Making displays is one of my favorite things to do at work. Some of them are quite elaborate, but many are very simple. As soon as displays are brought up in a group of librarians, at least one will say, “I hate making displays” or “I’m really bad at displays” or “I’m not creative enough.” So I thought I’d post some of the simpler displays I’ve done and how they were made. Hopefully some will inspire you!
By far the simplest are displays like this one. Get a bright color of printer paper, find an image online to print on it, and put it in a stand surrounded by books that fit the theme. These are great for those awkward places like this that are in high-traffic areas of your library.
You can take that idea one step further and make an eye-catching collage. This one was for women’s history month. All of the images on the sign are simply quotes and photos found online, printed out and collaged. The center is just typed in a bold font using MS Word, then cut out on a paper cutter.
Speaking of MS Word: Our summer theme was music, so I decided to use that to make this pride display. I found a music note image, then put that in MS Word with a text box on top of it to position each letter. Then I just cut them out with scissors and taped them to the wall (using painter’s tape, of course… don’t damage your paint!).
If you have a die cut machine, it can be your best friend. You can do so many colorful displays with just a die cut machine and construction paper! If you don’t have one, similar results can be achieved with a vinyl cutter. Or, you could go back to MS Word and familiarize yourself with the word art functions. They are fairly simple to use, and then you can cut out the letters with scissors.
Colors can say a lot all by themselves! This display is simply strips of construction paper and die cut letters.
These displays all use the die cut machine and very simple shapes. The feelings display is just black and white emojis printed on yellow paper and cut out. The Valentine’s Day display is made with hearts folded in half and glued to each other to make a round/fan shape. And the imagination display is made with different geometric shapes cut out and arranged to make the train.
And then there is using other resources you have. This sign was made by a library worker who had some down time and loves paper crafting. She was happy to have something she enjoyed that would be helpful to the branch and I was free to grab the books and get some other things done on a busy day.
In short, don’t let displays intimidate you! There are all sorts of ways to make simple displays that are still eye-catching and helpful to your patrons.