A new display in the library might have only been around for February, but it will definitely be coming back in the future.
The librarians have said they are going to bring back Falling in Love With a New Genre. The display was only around for a month, however, a lot of people came in and got books.
“We wrapped 50 books and 25 books had been checked out,” said Librarian Sara Riepl.
You would have found this display when you walked in the entrance of the library. The library had two different displays, each having one book of every single genre. People come and go in the library all the time, so it is always fun to see the different displays that the librarians come up with every month.
This display had books warped in brown paper and tied with twine. Each book had a number on it to help the librarians tell which book is which so they would be able to check them out. After checking the book out, in the genre that you chose, the student would then be able to open it. Opening up the book is like opening a birthday present, cutting off or ripping the twine, then taking off the wrapping paper, revealing a thrilling surprise.
“I think it also kind of took away the feeling of students feeling like they might get judged, based on the book that they check out, you know? That you’re in class and you’re reading a book, and people would be like ‘you’re reading that book.’ The students could be like, ‘well, it was a mystery book that I got from the school library.’ It takes that pressure of being judged away from it too” said Library Media Specialist Angie Siewert.
The display for the books has been one of the more popular displays this year. Having these books wrapped up in paper, and the only thing the readers knew was what genre it was, got kids to branch out of their comfort zone and try new things. Crazy enough, the library had done this thing before except there was no idea what the book was. Meaning you didn’t know the genre as well as not knowing the exact book. When people walk through the library looking for their next book that they could cozy up with, they usually look for a cover that stands out and draws their attention. The next step for the reader is usually to read the inside of the cover. If it was not the right one they would usually just put it back and not think about reading a couple pages of the actual book. They would repeat these steps until they find the book that they think they would like. Falling in Love With a Genre takes all that work away.
“ We know that it’s appealing to kids, so it makes it easy on kids,” said Riepl.
Librarians are trying to find the right books for students while also making it a fun and enjoyable experience. If anyone has feedback, they would love to hear what students would like to see.
“We initially started out by picking a couple more popular ones from each series as our first go around,” Seiewert said. “And then when most of the ones we had wrapped were checked out, we chose ones that we liked. Then after that, we kind of just grabbed random ones.”
