Part of the community

The community association held a community cleanup day with a give and take table, and recycling bins. (I banned my husband since he came home with a couch last year) We took some library program guides over and our excess worn out paperbacks.  The community association helped carry back 4 wood chairs and a table for our new patio!  Recycling at its finest

Enticing people in the door

Problem: how to get non users in the door?
Solution: coax them inside to buy a discarded book, and then dazzle them with a big display of new DVDs.

The sign reads, "BUY US INSIDE  And borrow a DVD while you're here"  Two DVD rental stores in the neighbourhood have closed, so we're targetting people who don't realize we loan them.
(There was no noticeable theft from the booktruck, which was locked to a bench with a bike cable.)

Beatles ear worm

Promoting a class again outside the front door with chalk- I hummed Yellow Submarine all day long

Choose yer own

We just had a festival in Calgary called Choose yer own.  I like the interactive sense.  Here's our customer engagement poster- Choose your favourite Beatle.  Drumming up a little interest in an upcoming program...

My favourite Harry Potter spells

·         Finite Siblario

Makes siblings disappear. 

·         Tome Prefecto

Picks perfect library books. 

·         Pattochip-agonam

Turns things into potato chips. 

·         Aquam Frescus

Turns water into pop. 

·         Nazz

This spell makes people’s eyebrows fall off!

·         Abra-ca-stinky coo-coo-cuss 

Make the book come to us! Kaboost!

Makes the monster book fly through the air to Lucas.

·         Odomavante

A spell to make time in the car on a road trip go by faster.

·         Carrots & peas

Peas & carrots

Make it

Disappear

For me!

It dissappears healthy choices from your plate and it takes them back to the fridge.

·         Turtorcirous

Turns anything  into a turtle.

·         Corpus Minimus (shrinking Charm)

Causes a person’s body to shrink down to a tenth of their original size. Counter.charm is “corpus regulus” causing a person’s body to return to their original size. The opposite “corpus maximus”, causing a person’s body to enlarge 10 times their original size.

·         Camophlagio Totalis

Makes me blend in case somebody wants to get me.

These were my favourites in the Harry Potter contest I wrote about earlier.  The other judges were a little more serious than me... I love the goofy ones.  I've been thinking "Nazz" when I run into irritating people.

Dumpster diving + Wifi

My neighbour upgraded to Adirondack chairs, and put these perfectly good chairs in the garbage.  My dumpster diving husband brought them home (not quite the score as the stash of gold jewelry he once found- but that's another story)  Since our library had a little empty patio at the side of the building, I put them out there.  The bonus feature is that the Wifi access extends so you can use your laptop.  Now the chairs are rarely empty.  Everyday I look outside my window to see someone sitting there enjoying the sun.

Advertising in Unexpected Places

With posters everywhere and little children in tow, most moms and nannies are too overwhelmed to see our storytime ads.  Here's a perfect spot to send our message when there's nothing else to look at!