Whenever I’m in a suburb or area I haven’t been before, I like to check out their libraries, even if I’m not planning on borrowing anything – so I get where that sneaky feeling is coming from! 😛 Sometimes it’s nice to just check them out and see how the libraries I’ve worked with stack up. (Obviously the ones I’ve worked at have been the absolute best and have unrivalled service quality and collection breadth, but that’s beside the point.)
Library displays are very handy for “recommending” books to readers. The libraries I’ve worked at have all kinds of unwritten rules about how displays should be done and it’s not uncommon to see someone feverishly scribbling down an idea for a display in their lunch break. (Librarians are never truly off-duty.) There’s a real art to it, to making things eye-catching, but not overwhelming; balanced, but a little bit special. And sometimes you’ll find a book that looks so good you just HAVE to make a display around it!