Summer reading is about more than books. For many who work in libraries, it can also be about creativity, and at my library branch we are fortunate to have a creative staff. Working from this year's Summer Reading theme, Oceans of Possibilities, we built, painted, sculpted, crafted, and designed an immersive under-the-sea oasis for our patrons. And, because we love collaboration here, we invited our patrons to contribute their own special additions to our oasis. Together we made something truly unique to our community.
In today's "Library Stuff" post we're taking a tour of what we built together. Get on your scuba gear and swim fins, folks, because we're going under the sea!
The tour begins at our main entrance. Our goal was to turn the large glass windows into our own aquarium.
The large fish are painted, the jellyfish are lanterns with crate paper streamers, and the coral was meticulously shaped and cut from construction paper by one very dedicated teen volunteer.
Our next step with this window was to include our patrons in the process. We cut out A LOT of fish (including sharks, blob fish, jellyfish, seahorses, and starfish) and set them out with crayons in the children's room. Throughout the summer we added more and more creatures to our aquarium.
Some of the great coloring work from our younger patrons
Let's go inside the library! In our entry hallway, we have more of our lantern jellyfish. Swimming alongside them are the marvelous papier-mâché creations of an artist who shares her time with the library every week.
In our children's room we had plenty of space to reshape around our theme. The two critical areas we wanted to decorate here were our bulletin board and our circulation desk.
Using fishing nets strewn across their tops, we finally found a way to make those plexiglass shields more aesthetically pleasing to look at. For the base, we made a series of portholes from painted paper plates. Each of the images inside them were photocopied from books in our collection (yes, yes, I know this might violate fair use, but I'd be willing to argue the point). And then we filled our book display shelves with books that fit the theme in a variety of ways.
(For some suggestions about what books we used, please check out the recommendations I've been making all summer by following this link )
On the opposite side of the room is a large bulletin board that we never use for actual bulletins. It's always decorated, and this summer it became an ocean of reading.
Some favorites enjoying a ride in a familiar-looking submarine
At the base of the bulletin board is more of the fantastic coral made by our volunteer. The anchor holds open a spread from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," and the tentacles are a reuse from last summer's animal theme .
Beyond the spaces highlighted here, we have more decorative elements throughout the rest of the library as well as more sea-themed book displays. It's been a fun year for decorating and we've been able to create some cool interactive activities for staff and patrons. I'm not sure how we're going to top this next year, but I do think some of these displays will be hanging around long after the Summer ends.
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