North Idaho College Library

This small library has a lot to offer any student including an enthusiastic and capable staff.  I LOVE the gargoyles on the stacks.  These gargoyles are part of an art course assignment and change on a regular basis.  To see more of the library visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625494344690/ 

(visited September 2010)

An Idea

I get tired of boring verbiage laden screen-savers in the library, don't you? Well, I had a brainwave a few weeks ago and I'm so happy it is working. Here are the steps and everyone is welcome steal this idea.

1. Find a bunch of book jackets/book covers/books. You'll want 30 - 40 so you won't have to update the screen saver very often.

2. Find a smart employee (here, her name is Emily), have her scan the books covers and create .jpgs. After scanning, have the clever boots add text about Books in the Library and the call numbers.

3. This step may be optional, but for us, we had to get buy-in from our systems department. They had to do the critical thing of going to every computer and deleting all photos from the My Pictures folder replacing them with the book .jpgs.

4. Next the systems people changed the screen-saver to the one that rotates pictures from the My Pictures folder.

5. Done

It works beautifully. We are very happy with this. It showcases new and interesting books.

To check out our book jackets see our flickr account at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31338811@N08/

-- Jenny

Signage - Boise State Univ

signage1
Originally uploaded by J Semenza

Found hanging over the recycling bins near the candy and soda machines. Brilliant. -- Jenny

University of Idaho - Moscow

handicap
Originally uploaded by J Semenza

You never know what you're going to find when you visit a library. This was very unexpected, but BRILLIANT. How many times have I seen patrons who could have really used one of these. In many ways, this picture speaks for itself. -- Jenny

More photos of UofI's library at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157604599260001/

Boise State University - Boise Idaho

comfy seats
Originally uploaded by J Semenza

Chairs. I seem to be obsessed with chairs lately ergonomic chairs, chairs the tip, chairs that adjust, hard chairs, chairs with wheels and comfy chairs. At Boise State I discovered comfy chairs that my tour guide assured me were cheap and from the local superstore. She also said they were heavily used. I really like the idea of providing lots of different kinds of seating for the different needs of the students. Personally I study a lot better in a comfy chair than in a hard upright one, so I LOVED these. I think this is a great way to lure students to the library. -- Jenny

For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157604519583547/

Boise Public Library

signage
Originally uploaded by J Semenza

Boise Public Library has everything, a cafe, an entertainment section, a bookstore and most amazingly customizable library cards. I thought these were very cool. -- Jenny

For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157604519309911/

Idaho State University - Pocatello

Dual monitors
Originally uploaded by J Semenza

We put dual monitors at the reference desk. This allows patrons to easily follow along with what we are doing. It is really useful. In my wanderings I discovered a couple other universities that had this setup. At University of Alaska-Anchorage they recently added keyboards to the other side of the desk to allow better communication with hearing impaired patrons. I need to follow-up on how this is working for them. -- Jenny

For more photos of the ISU library see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157604519171935/