Japan

Most libraries have a place for displays. Most of our display space is reserved for new books. The rest is for seasonal displays-- upcoming holidays, popular current report topics, etc. They're there to make the books people are looking for easier to find. It also helps when your books on a topic span a few different Dewey ranges.

Right now, we have 3 seasonal displays competing for limited space-- St. Patrick's Day, Women's History, and Spring.

This morning my coworker and I shifted and consolidated these diplays to open up the majority of our space where we then put up our books about Japan, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

By mid-afternoon, the vast majority of them had been taken.

Nobody asked me for books on these topics, but because the display was there, they were found and taken.

Luckily, I had more to put out.

My heart aches for Japan, as I'm sure yours does. There's a sense of helplessness in the face of such destruction and devastation. Kids feel sense this, too and they want information-- what is this country like? What causes earthquakes? What is a tsunami?

Next month we're having our second annual Cherry Blossom Festival program. I'm still in the planning stages, but we have to talk the quake and tsunami. I can't just ignore it (nor do I really want to, although it makes the program more serious that I was planning.) I want to find a way to work something in with disaster relief-- something the kids can do to help. I don't know what, but if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

The pictures are some of the books that are (or were) on my display.