Bossard’s book tree towers over the library foyer and will greet patrons throughout the holiday season as they enter to check out the latest books and utilize the many services the library offers to the community.
This year, Bossard Memorial Library served as a stop on the French Art Colony’s Holiday Homes Tour and was complete with all the Christmas trimmings thanks to the support of many local businesses. In addition, the library staff also dedicated their efforts to decorating the library. The trappings include handmade ornaments and Christmas-themed silhouettes.
GALLIPOLIS — While the French Art Colony’s Annual Holiday Homes Tour has come and gone this holiday season, guests are still flocking to a popular holiday home tour destination to check out a rather impressive Christmas tree that greets every visitor who stops by.
Bossard Memorial Library’s “book tree,” composed entirely of various sized and green-colored books, made quite an impression on those visiting the library as part of the holiday tour as well as on the hundreds of kids and their parents who flocked to the library this Sunday to visit Santa Claus, according to Library Director Debbie Saunders.
“It created such a stir on the home tour. People said, ‘we heard we had to stop by the library,’” Saunders commented. “It’s been a real buzz around here. The staff really likes it and what I liked about it was that it was a joint project. Either through the ornaments or putting the tree together, it was a project we worked on as a team.
“Almost the whole staff, in one way or another got involved with it. So, it was a good staff project to celebrate the holidays,” she said.
The idea for the book tree is not a unique one as other libraries have also created trees. The staff at Bossard created the project after discovering it on a popular website, and, as no Christmas tree is complete without ornaments, literary-themed ornaments were also created by the staff for the book tree.
While many of the green books for the tree came from Bossard’s own collection, many were borrowed from the University of Rio Grande’s Davis Library to complete the tree.
While creating ornaments for the tree took additional time, the main construction on the book tree took three days, according to Saunders.
The green-colored books were stacked, from large to small, around a sturdy frame built by the library’s maintenance department and the ornaments and tree topper were added later.
“That’s how the book tree was born, so to speak,” Saunders laughed.
In addition to the impressive book tree, a more traditional Christmas tree still adorns the library’s atrium and also shares a literary theme, including ornaments made by a library staff member.
Pages from classic Christmas tales are also framed behind miniature silhouettes of reading figures as part of the library’s adorned atrium.
While Saunders stated that this year’s holiday homes tour was very well attended and was an enjoyable event for her and her staff, Christmas is still a few weeks away and patrons of all ages should come in to read inside the library’s decked halls.
“People can still stop in. It’s not too late,” Saunders said. “We were part of the home tour, but people can still come in during our regular hours and enjoy the beauty of it.”
Post a Comment
