Sticker talk—October 15, 2010
Imagine this: You have been out of reading material for days now; you like short stories since they fit neatly into the reading time you manage to carve out of your busy schedule; you have a total of 5 minutes left in your lunch hour; you reach the library, attain the second floor adult fiction area and scan the shelves for books with a Short Stories sticker plainly visible on the spine label. Voila! You spot three titles, you grab all three - in case one doesn’t suit, you’ll have a spare; you descend to the checkout desk or choose self-check and you’re on your way with time to spare!
Now do this: substitute Science Fiction for Short Stories in the above scenario. Or Mystery, or Romance, or Western. Many stickers include an image, like cowboy boots for westerns, a yellow question mark for mysteries and a big red heart for romance.
Not a fiction reader? Join the crowd in search of a good biography. First floor is home to nonfiction. You will be able to spot many biographies on the shelves here. Just look for the white labels with red letters that say “Biography.” Clue: When looking for the life story of Amelia Earhart, for example, first find the Dewey Decimal number for aviation – it starts at 629. This is where you’ll find bios of aviators. Looking for biographies of your favorite stars and celebrities? Start at Dewey Decimal 791.43. How about “American Prince: a Memoir” by the recently deceased star of stage and screen, Tony Curtis.
Holiday stickers include Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s. Crafters, now is the time to peruse the holiday craft section, beginning at Dewey Decimal 745.5. You can quickly locate books such as: “Swedish Christmas Crafts” by Helene Lundberg.
Throughout the library, and this includes all types of audio books, regular and large print fiction and nonfiction, look for a prominent white sticker that reads “Best Seller.” The sticker includes a year, such as “2010.” This designation refers to titles from the New York Times bestseller list, published weekly, beginning in 1903 to the present. The current week’s list can be accessed from the library’s website, www.hastings.lib.ne.us, by clicking on the yellow medallion “Bestsellers at your library.” From here you can print the current list as well as access bestsellers by decades.
Visit your library soon and often, and shop stickers!
