She's Crafty | Bookmarks

Coming soon to the Chavez Central library slat wall is a book display featuring recommendations by city staff. I'm designing a bookmark that will go into the books on display for two reasons: One, to let people know that, yes! you can check this book out; and two, to give some extra information regarding who recommended the book.

While I was online looking for inspiration to design a basic template, I came across a blog devoted to the art of bookmarks called Mirage Bookmark. If you collect bookmarks or appreciate a well-designed bookmark, you have to check out this blog!

On the Mirage blog I found an especially fun post featuring an ALA bookmark of Barabra Gordon, a superhero librarian in the city of Gotham during the day and the crime-fighting superhero known as Batgirl by night.

Too bad they don't sell these anymore, I would probably buy a stack...or two.

All this bookmark talk got me thinking about all the bookmarks I've collected, made, or received as gifts in the past. I have a pile that goes back a few years tucked away in a basket in my bedside reading table. Bookmarks come in all shapes and sizes and I'm a sucker for anything that keeps my place in a good book with style and innovation, so I have markers that range from small magnetic tabs with cartoon zombies on them and arrow shaped clips that will point to any place on the page for those of us who are always stopping mid-page (me, I am one of those people), to large pieces of photography paper trimmings from a college class and a few of the store-bought and tasseled variety. 

However, nothing beats a good ol' handmade bookmark. Every once in awhile I like to buy a package of pre-cut, ready to decorate bookmarks from the craft store and go to town. They make great, quick gifts too--especially for the bookmark lover. Print out a favorite quote and fill it up with doodles or fill the surface of a bookmark with pictures of ridiculously cute kitten faces that will make you smile every time you pick up your book.

We have the following books about bookmarks. You'll see I padded my list with fictional books since we only have one book specifically about bookmarks. Also, I thought it was cute we had fiction books with references to bookmarks.

Collecting Bookmarkers by A.W. Coysh

Bookmarks Are People Too! by Henry Winkler

Bookmarked to Die by Jo Dereske

Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett

Great advice from
Collecting Bookmarkers

Another tip if you want to find books on crafting your very own bookmarks is to look at the table of contents of most papercrafting books--you'll most likely find at least one project involving a bookmark there.

Link+ Books

Carving Caricature Bookmarks by Chris Morgan

The Art of Illumination by Patricia Carter

Of course the bookmark I end up using most often is my due-date receipt from the library.

The best free bookmark EVER!

Malia & Kaye

4 Kids | The Bookmark Saga Continues

Lately my blogging friends have been writing about the odd, unusual, and sometimes gross things that people use as bookmarks. We folks in libraryland get to see these odd, unusual, and sometimes gross things when they show up in returned library books. Many times I've heard a library colleague shriek aloud at finding something in a library book that should just not be there.

So let's be honest. How many of us have used something odd, unusual or gross as a bookmark? Come on. Don't be shy. 

My colleague Lori has found candy wrappers as bookmarks in library books. Read about other odd things she's found in her blog. This whole discussion started when my colleague Panteha pleaded with our wonderful library users to not use dental floss as a bookmark. Dental floss? Really? Read her great blog here. 

Since I've got a few more years on Lori and Panteha, I've seen a little more. Alas. Let's see if I can remember the odd, unusual and gross things I've seen used as bookmarks in library bookmarks.

Would you believe....

• A strip of dried fruit (you know the kind that comes rolled up in plastic? It was really old, by the way)
• A dryer sheet
• A piece of kleenex
• A fast food napkin with ketchup on it
• A boy's phone number with hearts drawn all around it

And my all-time favorite: a shoe insert, and I'm not kidding! 

All this talk reminds me of one of my favorite picture books ever: I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric Kimmel. This fun read shows what happens when animals run amok in the library -- from a hen laying an egg in the card catalog (the old way we used to look up books) to a python shedding its skin. Oh gross! 

So let's leave our animals at home, and use a piece of paper for a bookmark. Sound good?

In the meantime, happy reading as always!

Learning | More Bad Ideas for Bookmarks

I had to laugh when Panteha blogged about the person who marked a page in a library book with dental floss. I shudder to think about how many germs there may have been on that thing. 

Bookmarking with a cat is highly impractical. Photo courtesy of QuinnDombrowski's photostream on Flickr.com. Some rights reserved.

I have worked in libraries for decades now, and I continue to be shocked at the things people use for bookmarks in library books. How do I know about this? People forget to take their bookmarks out of their books before returning them in the bookdrop. Sometimes we even find books on the library shelves with bookmarks still in them.

Panteha makes a good point. You should never put something that may have been in a person's mouth in a library book. Things like bandages and facial tissues are just as disgusting; don't use those, either. 


I would also like to discourage people from bookmarking with items that may be of value to them.

Over the years, I have either seen or heard of books marked with the following items:

• Checks or paycheck stubs
• Bills
• Letters
• Greeting cards
• Credit cards
• Identification or insurance cards
• Currency
• Income tax forms
• Personal photos
• Poems
• Art work
• Love notes
• Report cards
• Homework assignments
• Shopping lists
• Recipes 
• Straw wrappers
• Candy wrappers

We try our best to let the customer know if they dropped something of value in the bookdrop. But sometimes we are unable to be sure which book it fell from, and there isn't enough information on the item itself to help us know who to contact.

It's especially frustrating to find lovely wedding pictures or portraits of loved ones. I wish extra hard that the customer will remember that they used them as bookmarks, and ask the library if it is in the lost and found.

A few years ago, a photograph of a pig on a leash turned up in our bookdrop. This was clearly not a random pig. It may have been a pet or 4H project. In, other words, it was clearly "SOME PIG!" I couldn't bear to toss it in the trash after it languished on our Lost and Found shelf for three weeks, so I have kept it at my desk. I have nicknamed it Wilbur, after the pig in E. B. White's classic, Charlotte's Web. 

I know what it's like to suddenly find yourself in need of an impromptu bookmark. I often use library receipts, or those annoying subscription cards that fall out of magazines. I have even used old envelopes or scratch paper for that purpose. Post-It notes are another great idea, because they don't fall out of the book easily, and can be moved from page to page without damaging the book.

What do you like to use as bookmarks, besides bookmarks?

Some people like to make their own bookmarks. Here are two books that give instructions for making them:

Step-by-Step Papermaking



Let's Knot: a Macramé Book