Library Happenings

Henning School

What an amazing time it is here in the Henning Public School Library. We are really fortunate that we are a public and a school library all rolled into one. Many small town residents do not have the ability to check out books from their school library, rather they must drive many miles to get to a public library.  

Our goal here in our library is to get books in the hands of students as they enter our building, starting with the three year old preschoolers. By getting books into their hands at such a young age, we know it will help them to develop as readers as well as develop interests in all sorts of subjects The more we can expose them to animals, science, history, careers, arts, sports, agriculture, geography and so forth, the better they become at making decisions as they grow.  

It is important to get the most up to date non fiction books and display them in a way that encourages the library patron to want to find out what is inside the book. I have owned two grocery stores in my adult life and marketing items is something I love to do. I look at these books just as if they were boxes of cereal and think about how I am going to get this product into the hands of the consumer, which happens to be the library patrons.  

The slatwall has been an undeniable asset when it comes to displaying the books. The photos attached with this article show the difference in how the books are displayed. When they are turned with their spines only facing the library patron, they are unappealing. When the cover of the book faces the library patron, they can see the appealing images, they get an idea of what the book is about, they can read the title, and this makes them more likely to choose books on random subjects.  

We are currently looking to expand our slatwall another 26 feet. This would allow for another 300 books to be on display. With 200 elementary students checking out books at least once a week and being able to check out three books at a time, we have 530 plus books rotating through our library checkout desk each week.  

Yes, when it comes time for inventory, it is a lot of work to get these books back into their “home” slot for inventory, but this is not about the librarian or the staff that works in the library. This is about getting books into the students hands easily so that they want to come to the library, they want to discover new things that they may not be getting exposed to elsewhere. We are working hard to acquire grants to fund the purchase of new books and we will keep working at it so that our students will thrive with the knowledge they acquire from our library materials.