Inspired by the innovation(!) talk at Library Camp I've decided to start doing posts when I see or hear about great ideas in Libraries. One of the main points that came up in the session was to share ideas, and share what you see. Hopefully this will be the start of many posts like this filled with idea-goodness.
The first great idea I'd like to talk about was one that I actually came across last summer. I was visiting JJ in Swansea, and (as we were walking past it) I thought it would be rude not to pop into Swansea's main Library. Also it was a really hot day - a break in the shade definitely did my skin some good. Almost as soon as you entered in the 'entrance space' was a quick choice book display. Displayed on this were several square objects wrapped in newspaper. Intrigued I wandered over. A sign that cheerfully read "Blind Date with a Book" or words to that effect presided over what I now realised were books, wrapped in newspaper so they all looked more or less identical. On the individual books, there was a post-it note on which three words were written, giving you a vague idea of what sort of book was underneath the wrapping. The sort of words you might use as keywords when cataloguing, for example:
Family Issues
Comedy
Travelling
Etc...
What I also found useful was that although the books were wrapped equally, you could more or less judge the size of it, so if you wanted a shorter book, no problem!
I think it's a great idea. It get's rid of the 'never judge a book by it's cover' cliché and holds the potential to get people interested in things they might not otherwise pick up. You could adapt it for Christmas, by wrapping them in Christmas wrapping paper, and calling it "Mystery Christmas Read" or something a bit more inspired.
I hope to visit again soon to see if they've got anything else innovative going on!
Over and out.
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