Resources & Tricks

You can spot trends by regularly sweeping professional and entertainment resources. A few is all you need to get the creative juices flowing. My favorites are listed below along with some handy design and personal resources as well. Also, be sure to check out what other happenin' libraries are doing and attend professional conferences too when and where you can. I was fortunate to make it to PLA in Portland, Oregon this past March 2010 and to several FLA's. (Haven't made it to an ALA yet but looking forward to it someday.)

Popular Culture Muses:
Movies/Film - (This is HUGE!)
Music
Entertainment
Retail - (Think Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Target etc.)
Commercials

Professional Lit:
VOYA
Young Adult Library Services
School Library Journal (Not so much)
American Libraries

Professional Websites:
YALSA - http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/yalsa.cfm

Happenin' Libraries:
New York Public Library - http://www.nypl.org/
Hennipin - http://www.hclib.org/
Orange County Public Library (Florida) - http://www.ocls.info/

FREE Font Site: http://www.dafont.com/

Fav Design Blogs:
poppytalk - http://www.voya.com/
design*sponge - http://www.designspongeonline.com/
decor8 - http://decor8blog.com/

Personal Resources:
My Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumia7/
My LibraryThing - http://www.librarything.com/catalog/libraryladylove
My delicious - http://delicious.com/arthousejax

TRICKS:
~ Source it! - Jump start your ideas by using Google Image search! (It will rarely fail you.)
~ Trace it! - Can't draw? Neither can I. The next best this is to make a transparency of an image you like, project it (with a projector) to the size you want, trace it and voila!
~ Snag it! - Keep your eyes peeled for free decorating/design loot for later use.

Example: In honor of Banned Books week/month, I recently turned this http://www.laraquette.se/theblog/theprsnt/uploaded_images/Bad-710192.jpg into this http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumia7/5059995576 .

Note: Nothing has to be perfect. The name of the game is to source and create quickly so that you can be efficient while building skills