Search

Librarian Design Share

inspiration for library creatives

Open Search
Category

Uncategorized

In need of Submissions about Sound

Many responsibilities of library employees are opaque to our patrons, but the public has in mind that one of our day-to-day responsibilities is maintaining the library’s quiet environment.  My family makes frequent jokes about my proclivity towards shushing, which I argue is 100% false.  However, it is true that to be an environment that allows people to read, study, and research the library must maintain a certain level of muted sound.

I imagine that many of us are engaged in a balancing act of meeting patron’s varying needs for space for group work and silent study.  That’s why we are interested in the flyers, signs, and other materials that you use to communicate your library’s noise levels and environment to patrons –  the formal, informal, and funny!  Or if you have a work-in-progress that needs some feedback from other librarians, send it here too.  We’re looking forward to seeing the various ways that our community designs around this library phenomenon.

 

1

A New Beginning

seedlings sprouting

In January we announced that we would be sunsetting Librarian Design Share. It was not a decision we took lightly, and it was one we mulled over for months. In response we heard from so many people about the ways in which Librarian Design Share had helped them. Thank you so much for reading, commenting, retweeting, and generally supporting this site.

Among these responses were folks asking if we’d consider passing along the torch to a new set of administrators who could keep Librarian Design Share going. It wasn’t something we had even thought of at that point, but the idea was exciting. Fast forward a month and a half, and this idea has turned into a reality.

We are so excited to announce that we are passing the Librarian Design Share torch to two new administrators, Naomi Gonzales and Jessica Denke. These wonderful, creative, and enthusiastic librarian-designers will be making Librarian Design Share their own. They will continue to cultivate a space where library workers can share designs and be inspired by the creativity of others. With that said, let’s get to know Naomi and Jess a bit better:

photo of jess denke

Hi!  I’m Jess, and I’m the Assessment and Outreach Librarian at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  I serve as the liaison to the social sciences and spend a lot of my time teaching and collaborating with faculty and students.  I’ve been very fortunate to have encouraging bosses and mentors who have allowed me to pursue design work in each of my library positions.  I’ve felt inspired and encouraged by the work featured in Librarian Design Share and by the opportunity to share my own work with this community.  I’m so excited to be able to support the design work being done in libraries, this community is awesome!  You can find me on Twitter @missjessmlis – in addition to design, I love talking about all things #critlib and #infolit.  If you send me a picture of your cats I will send one of mine in return!

photo of naomi gonzales

Hello Librarian Design Share readers! I’m the Web Management Librarian at the University of Houston-Downtown in Houston, Texas and am thrilled to be able to continue the good work of April and Veronica! Like many other librarians, I fell into design years ago mostly due the “other duties as assigned” part of my job right out of library school. I did the best I could for a couple of years before discovering Librarian Design Share and the community of other self-taught librarians. Currently, I find myself diving deeper into the design waters and have become interested in universal design and learning how usability, accessibility and design all work together. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, making cocktails, and am also an admin for Librarian Wardrobe.

So, forget all that sunsetting stuff. It’s a new day around here and Veronica and I are confident that this site will only improve with new energy behind it! Keep the love and clicks coming, along with the great designs that you are all creating. We’ll be following along, too.

5

Sunsetting Librarian Design Share

Photo of a Sunset by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Hello, friends.

As difficult as this is, I want to get right to the point: At the end of this month, April and I will be sunsetting Librarian Design Share. What does that mean, you ask? It means that we will no longer be posting to the site, BUT the site will remain live, as will the Google Drive with all of the amazing designs you’ve shared with the Librarian Design Share community over the years.

April and I started this project 5 years ago. It was a true labor of love. Something we started because our day-to-day work involved a healthy dose of graphic design and visual creative work. We wanted to create a space where those of us in libraries could share our creativity, learn from one another, grow our graphic design skills, and adapt beautiful work. What followed was better than we could have ever imagined.

YOU helped us grow Librarian Design Share into a vibrant, fun, supportive community. We’ve learned from you, been wowed by your work, and amazed at how you’ve adapted designs. We are so honored to have provided a platform for the work of so many talented librarians. From the bottom of our hearts: Thank you.

Why is this the end?

Over the past few years April and I have been through some pretty big career changes. April’s now a Library Dean, and my own career focus has been much more on instruction coordination and critical information literacy. As much as library outreach and graphic design will always have a place in our hearts, our careers have taken us on a new journey. We’re excited to find out what new projects await us.

Now for the details

You may have noticed that April and I haven’t been posting to Librarian Design Share with any regularity. We sincerely apologize. Our work and personal life has taken us in so many different directions that it’s been very difficult to devote time to this meaningful project.

Over the next two weeks we will be posting designs that have already been submitted to us via gmail. We will no longer be accepting new design submissions. So keep an eye out on Twitter for the last few designs from Librarian Design Share. We hope you enjoy them.

Again, LibrarianDesignShare.org will remain live for the next year or so, as will our Google Drive repository. After that April and I will decide on the future fate of the site.

For now, we want to say, again, THANK YOU. ❤

6

What You Can Do With Piktochart

Poster of New! Library CoLab Open Now. Picture of connected icons and description of colab.

We’ve shared a lot of Canva designs on Librarian Design Share recently, but there are other easy-to-use graphic design sites with pre-made design elements like Piktochart that can help you create great looking posters and advertisements for your library. Kendall Hinesley, Liaison Library & Reference Coordinator at California State University Dominguez Hills, has created some wonderful marketing and outreach materials for her library’s new Co-Lab and Reference Services.

Continue reading “What You Can Do With Piktochart” →

1

A One Button Studio Update

Last summer we featured a series of instructional materials by Randal Sean Harrison, Emerging Technologies Librarian at University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Library on One Button Studio. If you haven’t had a chance to see them, I highly recommend checking out that original post. They are a great example of clear, concise instructions in a visual format.

Continue reading “A One Button Studio Update” →

0

In Search of Student Advisors

Student Advisory Board Flyer

It’s the first day of classes at my college, and as stressed as I was about getting everything ready by today, I find myself much more relaxed than I thought I would be. It’s so nice to see familiar student faces on campus; the whole college just feels more alive. It’s a nice reminder of why we do what we do.

As we start off a new school year, April and I would love to see what you’ve been working on. Whether it’s new signage, a new marketing campaign, or, in the case of today’s post, a new flyer to try to recruit students for a library advisory board. Jess Burkhardt, Public Services Librarian at DeSales University’s Trexler Library created today’s featured design. Here’s what she had to say about it:

Continue reading “In Search of Student Advisors” →

2

Social Media Organization

The Super Awesome Social Media Calendar by Ashley Chasse

Today’s post is a slight departure from our design focus, but given the significant overlap between the folks who read Librarian Design Share and the people responsible for their library’s social media accounts, it’s still highly appropriate! Ashley Chassé, Access Services Lending Technology Associate at the Boston College O’Neill Library was kind enough to share the content calendar she uses to manage social media postings with Librarian Design Share readers, known as The Super Awesome Social Media Content Calendar.

Continue reading “Social Media Organization” →

0

Reference Collection in Need of a Boost

If your library’s reference collection is anything like ours, it’s likely:

  • underused
  • overlooked
  • full of fantastic info that makes librarians drool

My fantastic colleague, Amanda VerMeulen, recently created a series of shelf signs to try to draw attention to our in-need-of-more-than-a-little-love reference collection.

Continue reading “Reference Collection in Need of a Boost” →

0

Hello 2016

Happy New Year, everyone! 2015 has been a year of transition for April and I here at Librarian Design Share. Our jobs and responsibilities may have changed a bit in the last year, but our love of design continues, and so does Librarian Design Share. We can’t wait to see what amazing posters, displays, web designs, and other visually stunning materials you’ve been creating for your library! Over the next few months we’ll have new posts, new resources and recommendations, and a few surprises, too. We can’t wait to see where this new year takes us, and hope that your own journey is a happy one.

–Veronica

Featured image created by me, using Canva and my husband’s Lego photography (because he’s generous like that). 

0

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: