One of the things that patrons missed the most during the pandemic has been the ability to browse and see displays. My library has been offering a robust collection of “Grab and Go” items of curated books and bundles to offer patrons in even the most limited iterations of pandemic library service, a little something extra to take home.
The pandemic has also made us rethink the physicality of the building. In before times, displays were in shelves or on bulletin boards, but now, we need to think about where people see us. As a result, we have been putting more displays on our windows!
Window displays or “Library on the Glass” as I have coined it, can be anything from booklists, pictures of book covers, patron-created Haikus, notes of love for the library, etc. Since we opened fully for browsing and hanging at the library on June 1st, it seemed fitting that our next big “LotG” display would be for Pride!
With the help of a climber children’s librarian (you always need one staff member who is ready to climb on some furniture for a fun idea), we collected book covers of LGBTQ+ books for babies to adults that we had in our catalog. We printed the covers out, and glued them onto construction paper, and used painter’s tape to stick them on the windows from the inside. Voila! We created a beautiful, welcoming, and beautiful display that can help people find some book ideas! As a bonus, the rainbow paper created a beautiful stained glass effect in the library. It’s a win, win!
And it has been a big win! Our neighborhood had a pride parade last weekend and used our display as a focal point for the parade. People stop in to tell us how beautiful it is, and then while they are here we can help them find one of those books! It is a showstopper, and people stand around it to marvel! But best of all, it shows that we care about all kinds of patrons, and everyone is welcome at our pride and in our library. Steal this idea, and make your own pride display on your windows! Send me a pic!