found which may be useful:

Consider famous daily, a website that tells you "what makes today special." You can enter a month and day to see what makes that specific date special or you could subscribe and have an email delivered to you each morning with birthdays, historical events, holidays, and a famous quote for the day.

Or you could check out HistoryOrb.com,founded in 2000 which has over 200,000 entries with extensive 'Today in History' archives. The Search box allows users to hunt by person, event, place, or date. The site provides searching by Famous Birthdays, Weddings, Famous Deaths, Famous People, as well as by date, day, country, or year.

Another site is History.com's This Day in History which reflects the current date although a calendar can be accessed for the present month as well as past and future months. The site provides links to videos related to the topics specific to the date and also provides an RRS link as means to subscribe via email for a daily post.

Or take a look at National Awareness Days, a British website created as a directory of awareness days. The site is arranged by month and includes International, American, British and European awareness days. You can subscribe and receive monthly AWARENESS DAYS ALERT emails or follow their blog to be notified about specific upcoming events. 

What date related tools or websites do you use to find ideas for creating displays? Share them through the Comments link.