Out on the Shelves Display Competition 2023

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Out on the Shelves is a growing online reading resource that lists books from around the world with rainbow themes and characters.

This month we celebrated National Schools Pride Week as well as a whole month of the Out on the Shelves campaign.

Out on the Shelves is an online reading resource that lists books with rainbow themes and characters, with the aim of supporting rainbow young people to find stories that represent their identities in positive and affirming ways.

Check out some of the amazing Rainbow Reading Resources and book lists here.

This year we have entered their display competition, focusing our attention on the collective noun for a group of butterflies; a kaleidoscope. We soon realised that it takes an army of caterpillars to become a kaleidoscope of butterflies, but couldn't stop there. 

This project turned into a bookmark, showing off the collective nouns of a series of fabulous, unique animals, and encouraging readers to "BE YOU!" and to be proud of their differences.

Our staff worked hard to create a kaleidoscope of paper butterflies around the library, complete with lush leaves (made with guidance from Handmade Houseplants by Corrie Beth Hogg), sparkly lights, stacks of rainbow resources and books galore. It was important to highlight the uniqueness and diversity of the world around us because diversity is the spice of life.

This display has led to lovely conversations with staff, adults, young people, and those who were excited to learn a new collective noun! A wonderful way to celebrate our colourful community and bring attention to these amazing resources for our tamariki.

Out on the Shelves is an opportunity to create more visibility in school and community libraries. Their campaign is a chance for libraries to promote and build their rainbow collections, celebrate these stories and help connect rainbow young people with their stories and with each other. It’s also a chance for us to celebrate the many authors and illustrators from the rainbow community whose works are in our collections. 

We're proud of the incredible work our team has done, and happy to be a part of Out on the Shelves 2023!