Library Displays (My Library > Your Library)

Good morning!

As I was walking through the lobby the other day, I realized I'd seen not one but TWO pretty noteworthy exhibits downstairs that you might have missed if it's been awhile since you've visited your Nashville Public Library's main branch. If you're an out of state reader, you must put our library on your list of downtown attractions to see if you ever visit sunny Tennessee! There was an all-call email a couple months ago from the Popular Materials department on the first floor asking for "tabletop record players in working or non working condition". I thought "Oooh, wonder why," at the time, and waited to see what the creative types were cooking up down there. Well, here's your answer, folks, and it is too cool for school:

Three displays in the Main lobby follow three different eras of music on vinyl! ShutchaMOUTH, I was so impressed with how neat these are. The one above consists of materials on loan from Third Man Records, Jack White's record label and brick-and-mortar record shop in town. Why do I always forget that people buy things NEW on vinyl as well as old? Inside the lucite, you can see his solo release Blunderbuss and some other records from the label, as well as that RED HOT turntable. Sidenote: Did you know they have "Make Your Own Record" machine at Third Man? One of those booths like the ones in the movies where WWII soldiers would record an audio message, which was taken down on a thin little vinyl disc, and could be mailed home to the ones that were lonesome for the GI's voice back home. This article says it's the only one in operation and open to the public left in the United States..."impressed" is an understatement to how I feel about that. I want to see how it works!

I'm going in reverse chronological order because that's how I posted it for some reason....this is a display of guess seventies' and eighties' records. You've got Michael Jackson's easily recognizable Thriller, the soundtrack to Star Wars and Flashdance, but also Talking Heads' Remain in Light (one of my top 20 favorite albums of all time), De La Soul's debut 3 Feet High and Rising, a Dolly Parton hits compilation (which comes with a fold out poster of the singer...I know because I have this record!), and Emmylou Harris's Roses in the Snow. Random? A little, but I still got a kick out of seeing these things in a display case. Isn't it funny how placing anything under glass or plexiglass immediately makes it look like something either historical or of value? You could put your lunch under one of these cases and suddenly it would seem like "art". I need to get some of these for my house, obviously. I'm now wondering which member of the staff loaned this turntable out because it is AMAZING.

Last but not least in the set of vinyl displays, the fifties' and sixties'. There's a Bo Diddley record in the upper right hand corner, I can't remember which one, and Miles Davis and Dylan and the Beatles, but the album that really caught my eye in this display was the Sam and Dave release Hold On, I'm Comin at bottom left. Whose bright marketing idea was it to put one of the COOLEST soul recordings to come out of Stax Records (and that's saying something, the Stax stable was insane back in those days) out with a picture of the singing duo astride a cartoon turtle? Hm? It seems insane. If I were Sam or Dave, I'd be like...could we get something a little more...I don't know...slick looking? Less like H.R. Pufnstuf?

This is just wrong, people.

In the actual Popular Material department, there are a number of displays on the shelves leading up to the desk, but this one was the best for obvious reasons. And one of those reasons is "OMFG, IT'S A TWIN PEAKS DISPLAY":

I take it the QR codes might take you to clips from the show that explain the quotes? I don't have a Smartphone to test this theory, but hats off to Pop Mat for having a technology-interactive display made with just a printer, some standup sign displays, and a great deal of ingenuity. Do you see all the red room tiles that are empty? This makes the ones with the characters from the show look even creepier! This display is second to the display a couple months ago that reminded me David Bowie's new album, The Next Day, could be legally downloaded in its entirety (five songs at a time) from our library's free mp3 download system, Freegal....but that's a close second. Aaaah, the quotes!

On the ledge next to the display are these tiny flyers, which may be the pièce de resistance of the whole thing.

Check it out in close up:

The Facebook page on the flyer leads you to an almost 20,000 strong fan page supporting the resurrection of one of the best tv shows....of all time? You can sign the petition from that group to return the surreal Pacific Northwest town and its eccentric (to say the least) denizens to twenty-first century airwaves here. There was a lot of speculation earlier this year as to whether or not David Lynch and Mark Frost were toying with the idea of a third season after twenty-two years off the air, but when I googled "Twin Peaks coming back", all I found were pretty staunch denials of any such intentions from Lynch's daughter Jennifer and Frost himself. Live in hope, right? Still! What a display!

Have you visited your local library? Anything neat going on to grab the patrons' attention for summer and summer reading? What kind of display would you put up in your library if you could actually choose ANY topic? Let's talk!

Speaking of libraries, I have to get back to work! But I'll catch you guys tomorrow with more vintage hits and misses. Til then!