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The issues of the teacher librarians and para-professionals in California School Libraries. Please share your concerns, feedback and questions.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

New Year, New Books How to display your new books:

Should I still do book displays, even if my campus isn't open?  The answer is YES!  Now, more than ever, students need to connect with the school and know that you are still there for them.  Remember, your incoming students have never seen your library! 

Question:  How can I promote my new books virtually?

Answer:  However you are connecting with your students:

  • Start an Instagram account and start posting pictures of your library
  • Post pictures of your displays on Twitter
  • Ask your principal if you can include information about the library in the digital Newsletter
  • Post pictures to your library website
  • Do a Video Library Orientation
  • Record yourself reading the first chapters of books for "First Chapter Fridays"
  • Record yourself reading picture books that students can listen to Asynchronously 
  • Make a recording of how students can reserve and pick up books remotely
  • Record Book Reviews on Flipgrid
  • Make an "Unboxing" video of your new book shipment
  • Ask content area teachers if you can visit their zoom to talk about books related to their lesson
  • Work on your display ideas now so that they are ready for when you do go back, even if it's next year!  Take pictures so you can promote them on Social Media
  • Display books in your windows if they are facing a public area
What if I am teaching from home or my district doesn't allow curbside check out?
  • Promote any e-books that are available in your collection
  • Film instructional videos on how to access them
  • Did you know that ProQuest has full e-books?  (Hint - Search for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in the Proquest Schools and Educators Complete portal!)
  • Teaching Books has 1,353 full-text books and poems in their collection
  • Film videos of how to get a public library card, and how to access their books

Ways to display new books:

Thes ideas from School Librarian's Workshop Facebook Group (request to join the private group) were generated when we were still in-person teaching, but you could use these ideas to get ready for the return to school or take pictures to give your students the in-person experience virtually:



  • Use the same display for advertising the book fair, and replace the dates with "New Books"




  • New Books Display

  • New Books on the table with Post-its so students can reserve them when processed.  

Here are more ideas from the School Librarian’s Workshop for new books:
  • Put them all on display at one time for a week of ‘previews’, where students can look at them but not check them out until all the students have had a fair and equal chance to see all of them.  After that week students can begin checking them out, one new book per person (they can check out two of our ‘original’ books at that time too).
  • Keep all the new books for the quarter (or year) on a different shelf.  
  • The student who placed a book on the wish list is first to read it. 
  • Hold a book raffle. The kids love it! They can use their raffle tickets for the same book or split them. Once raffled, students can put the book on hold to be the next to check it out.
  • Unboxing video on YouTube 
  • Share new titles on library Instagram 
  • Display them on a shelf and students can choose them from there. We also limit it to one new book. 
  • First To Read contest. Pick a few of the very popular titles and students sign up through a Google form for the one they want to read first. Then pull names, make a label for inside the book that tells which student read it first, and make the announcement on the morning broadcast.
  • They get a temporary “new” spine sticker and live in our New Book section for a few months. Checkout is first come, first serve. I also usually set aside a few to read to groups each week. 
  • I just display them when they are processed and they are added to a running slide show of “Newest Titles” that is continuously projected on a big screen TV by genre.
  • Allow students to place holds on popular new books.  This makes the students pay attention when I do my "how to use the catalog" lesson. They can only place 2 holds at a time. The others I put on display 16 at a time.  (That's how many stands I have from Demco.)
  • Set them all out, take pictures to make a slideshow, and start letting kids get them day 1. Everyone gets to see the slideshow throughout the week, and when students return the new ones the next week, I ask them to display them on our display shelves. For several weeks, all my display areas turn into new book displays. I also send the slideshow out to teachers so they can see the new books we have as well. 


Heather Gruenthal, CSLA Historian
@hgruenthal on Twitter


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