Displays on a Dime

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Displays on a Dime

• Quick, Collaborative, and Economical Approaches
  to Library Outreach

Presented by Dowling College Librarians Michael
Aloi, Lisa Esposito, Joyce Gotsch, Diane
Holliday, and Chris Kretz February 3, 2005
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Introduction

• Who Are We?
• Who Are You?

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Todays Goals

• Collaboration
• Learning from each other
• Practice Creating Displays

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Displays as Outreach

• Why we think displays are important
• Who we are reaching
• When we do displays
• How we do them
• What kinds of displays do we do

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How We Do Displays

• Collaboratively
• Cheaply

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Kinds of Displays

• Fixed
• Traveling
• Rapid Response
• Online

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What Are Fixed Displays?

• Located in permanent cases.
• Installed for a long period of time.
• Involve a lot of planning.
• Include objects as well as library materials.

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The Value of Fixed Displays

• Encourages use of collection.
• Enhances library atmosphere.
• Shows support for the community.
• Re-enforces connection with students and faculty.

Displays encourage us to look at our collection
in new ways.
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How Do We Choose Our Subjects?

• Dowling-Related
• Courses or Programs
• Campus Events / Annual Theme
• Faculty Activities
• Library-Related

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Who is Our Audience?

• Students
• Faculty
• Administration
• Visitors

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Materials

• Items in the collection
• Real or photocopied
• Props
• Loaned
• Special Collections
• Reusable items
• Boxes
• Fabric
• Bookstands

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Annual Theme
Celebrating Italian-American Culture.
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Special Collections
The Gilded Age
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School of Aviation
Celebrating 100 Years of Flight
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Faculty-Led Field Trips
Dowling Digs Wyoming led by Dr. John Tanacredi
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Special Collections
D-Day 60th Anniversary
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A New Course (offered by the Visual Arts Dept.)
From the Sketchbook to the Stage
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Faculty Lecture Series
Goya Witchcraft Superstition
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How This Might Work for You

• Activities related to
• People on your staff
• Community Members
• Non-profit community groups

Remember Use the activity to promote your
collection!
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Some Things to Keep in Mind

• Lock up valuable stuff (objects, reference
  materials, etc.)
• Leave some things out for browsing
• Provide a bibliography with more materials,
  websites, etc.

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Have Display, Will Travel
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How Do We Choose Our Subjects?

• Campus Activities Outside the Library
• Faculty Lecture Series
• Outside Organizations Events Held at the College
• Long Island EcoSummit

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Faculty Lecture Series
Goya Witchcraft Superstition
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Long Island EcoSummit
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Who is the Audience?

• Students
• Faculty
• Administration
• Visitors

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Permission To Ask or Not To Ask?

• Is your display going to invade the space of the
  event or participants?

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Where Are Our Materials Going?
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Into the Wilderness

• Traveling displays take items out of the safety
  and control of the library.
• This affects item selection.

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Additional Supporting Items

• Bibliographies
• Faculty author stickers
• Book stands
• Simple fabrics

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The Value of Traveling Displays

• Visibility for the library
• Shows library support for community activities
• Outreach to new patrons who may never have set
  foot in the library, but now they see that the
  library has materials on a topic that interests
  them.

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Rapid Response Displays How To Choose The
Subjects

• The event may be a current news item
• The Death of Ronald Reagan
• September 11 attacks
• An item of community interest
• Local activity or event
• Town council vote
• Other items of high patron interest
• New movie based on a particular book

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• These displays should be very visible and located
  in high-traffic areas of the library.

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Design Process

• Determine topic and audience
• Check catalog for adequacy of holdings
• Pull books and examine for eye appeal - color,
  size, condition, illustrations, etc.
• Brainstorm types of objects/artifacts that would
  be appropriate Put out APB
• Gather all materials
• Start playing!

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Putting It All Together

• Mark the spot
• Determine elevations
• Anchor the display with your largest,
  eye-catching item
• Distribute books by sub-topic, size, color, or
  illustrations
• Scatter open spaces with topic-related
  medium-sized stuff

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Finishing Touches

• Stand back, check for balance, range of textures,
  and esthetics
• Walk away and return later for a first
  impression or
• Review display in a mirror
• Signage
• Handouts

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Directions for Activity

• Break into groups of 5 Find people with objects
  similar to yours (think theme).
• Each group will be given a box of stuff.
• Use your objects and stuff to create a display
  on a table.
• Be prepared to talk about your display (use of
  color, height, objects, etc.)

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Online, Displays Never Die

• Showcase what youre doing
• Document what you have done
• Create a continuing resource

Dowling Library Displays Page
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The Display Web Page

• Keep it simple
• One or two images
• Links

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Archive of Past Displays
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The Power of Linking
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Whats Involved

• Photography
• Web page creation/maintenance
• Bibliographies

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Creating PDFs for Free

• DocMorph (National Library of Medicine)
• http//docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph/docmorph.htm
• Free registration
• Upload files on the web
• Converts them to PDFs (or TIFFs, text, or
  synthesized speech)

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The Truth About Displays

• Highly visible, economical and effective
• Invite people to think of the Library and
  collection in new ways
• Think outside of the case
• Many hands make light work

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For More Information

• Presentation and Bibliography available at
  www.dowling.edu/library/aboutus/dime.shtm