Thursday, June 16, 2005

A tasty treat for bookworms

I thought I'd share a little nugget from my experiences of late as I've been participating in a freshman orientation program. Throughout the summer, the library and numerous other campus units gather at the Student Commons with information and goodies for incoming freshman who need to take care of pre-fall business. This is our first year as a participant and we had no money for eye-catching display items (which is difficult when competing with campus power houses like the student card office and Transportation & Parking!). We needed to think of a CHEAP way to draw people to our table. Our solution: bookworms. Well, actually gummy worms in ziploc bags with a slip of paper stating, "Attention Bookworms!! Get stuck with research? Ask-a-Librarian for help!" and our web address. So far they seem to work, especially if I say, "help yourself to a bookworm" (parents in particular get a kick out of this). We had other ideas too, like giving out candy lifesavers in keeping with our "librarians are your lifesavers/library survival skills" theme. One note: people seem to prefer the plain worms over the sour ones.

I'm curious to hear about your "tricks" for getting attention at tables. Send 'em in to be included in a post!

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