Deck the Halls...

From mlive.com

Delta College Librarian Constructs Christmas Tree Out of Books
Published: Friday, December 03, 2010, 1:20 PM Updated: Saturday, December 04, 2010, 8:21 AM
Brandon Howell The Bay City Times

FRANKENLUST TWP. — From a distance, it looks like a Christmas tree is adorning the main window inside the entrance to the Delta College Library.
Upon further inspection, though, one will find that it's not a blue spruce or a Douglas fir, but rather a meticulous amalgam of books.

Librarian Jennean Kabat spent six hours with a couple of coworkers carefully assembling the decoration the day before Thanksgiving. It was an idea she gleaned from the Internet.

"I was looking for inspiration — because I do all the displays — and came across this library in Connecticut who had done something similar," Kabat said. "So I said to my coworkers, 'Let's try building one of those!'"

The literary structure — which is buttressed from within by a wastebasket — is comprised of over 100 books. At the bottom, red books were used to simulate a tree skirt. Green books fill out the body of the tree while gold ones round out the top, mimicking a star.
The tree is constituted predominantly by copies of publications such as Congressional Quarterly Almanac and The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature.
Those books were chosen for a reason.

"We went into the collection and took a few of the books that aren't used quite as often as others," Kabat said. That hasn't stopped some students from giving the library staff a little good-natured grief.

"We've had some people come by and ask, 'What if I need to use that book in the middle there?' and we've said, 'Too bad, you'll have to wait until January,'" Kabat said, adding that her project reminds her of the nerve-racking game Jenga.

Aside from her ambition to continually impress library-goers with her displays, Kabat said the Christmas tree represents a broader approach by the library this holiday season.
"We always have a concern because we have a diverse population here at Delta and everybody isn't all about Christmas," she said. "We wanted to get away a little bit from the traditional Christmas tree, but yet still celebrate the holidays."

Students and faculty have both made time to stop and appreciate the Christmas tree, Kabat said. "Students have been stopping by just taking shots with their phone," she said. "We've heard things like, 'That's so awesome! I love it! How appropriate for a library to do something like that.'"

Delta College Library Director Jack Wood also approves of the decoration — although Kabat surreptitiously constructed it during one of his vacation days.
"I love it. It looks pretty cool," Wood said. "We've been getting nothing but compliments."
For Kabat, the decoration presents a problem in the future.
"I'm constantly trying to outdo myself," she said. "I'll have to come up with something really great next year."


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