One of the greatest things about Princeton is that it’s a walkable town. As anyone who has lived almost anywhere else in the United States could tell you this is a rare and wonderful thing. About a month ago, I was taking advantage of the walking possibilities here and came across a fantastic outer-space themed display at my favorite toy store, jaZams. As I was window shopping I had a “eureka!” moment: I should use my ground floor window space at the library to promote some of our new and amazing acquisitions!
The space I have is modest (five and a half feet by one foot to be exact) and my display budget is…well, I don’t have one. But I have always felt that constraints inspire creativity, so I soldiered on.
A tiny bit of background: I order most of the books for adults here at the library. I usually order the books months before they are published. I decided my display would highlight a few new or soon-to-be-published titles and I would update the display weekly. All of the titles will be in our catalog so cardholders can place holds on them.
The choices may be a bit idiosyncratic but my goal is to highlight titles that people might otherwise miss. I am only on week three of my displays facing Sylvia Beach Way (a.k.a. the road behind the library on the way to the book drop and the Spring Street Garage) but I have noticed many people stopping to check them out. In the future I might branch out to display new DVDs, CDs, or children’s titles.
Let me know in the comments if you noticed my little window display and if any of the books interested you.