Adapting to My Library's Bulletin Board Displays

There is one staple board within view of patrons inside of our library, which maintenance staff kindly moved from the far side of the room to directly behind the circulation desk. I haven't made a firm decision on how often I'll change it out, but I do know that any text of whatever I decide to put on it has to be fairly easy to read from varying distances.  As a kindergarten teacher I was very used to updating hallway bulletin boards every two weeks, and classroom displays sometimes weekly depending on the work, crafts and art that my students wanted to share, so a small board such as this one should provide me with some fairly instant gratification each time I decide to change it.

I don't own a Cricut machine, but our school does have some die-cut shapes that I have used in the past to make mini-books and bulletin board accents. I don't often visit teacher supply stores (especially since last year), but have saved most of my trimmer and accents purchased in the past that I can reuse a few more times. I've used overhead projectors or my SMART Board screen to enlarge images that I've traced, cut out, sometimes colored, and assembled for bigger display elements, but I've also free-handed some crafts by folding large pieces of paper in half to achieve symmetry after finding an image online that serves as inspiration. 

Our school mascot is a buffalo (okay, American Bison, but we call ourselves "Buffaloes"), and most front-facing images that I found online looked rather serious, like this fellow:

I used a large piece of butcher paper to make the outline of his entire head, and smaller pieces of construction paper to make the details, cutting pieces rather large at first so I could lay them out and trim them where needed. His "bangs" are another piece of butcher paper cut similarly to the winter trees I always display with ornaments each December and January.  Satisfied with his much more kid-friendly expression, I then added a hoof so that "Brad Lee" would appear to be waving:

The library's most prominent bulletin board is housed in the hallway opposite the library doors, and it is v-e-r-y loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong and has a curve. Grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 use this hallway, passing the library every day as they head out to and return from recess, so it's a high-traffic area.  The curve is caused by the shape of the rear wall of the school auditorium which is the next room closest to the library in this part of the building.  Thankfully, I determine how this space is used, and so far teachers and staff have not been required to decorate around an annual theme like so many other schools seem to do.  As much as I might want to protect and reuse components of each display, we don't spend a lot of our budget on laminating film and the largest thermal pockets I have for my tabletop laminator are 8.5 X 11 inches. I'll take note during the first quarter of school of how students react to and treat this space.  Here is the message that will greet everyone when they return this month:

Nothing fancy, and nothing dimensional that can be rubbed up against, smooshed, grabbed and pulled down, etc.  Previous librarians saved and used book covers for displays, while the oversized "posters" are actually the covers of some of my personal big books from my kindergarten teaching days, and yes, oh yes, THEY were laminated!  Inspiration for the wall came from posts and photos shared by other wonderful school librarians on the "Future Ready Librarians," "School Library Media Specialists," and "Librarians, Library Media Specialists, Technology Integration Specialists" group pages that I joined on Facebook in May.  You should check them out for more awesome ideas!  The sheer size of this board is going to require that I adapt my thinking for its displays, and I'll certainly be able to use more of my oversized freehanded elements such as Brad Lee, too.

Additional boards are available opposite the curved wall, on either side of the library's doors and each of the two small-ish library windows, but some of the surfaces that I can staple items to are shaded by the alcove/dropped ceiling that frames the double doors.  While these boards are more protected from accidental or purposeful touching, what's hung on them is shaded or blocked from view when the doors are propped open, so darker colored book covers, posters or artwork are difficult to see. I'm considering making oversized bright, seasonal silhouette shapes to flank either door, so that passersby are more tempted to look into the windows themselves to see what's going on inside. 

Though I understand how important signage and attention-getting decor are for engaging patrons and promoting both reading and use of the library as a learning space, I have so much to learn this year, and it will take a while for me to establish my new groove, so spending excessive amounts of time and energy on bulletin board displays isn't my number one priority. Big, bold, durable and easy are what I'm aiming for as I work through monthly and seasonal transitions.