Monday, April 27, 2015

School libraries: start a Student Picks shelf!

Bookstores promote Staff Picks.


I would love to see school libraries promote Student Picks. Rotate students’ choices weekly to give as many kids as possible a slot in the spotlight.

This is a reading catalyst in several ways:

  • it uses peer pressure for good!
  • it incentivizes students to read more so they’ll have new recommendations
  • it motivates students whose recs are on display to take friends to the library to show off their special status, and anything that gets more people into a library is worthwhile

Come to think of it, the student picks’ shelf need not be in the library. How about putting it at the main entrance of the school? That would turn a Big Statement into an Even Bigger Statement: the value of reading is too strong to confine to any one room! (Students would simply take whichever book they wanted to the library to check it out.)

If you know a school that is already showcasing books that students recommend, please let me know!

1/22/19 addendumHere’s one.

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