The art of reading

Remember those posters in the library that featured celebrities reading that commanded us in all caps to read, too? Well, they were created by the American Library Association and debuted way back in 1985. It turns out that the ALA still makes them, and the likes of Bill Cosby and Keira Knightley have appeared on the posters (which, by the way, can be purchased at www.alastore.ala.org for $10-$18). Basically, the concept is simple: If someone sees a celebrity reading, they'd think books are cool.

Last year, librarians Geoff Rohde and Marc Pezell noticed that a lot of these celebrity posters—such as one featuring the Backstreet Boys—were a bit out-of-date. So, the Sacramento Library produced a new set of its own posters featuring photos of various library employees holding famous books. The library's graphic designer Laura Koivunen took the photos and Photoshopped backgrounds on them that tie in with the topic of the books. Several of them recently debuted at the Central Library (828 I Street).

Bonus: If you're the creative type, the library's public-information coordinator Malcolm Maclachlan says that members of the public can create their own posters at home. Just make sure that you really love reading and graphic design—it's $199 for a READ Design Studio Starter Pack, (which, to be fair, is designed for classroom and library settings). www.alastore.ala.org/readdesignstudioinfo.