30 June 2011

Download Audiobooks, eBooks & More Poster

The 68x44 inch reference desk area display poster promotes the library's OverDrive database service.
In conjunction with our summer theme on travel and technology, and our QR code launch, our July reference area display board will highlight one of our database resources, OverDrive. You can download eBooks, audiobooks, music and video from OverDrive to your PC, Mac, eReader or portable device. OverDrive continues to improve and add apps for mobile devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android and others. You can find out more about it at overdrive.aclib.us.


This large format poster is 68x44 inches. However, my in-house large format printer--a Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 800--is only 36 inches wide. So in order to create the full sized poster, I have to print the image out in two horizontal strips, then tape the top and bottom halves together. It works out pretty well, considering the logistics and cost savings of using an outside printer.


Arrg! Printer drippage!
What doesn't work very well, however, is printing for some weeks after I have replaced the ink heads. For some reason, the black ink drops excess puddles anywhere it wants to while it is printing--mostly along the outer margins of the page where the inker stops and reverses directions--but not always. The droplets of ink don't immediately dry either, and they end up getting on the receiver bed of the printer; on other sections of the print as it rolls against itself or the now-stained receiver bed; on my fingers and clothes if I'm not careful. It's not a very happy scene in the art room during these moments.


So when I'm printing a really long poster and am doing well, then get a big ink blotch on in the last foot, it is particularly annoying. I can live with it spilling ink in a place that would be easy to print out as a detail patch, but if an ink blot is out in the open, it is much more noticeable and annoying. It's such a waste of expensive materials. Do I reprint the entire thing again, knowing I'll most likely get new drops in new places? Or do I try to print out a detail portion to patch it with? Strategy, strategy. Time for a little creative "knifing" to see if I can salvage the two strips by piecing together length-wise, and also making use of whatever remaining detail areas that might serve the piece well.


General concept and supportive text was developed by the display librarian and myself; images came from the OverDrive vendor. QR codes provided during the QR code signage exercise. Quantity: 1 (thank goodness, considering the ink mess).
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous7/05/2011 9:58 AM

    Sounds like our printers are related. Sorry to hear about it. The poster looks great on the blog tho! Small consolation maybe.

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  2. Library Marketing Design7/13/2011 1:11 PM

    Thanks. Yes, sometimes I think our office printers just want to stick it to us...to remind us how much we really need them. After my knifing/splicing, it turned out pretty well, all things considered.

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  3. Library Marketing Design10/26/2011 9:09 AM

    In October I received a friendly call from the Head of Circulation for the Sedona Public Library in Sedona, Arizona (http://sedonalibrary.org). He asked if he could use the image of my large format poster above as a screensaver at his library. I was happy to offer it to him and to know that through their use the image's shelf life would be extended.

    I was concerned that the QR codes on the image might not work for him at the screen size on my blog, but interestingly enough, he said he tested taking a photo directly from the computer monitor and it worked, directing the smart phone to the OverDrive resource page. I'm sure it'll work just as well as his screen saver since it is displayed even bigger.

    Thanks Scott, and enjoy the view!

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