By: Dr. Jessica Dennison

OELMA Director of Regional Representation

I am always looking for creative ways to display books. I always find that when I put forth effort into the themes of my book displays students gravitate towards them and select titles they would not normally select from the shelves. Book displays allow me to market the great titles I have available for students and make sure that everyone sees themselves in the characters in the books that are offered to them. 

Valentine’s day is around the corner and love is in the year. Each year at this time I lean on my love of books and getting books into the hands of students through a creative book display. Students look forward to my “Blind Date with a Book” book display. This is a display that takes a bit longer to set up but totally worth the time because these books get swooped up. Students usually comment on how cute this display is and grab a title or two because they are curious about which books are included. I have two rules with this display. The first rule is they can’t open it until they leave the library. The second rule is they have to at least give the book a try and if they don’t like it they certainly can return it but they still have to tell me why they didn’t like it. 

This year our GSA club asked for a LGBTQ display and I’m combining the two. I did a simple search in the catalog for titles that have characters who identify with the LGBTQ community and love stories. In years past I have grabbed titles that feature characters going through a struggle and pulled out details about the characters to help pull students into checking these books out.  I grab the barcode numbers off of each of them and then wrap the books in a Valentine themed paper (Usually red with some hearts drawn on it). On the front I write a few details about the main character but do not give away the title of the book. Students will then have to pick the title based off of the details I give them, similar to a blind date. I write the barcode number on the back of the book so I can check it out to the student. Usually curiosity gets the best of them and these get swooped up quickly! 

Last year when we still had so many precautions we were following for Covid I had to be creative about how I did book displays. I relied heavily on our digital tools to ensure students still had access to great content. Linked is a sample of my digital blind date with a book. For this one I kept a list in the library of which title matched up with each slide. Students were able to access this presentation through my google classroom and through a collection on Destiny. 

What are some great ideas you have for book displays?

Share your book display ideas on our OELMA list-serv! 

One of my favorite things to do (personally and professionally) is to listen to podcasts while driving, cleaning, walking, or just about anything that does not require too much multi-tasking. As we unveil our new website, oelma,org, I decided it was a good time to showcase and profile a few podcasts that I listen to that have made a difference in my life. This is the first blog part of The OELMA Blog: Power of Podcast series. 

The first one I wanted to profile is School Librarians United with Amy Hermon. Amy is a fellow school librarian from our next door neighbor state of Michigan and she is just a JOY to listen to and learn with. She has been regularly creating this podcast for four years now and I am quite obsessed about all things School Librarians United! This podcast is one for US...school librarians. She features topics we NEED to learn more about no matter where you are and what you do. Her guests are from all over the world and each one offers fresh perspectives, great ideas, and truth we need to hear about the work we do. I have listened to her for a few years, through the pandemic, and I cannot say enough positive things about the energy, passion, and real-life tools she shares through this podcast. Some of her recent topics include, finding joy, author visits, culturally responsive libraries, role as edtech specialist, and so many more. She also started a series recently called "Can I Just Vent?" which includes school librarians venting about things we can all relate to in some form or another. This episode was one that I NEEDED to have in my life and I cannot wait to hear more! 

Treat yourself by listening to a podcast that re-energizes you, empowers you, and helps you feel a little less alone in the work you do in your school libraries.  There is power in podcasts...especially in the podcast School Librarians United with Amy Hermon. 

You can subscribe to School Librarians United on any of your podcast apps, or by visiting and bookmarking the official website: https://schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com/. 

Also: Amy encourages listeners to ask their administration if PD time can be attained through listening to podcasts.  Here is the editable PD form.  She includes it in the show notes of every episode.  

Happy New Year!

To kick off 2022, we thought it would be a great time to unveil our new OELMA website! We are excited to share our new platform, Wild Apricot, with you. Please take some time and look around and if you have any suggestions, topic ideas, or more please share them with us by contacting us here. Also, we would love to have blog postings from our members about ways you are advocating for your students and libraries. If you are willing to send us a blog posting, we would love to share ideas, projects, and more with the world!