[Michlib-l] non-fiction (fun) signage responses

Fri Jul 14 10:50:23 EDT 2017

Hello, all.
Many of you have asked for me to share your responses to my inquiry re: non-fiction signage.  Thank you so much for those who gave me ideas and sent me pictures!  There is some good stuff here!  Attached are some of the photos.

1. I just made up a bunch of nonsense signs that made me laugh, printed and laminated.

The travel section features an image of the Titanic sinking. Home repair has a picture of Hank Hill. True crime has an image of Charles Manson making a really funny face. We are a small library and I probably can get away with more than bigger libraries can.

2.Mary -

We did a library signage project last year, and had great fun with it.  Our two areas of focus were directional/area signage, and demystifying the nonfiction collection.  We wanted to encourage browsing in the nonfiction section, and we wanted patrons (especially new patrons) to feel at home and oriented right away, with visual aids to help them find their area of interest.

For NONFICTION:

We are so very pleased with materials we ordered from www.libraryskills.com<http://www.libraryskills.com> .

We have these:
https://www.libraryskills.com/Non-Fiction-Shelf-Signs/Non-Fiction-Shelf-Markers/Non-Fiction-Library-Find-It-Shelf-Markers
https://www.libraryskills.com/Non-Fiction-Shelf-Signs/Non-Fiction-Shelf-Markers/Non-Fiction-Shelf-Markers-10-color
on either side of this shelf sign holder:
https://www.libraryskills.com/Display-Product/Shelf-Markers-No-Signage/Shelf-Marker-clear-sleeve-on-each-side

and these displayed on tops of the shelves:
https://www.libraryskills.com/Non-Fiction-Products/Poster-Sets/Library-Find-It-Poster-Set

These are distributed throughout the stacks to highlight some of our more popular subjects:
https://www.libraryskills.com/Non-Fiction-Products/Poster-Sets/Color-Coded-Picture-Set

On the ends of the stacks, we have these posters from Demco:
http://www.demco.com/products/Upstart-Promotions/Posters-D%C3%A9cor/Library-Skills/Dewey-reg-Word-Cloud-Mini-Poster-Set/_/A-B00226289&ALL0000&es=20170711104627800233

We're considering getting similar shelf signage, with the alphabet, for our fiction section.

For DIRECTIONAL/AREA signage:

I'm also very happy with our top-of-stacks genre/collection signage, although Demco's selection is somewhat limited.  Here's an example:
http://www.demco.com/products/Signage/Shelf-Signs/Subject-Classification-Signs/Gaylord-reg-Tabletop-Classification-Signs-Mystery/_/A-B00275645&ALL0000&es=20170711115919582872

As I say, it's a limited selection.  I designed artwork for the other areas we wanted to identify, and we made the signs out of pasteboard, matching the look of these from Demco.  It sucked up a bunch of time, but the results are worth it in my opinion.  If you want the artwork, let me know and I'll send you the files.

Secondarily, we identified some areas of the library by hanging up these letters from Hobby Lobby on the high sections of the walls:

http://www.hobbylobby.com/Home-Decor-Frames/Clearance---Home-Decor/Rustic-Letter-Metal-Wall-Decor---A/p/42323

I've attached a couple of photos for you and will forward a few more in a second email.

3.
I just noticed your question about subject signs.  I do this for the youth section of the library.  Since I was trying something new and didn't want to invest much I found a Word template to use.  I change the template, print, laminate and attach with double sided tape.  They are the width of our shelves. They get moved around frequently and because it's kids using them they get replaced often.   If you're looking for something simple like this I can send you a copy of the template.
4.
 Hi Mary,
A few years ago, we downsized our nonfiction collection to move it to a smaller area.  We had to come up with categories that would fit the space - we had nine columns of shelves.  Here's what we came up with:
*Life Stories: some biographies and memoirs, true stories from ordinary people. Our most popular section, we had to give this one two columns!
*Through the Years: history and some biographies
*Food and cooking: cookbooks, but also things like wine-making, books about cheese, etc.
*You and your family: self-help, parenting, job hunting, health, etc.
*House and garden: floor plans, greenhouse info, gardening
*Hobbies and Leisure
*True Crime
*Best of the Rest: for everything that didn't fit another heading

Things don't necessarily flow with the dewey numbers, so we have color-coded dots inside each book to correspond with the section.  For example, You and Your Family might contain books from the religion section (200's) medical (600's), and others.  Each category stays in dewey decimal order.

Recently we have done the same sort of thing with juvenile fiction.  We now have Humor, True Life, Mystery, Animals, Scary Stories, Super Stories (ninjas, super heroes, time travel) Manga, Fairy Tales & Magic, Fantastic Worlds, and Mythology (for the Percy Jackson type books).

We made the signs ourselves.  And by ourselves, I mean the director's husband.  They are made from laminate sheets (as in countertops).  Stick on vinyl lettering was ordered locally, contact Perri at p.saunders at woodlands.mi<mailto:p.saunders at woodlands.mi> lib.us<http://lib.us> if you want to know more about that.

Mary Beauchamp
Adult Services
Petoskey District Library
231.758.3114

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