From Edie Asbury
Does your library offer jigsaw puzzles to borrow? After visiting a church library that has them, I am thinking about adding a few to our collection but to limit them to only ones with particular spiritual meaning such as ones with churches in their pictures. That would help to keep the size manageable and stay within our purpose of enhancing Christian growth.
Thanks!
Edie Asbury
Replies
Puzzles have been the most active part of our church library for many years. We do not circulate puzzles but keep one going all of the time. Puzzles promote conversation between patrons who would have never interacted otherwise. The puzzles draw people into the library and then they linger and check out materials or visit. We alternate easier puzzles with harder puzzles. I mount the harder puzzles for display in the library. You can zoom in on this photo to see a puzzle in action on the high top table and completed puzzles displayed on the top of the shelving.
We have puzzles of various sizes. They are popular. We have very non descript themes..... animals, seasonal, scenes, buildings, one which is train stamps is popular for some reason. Adults tend to get them more than children. We also have a 'community puzzle' this is extremely popular. We lay out a puzzle on a table for any visiting patron to add to. We were very surprised at how popular it was. It is a great conversation starter too. The person who puts the last piece in usually gets their photo taken and we post it on our page. We tend to stick to 300-500 pieces. People like to see it grow quickly.
We house them on a rolling cart- put a list of items contained and instruction for returns. We also fix the box so it doesn't fall open and put all the pieces in a zip lock bag. We don't allow them to be put in the book drop, they often get damaged that way. Pretty much all ours were donated, we do the same as others here..... switch them out, send them on to thrift stores and give away as prizes during summer reading and other program events.
Look up jigsaw events too. They are very popular...... people come to complete jigsaw in a time frame..... too much detail needed for here.
We added jigsaw puzzles during the Covid years (and for safety's sake kept them isolated for a week when returned before putting them back in circulation). Our entire stock was donated and continues to be. We still have an active puzzle selection of varying sizes -- 300 to 1000 pieces-- all of which are popular. We try to keep the stock at about 30 puzzles. .As new puzzles are donated, we swap them out. The older ones go to a thrift store; the popular ones go into hibernation for about a year. We expected to see the most action with puzzles in the winter (which happened), but summer has turned out to be equally popular, since a number of families will borrow some to take on vacations in case of rainy days. We stick with family-friendly themes for puzzles -- no bizarre stuff or anything hideously difficult.
We have close to 50 puzzles in our collection. The adult interest are displayed on top/across of one of the bookshelves, 4 shelf lengths. The children interest puzzles have a shelf in the children's area. All of them are donated. They have no set theme. 500 pc is the most common and preferred. The puzzles for younger folks are 25-100 pieces. Landscapes, nostalgia, and animals are popular.
Cool idea!! I like it. Would these puzzles be aimed at children or adults or both. How many pieces? How would you display them? How much space will you allot.? I'll bet you've already asked yourself these questions. Good luck. I'm rooting for you.