Springtime Reading Posters and Displays
March 13, 2019BONUS: Earth Day Poster!
March 26, 2019Life-Altering Magic of Tidying Up Your Library
School libraries tend to get cluttered—and fast! Outdated books, old files, broken technology, random craft supplies, and—in some cases—inheriting a cluttered library from a previous librarian/hoarder; the list is endless when it comes why our library is so messy!
Tidying up can give your library the refresh it needs. You can even accomplish this without spending a single dime. All that is required is the motivation to dig deep and clean out what no longer serves your library.
Taking a page out of Marie Kondo’s book, we have five tips on how you can spark joy in your library space by clearing out the clutter and making room for inspiration!
Tidying up can give your library the refresh it needs. You can even accomplish this without spending a single dime. All that is required is the motivation to dig deep and clean out what no longer serves your library.
Taking a page out of Marie Kondo’s book, we have five tips on how you can spark joy in your library space by clearing out the clutter and making room for inspiration!
Tidying Up Your Library
1| The Collection
In a perfect world, weeding is something that a librarian should be doing throughout the year. Like so many other things, weeding can fall by the wayside of higher priorities. Ultimately, before inventory season, you’ll want to give your library collection a good purge.Start by taking a look at your circulation stats. If a book hasn’t been checked out in years, it's outdated, or damaged—get rid of it! Don’t fall back on those “what-ifs”. If a book isn’t being read by students, it’s wasting precious space in your library.
Even if your library budget is tight, it is better to have a small collection of quality books and resources. When your collection is too stuffed, the books your patrons do want to read become lost in the jumble. Weeding helps patrons easily find the gems of your collection and makes room for new books to be added.
Getting rid of books that patrons no longer use will give you the extra room you need to take out that bookshelf and create a makerspace or help you prepare your library for genrefication. Weeding is vital for keeping your collection engaging, relevant, and fresh!
When weeding with Alexandria, use the Weeding List report to identify which books will go to the chopping block! Read our spring cleaning tip here.
When weeding with Alexandria, use the Weeding List report to identify which books will go to the chopping block! Read our spring cleaning tip here.
2| Paperwork and Misc
Do you have drawers, cupboards, and filing cabinets hiding the “catch-all” items of your library? Take a week or two to tackle these areas. We guarantee you’ll find all sorts of things, most items you won’t even need. Gut everything and throw away the stuff you forgot about or no longer need. Rearrange important files and paperwork so you can easily locate them later.Once everything is gutted, you’ll find that you have more room to store items for your makerspaces, lesson plans, or merely to be able to find essential items stored in these places.
3| Walls and Displays
Take a look around your library; are there a few things that have been up for longer than a year? Two years? Ten years?! Throw out or repurpose your old library displays. By changing out your decoration, you are breathing new life into your library! It may seem trivial but will make such an impact that you’ll be wondering why you hadn’t done it sooner.Check out our Reading Poster library! We have reading posters for every season, holiday, and celebration.
4| Technology
Physically tidying up your library is essential, but so is tidying up your library automation software. We have a few tips on how you can tidy up your Alexandria software.- Title Record Clean Up: If you have title series not lining up or that are inconsistent, there is an easy fix. You can change the series names in bulk—learn how to here!
- Authority Control: Standardize Researcher filters like mediums, genres, and tags.
- Manage MARC Records All at Once: Mitinet does all the work of updating and cleaning your MARC records. Learn more about the Mitinet add-on feature!
5| Furniture
Move furniture around to maximize your space. Shifting a few chairs, desks, or bookshelves can do a world of wonders for the atmosphere and flow in your library. You can make more room for your makerspace, technology, or relocate sections of your collection for better access. Most importantly, moving furniture around helps you get rid of items you no longer use.Once your library is settled into an arrangement you like, create a map of your library so patrons can find the books in your collection. Check out Alexandria’s map feature!
