Student Run Book Display

 I have been working with a student for the past 2 weeks to put up our first student run book display.  Hunter checked out the most books during the 4th six weeks; so I decided to start with him.  He curated a list of his top 10 book favorites from our library.  We pulled the books and created a display.  Hunter then went into Canva to create his own sign for the display.

Yesterday I sent out the book display concept in my "Library Tip Tuesday" email that goes out to the staff twice a month. In the email, I asked for recommendations of students who liked to read and might want to do their own book display.  To my surprise, I was given 4 names within 30 minutes of my email.  I was surprised because one often wonders how many people actually read your emails.  So happy that at least a few do.  I know I can put one of those obnoxious "read notice" on the email, but I'm not going to do that.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program . . . Hunter arranged the books, and I printed out his Canva sign.  He asked to put library/read stickers on his table.  Since I have about a billion of those, I let him go through my stickers to find the ones he wanted out on his table.  Now we just need to see what kind of foot traffic the display gets.  I am hoping to swap it out twice every 6 weeks.  I think the table turned out great, and Hunter is especially proud of it.

FirstPage Friday Concierge Book Service

 

After going to a "PD in a Box" session at TCEA, I was determined to do something with that information.  However all of the research I found said the PD in a Box was a success when test-piloted, but no one seems to have gone past that initial phase, mostly due to budget constraints and man power.  There was one instructional coach who created a few pre-made PD boxes and traded them around.  So they were not created with a certain teacher in mind.  They were generic learning opportunities based on that campus's needs. That is a possibility, but really I am not an instructional coach.  Therefore I'm not sure I am ready to commit to that kind of work to watch the dust settle on my PD boxes.  However, I did decide to use the concept and apply it to the library.

Introducing the "FirstPage Friday Concierge Book Service," which is just a fancy way of ripping off the idea from all those subscription boxes out there.  We have Hello Fresh and Bark Box.  We have Dollar Shave Club and Stitch Fix.  There are coffee boxes, wine boxes, makeup boxes, beef jerky boxes, and so much more.  Why not a library book box?

The FirstPage Friday box will have 3-4 books (genre of choice), a snack, and a surprise or two.  Students return the books to the library, but they get to keep the snack and the surprise.  I am also planning to open this up to the faculty as well.  I decided to do a test run these last 2 months of school just to see the time and organization I need for next year.  Hence I am using my book group, The 40 Book Pledge, as my guinea pigs.  I have both students and adults who participate in that.  What is the 40 Book Pledge you ask?  I have a few previous posts about my book club, but here is the latest information:  40 Book Pledge 2023-2024

However, I digress . . . back to FirstPage Friday.  During my book club last week, I gave a very short presentation, and I think I have them hooked.  Adults don't usually come to the book club meetings. I emailed them the presentation, and I already have a few who have signed up.  I plan to hit up both the adults and students one more time the week after Spring Break.  

I created 2 surveys that the participants had to fill out.  One was a profile survey with all of their generic information like favorite genres, how many minutes a day do you read, favorite snacks, are you allergic to any foods, etc. (That survey they only have to fill out once a year.) The other survey was specifically about the first book box, which will be delivered the first Friday of April (hence the name "FirstPage Friday"). 

With the monthly survey, I have decided that the participants only have to fill out the next month if they want to change genres.  Therefore, if they fill out the April survey, but not the May survey,  I will assume they want the same genres and snack they indicated in the April survey.  If they want something different, they need to fill out the May survey.  I should have a deadline for that, but I haven't set that up yet.  I am literally winging it here. 

I'm not really sharing my materials yet because this is so raw.  I will feel better about sharing after I have a couple of months under my belt.  So I guess I will have a follow up post in June.  Until then, keep reading!