Library News: Revamping the Biography Section

  When I saw the biography section upon my arrival to my school's library, I wasn't too impressed, but I had so many more pressing issues to deal with first.  Once I had time to deal with the biographies, I could see why the kids never checked them out.  Most of the books were old, not in the best condition, didn't include color photos, or included people that the kids didn't know.  I used about $500 of my budget to buy some biographies on recent people of interest (Drake, anyone?) and decided to divide and conquer the whole section.  I decided on 9 different groups:  authors, leaders, athletes, explorers, notable people, entertainers, scientists & inventors, musicians, and artists.  Each group was assigned a color and I ordered color-tinted label protectors to place over the already-existing spine labels.  Then the heavy lifting began.  I moved the books to their new locations and started stickering.  Then I made signs for each group and voila!  The section is so much easier to use!

What I lack in $ I make up for ingenuity.  This sign was made with colored cardstock and the trusty laminator.  Not that it prevents the kids from asking "Where are the biographies?" while standing. right. under. it.

The shorter bookcases house the smaller groupings:  entertainers, scientists & inventors, musicians, and artists.

Sorry for the glare!   This section in orange is entertainers.  It includes mostly actors, like also had some oddballs like Annie Oakley, comedians, and Houdini.

Notable people was created because "Leaders" included too much variety.  Anne Frank, Helen Keller, and Eleanor Roosevelt weren't exactly "Leaders" so where do they go?  That's when I made up the "Notable People" section.

This section is the most used, obviously.  I just added some updated biographies.

My tiniest section!  We'll see if the kids even use it much.  It might never get much bigger, but if the kids actually check out the books, I might use some of my precious budget to get updated bios for it.

We had plenty of author bios, I just added updated ones.  I also weeded out the duplicates (not sure we ever needed 7 bios on JK Rowling).

I ended up with an empty bookcase and created this display!  I picked out a variety of bios and placed them here.  The lazy kids who don't want to graze through the bio section usually stop by here to grab a book.