The Fulton County Public Library is
located in Rochester, Indiana and serves more than 16,000 people. The community
is small and somewhat conservative. “The population is predominantly rural,
featuring an industrial base that has had a steady but controlled growth over
the past 30 years. Rochester, a fifth-class city, is the county's mercantile
center, (Policies). Rochester is also the county seat.
The mission of the Fulton County Public
Library is “to provide programs and materials to our community which promote
education, culture, information, and entertainment,” (Policies). The vision
statement of the library is: “The library serves by building a better
community,” (Policies). The Fulton County Public Library is a member of
Evergreen Indiana consortium, which includes over 100 libraries in Indiana. The
Fulton County Public Library has three locations: the main branch in Rochester,
the Aubbee Branch in Leiters Ford, and the Fulton Branch in the town of Fulton.
I am the Reference/Adult Services Librarian at the Fulton County Public Library
and in charge of Readers’ Advisory, so I chose to do the project for the main
branch by myself.
I was interested in choosing a topic that
was a bit different; I did not want to use the same old topics. I searched
online for what special days occur in April. I found two I was interested in:
Take a Chance Day and National Tell a Story Day. I ended up choosing National
Tell a Story Day which is April 27.
Once I decided on a topic, I had to figure
out how to best represent the theme. I chose to display young adult and adult
fiction written in first person. I thought this fit the theme well because the
characters are telling the reader the story. The Catcher in the Rye was my inspiration because it is written in
first person and I had recently used it for a project in another class.
While I knew a few books I wanted to
include off the top of my head, I needed to find more books written in first
person. Because my topic is not focusing on one genre but on type of narration,
I could not use a source like Novelist to find a list. I ended up searching
online and found a few lists. The most useful list I found was on Reddit. I
read through the various lists I found and wrote down the books that sounded
interesting. I took that list and searched the library catalog to see what was available.
I found 22 to include in the display. One of my goals was to include books of
various ages. I did not want to only include newer books because a display is
an excellent way to draw attention to older books that patrons might be unaware
the library has.
Once I narrowed the list down to 22, I had
to decide which books to annotate. It is somewhat difficult annotating a book
one has not read. I used a combination of sources to learn more about the books.
Some of these sources I used to understand the books include the Fulton County
Public Library catalog (Evergreen Indiana has Novelist built into the catalog) and
book review sites (New York Times, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal). A few
of the books sounded very complex and I knew writing a short annotation would
not get the story across. I ended up annotating 12 books and listing the
remaining books. I thought about annotating more books, but I wanted the list
to fit on one double-sided sheet of paper.
Writing the annotations was the most
challenging aspect of the project. Mary K. Chelton’s “How to Write a Readers Annotation"
was invaluable for this project. I think my annotations are okay but not
perfect. I tried to keep them as short as possible, yet interestingly describe
the book. One of my coworkers told me the list was very informative, so I took
that as a good sign.
I decided to use various book formats in
my display, including regular print, large print, books on CD, and Playaways
(audiobooks that are preloaded onto a small player). I added each book’s call
to the list so patrons could find these books after the display was dismantled.
After I had the list completed, I used Publisher
to create a sign for the display. It was a bit difficult finding images of
storytelling since Microsoft no longer supplies clipart. Many images were
copyrighted, but I was able to find one that I could use and that I thought perfectly
fit the topic. I went with a blue and dark red theme on the sign. I also
thought it was important to create a second sign that explained what first
person narration is.
One thing I would have changed about my
display is how I displayed the booklist. I set them on the bookcase. I wish I
had found a plastic display to place the lists in. Other than that misstep, I
think the display turned out pretty well.
I found this assignment very useful. When
it comes to displays, I sometimes do not put as much time into the process as I
should. This project forced me to really think about the books I use as part of
a display. Writing an annotated booklist made me learn more about the books I
might not personally read. I became familiar with unfamiliar books, which will
help with readers’ advisory. This project will also help me design future
displays and additional passive readers’ advisory materials.
Here is a photo of my display.
Work
Cited
"Policies." Fulton
County Public Library. Web. 1 May 2015.
<http://www.fulco.lib.in.us/about-fcpl/policies/>.
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