Running the One Woman / Man Show
http://www.peabody.org/pla/resources.html
julie.edwards@umontana.edu
Overview
Why you should program
Tales from Peabody
- 55k people
Striking a Balance
Making peace with grant writing
Finding and creating programs
Program really for 3 groups of people
Programming librarians
- balance
- renew your energy
easy to get burned out
Aspiring program writers
- tools
Directors / Asst Directors / Board
- institutional ethic from the top down
- must become routine
- creative / play
- be supportive – hire librarians that want to program
Why you should program -
- “it’s the job and responsibility of the public library to be a part of the community” – the main ethic
- programming let’s you be visible and connect in your communities
- good for publicity – newspapers, cable, fliers in churches
- think carefully about branding – have a tag
- stay relevant
- circ stats are going down
- you need statistics for relevance
- change focus from circ stats to door count
- people want and expect entertainment
- why not give them what they want
- keep patrons happy
- entice new patrons who may become regulars
- programming begets programming
- people expect it to continue
- increase membership in friends and donations
- attracts people who WANT it to continue
- programming increases materials circulation
- set up a display
- programming creates library advocates
- gets people in the building and excited
Two reasons why programming works at Peabody
- aggressively program
- 1 or more programs a week
- book group
- YA dropin
- every day a craft / game
- the hook is the food
- really really encourage you to try it
- mission of library really tied into programming
- Support of the Director, Asst Director, Trustees
- Emotional
- even if their idea doesn’t sound that great — be supportive
- don’t say no, tweak it
- Show up at the program – once or twice – just by being there you will be giving your librarians moral support
- Encourage your library board members to do this as well
- they see what’s going on
- get a sense of your staff
- they can circulate the room
- Financial
Tales from Peabody
- Teen programs are big – 200 to 300 programs a year
- partner up Adult and Teen programming
- example – a fencing program / scrapbooking
- play around and see what you can combine – you may be surprised
- Primetime Peabody
- Active older adults
- $5,000 LSTA grant – 25 programs
- 539 attendees
- 433 unique sign-ups
- let them run themselves after a while
- writing workshop spun off into it’s on weekly group
- get the ball rolling, set up the room space
- Alternative Teen Fashion Show
- learn how to sew
- competition ups the ante
- really successful
- Annual Fall Concert series
- music very easy to do
- series of 5 concerts from August to December
- called the high school
- local college
- music students like to do this
- resume builder
- less than $150 per concert
- 35 to 60 people a concert
- gentleman wanted to sponsor
- now can pay musicians
- gratifying
Tips for success
- Change the philosophy
- make it a priority
- think of it as part of your job
- other duties as assigned
- Don’t be afraid to fail
- learn from the mistakes
Tips on making it a priority
- Balance your time
- the key is pushing something off the plate
- knowing your library’s cycle
- know when your library is really busy
- know when it is quieter
- summers – christmas
- know when things can wait
- you can always shelf read
- nobody is going to die if you don’t order books
- you can get to it – it’s ok – leave it for a week
- freedom to be creative
- multitasking in a library is a necessity
- don’t discourage work at the reference desk
- let your librarians run a book group during library time
- program when you’re actually working
- make friends / delegate
Grant Writing
- If you are going to do programming you have to write grants
- can take days / weeks
- Variety of grants
- ALA grants are a good way of getting your feet wet
- cast a wide net
- look locally, nationally, businesses
- budget the time
- learn about the process
- create some boilerplate information
- history of programming
- library mission
- have a hook
- catchy title / theme – work through grants
- collaborate with other librarians / businesses / community
- granting agencies like to see community process / program
- friends of the library
Finding and Creating Programs
- Use local talent
- be prepared for overanxious programmers
- keep you on file
- doesn’t fit in with programming cycle this year
- Surf the net
- Don’t do all the work yourself
- Volunteer instructors
- Wind up and Go Programs
- Creative writing workshop example
- Book Groups
- Use local networks
- local libraries
- librarians love to share information
- Know your community – Know what they want
- Advertise Advertise Advertise
- make a friend at the local paper
- Plan ahead
- room size
- food (refreshments will be served)
- Be Flexible
- sometimes stuff is not going to work
- you can’t judge one on another
- presenter may be late
- know how to improvise
- If you are programming – you become a public face
- put your best face forward even if you are over it
- Make it part of your day to day job, an institutional ethic
- plan 5 months out
We can be passive and wait for the community to come to us or we can be proactive and offer a series of programs that invite the communities in.
Q&A
Difficult to program with grants – bc if you don’t get the grant – you can’t run the program.
How do you learn your community?
calling local businesses
donate materials
