• Pages

  • Activities and Competitions

    Organizing activities and competitions can be fun but there are times you need some fresh input. In the activity drop-down menu below, you can find heaps of ideas. What about a Paper Plane Competition?

  • Activities

  • TIP: Think inside the hat!

    Party hats, store-bought or made from pages of an old book or scrap paper are very useful for a display. You can staple the hat to the board as a container for whatever you want to showcase. Or hang them in front of the board filled with little notes, poems, toy animals or whatever takes your fancy

  • TIP: Staple at an angle

    Removing old display items will be much easier when you hold the stapler at an angle when you tack items to the board. The staples will stick out at one side - perfect to get hold of and pull them out when you change displays.

  • TIP: Use a glue gun

    Glue guns are the most fantastic tools for creating displays. You can attach all sorts of materials like hard plastic, metal, fabric and everything else you can think off. Be careful with your fingers (blow - blow) the glue is very hot and you easily get blisters

  • TIP: Create a 3D effect!

    Create a 3D effect by hanging objects in front of the display board, like fish in a Sea Life display or lanterns in a Spring or Garden display.

  • TIP: Don’t overdue it!

    Too much text, images or books on display too close together distract the eye. It all becomes a blur. Each object needs its own space. Think of a shop window that is more than full with appliances, you can’t distinguish one object from the other, while carefully placed objects attract the attention.

About

We live in a visual world and what is a greater joy than being welcomed in a vibrant space where the mind is challenged and the eye is invited to explore?

The philosophy of a good display:

Displays are like advertisements; they attract attention, and once a customer walks over for a look, they take notice of the product you want to sell. That might be a specific book collection or a promotion for a book talk or MakerSpace area. Whether you want to draw attention to a community project or a global topic, you want it to be noticed.

Whatever it is, a display that stands out is likely to get the message across. That’s why buses have striking advertisements on the back. And even if you are not interested in the latest brand of ice cream, you absorb that information when you drive past or – in a cloud of smoke – wait for the traffic light to turn green. Subconsciously you have processed the information and stored it away. 

A good display tells a story. It connects your product and your visitors on several levels. It shows that you care for your environment, that you connect with the community and it shows that you value your customer’s opinion. Through making a display – one that makes your customer smile or contemplate – you connect with a future musician, mum, plumber or scientist. 

In The Netherlands, I was part of a Library Team that organized activities involving art, culture and education and I learned using a jigsaw or glue gun as easily as a staple gun. I love upcycling and using materials that are for grabs like old umbrellas, garden tools, branches from a cut-down tree or withdrawn pages of books. Basically, I love inventing and creating stuff.

I like sharing my ideas and I enjoy seeing my work being copied because to me that’s the biggest compliment one can get. Copyright is a very modern invention, Leonardo da Vinci had no idea it existed nor had Socrates. All photos and descriptions are Creative Commons and therefore free to use.

I hope that my displays, tips and tricks will help you to make your own eye-catching displays. You can copy and use whatever you like it’s all in the public area. If you make a display with the help of this website, please let me know. It’s great to get positive feedback. 

You can email me: admin@creativelibrarydisplays.com. I love to hear from you

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