High Impact Programs on a Shoestring Budget

Janie L. Hermann, Princeton Public Library, Princeton, NJ Implementing High Impact Programs on a Shoestring Budget  NLA 2008  Bridging the Gap  Las Vegas, NV 

What is a Shoestring? Depends on a variety of factors such as overall size of operating budget, programming budget and total population served One library’s shoestring is another’s pot of gold Free (except for staff time) is the ideal shoestring budget program My Rule of Thumb: Under $200 for small libraries Under $400 for medium libraries Under $750 for large libraries

Defining Impact

Hard to define, but it is not just the actual attendance for one event or a series of programs.

Impact:

resonates with the community

reaches new users

results in positive feedback

raises visibility and awareness

rejuvenates interest

The capacity to create a powerful effect.

-- Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus

Programming at Princeton Public Library Single-branch municipal library in heart of downtown State-of-the-art 58,000 square foot building opened in April 2004 Staff: 54 FTE Population: 31,000 Cross-departmental programming team comprised of 15 staff members Programming provided for all ages from infants to seniors “ Traditional” in-house programs as well as community outreach and virtual programs Number of Programs in 2007 1,718 Program Attendance 42,830

Expand How do you define programming ?

Rome wasn’t built in a day … Programming for adults takes time to grow – there will be failures as well as success along the way. Be patient. If you build it they will come (eventually).

High Tech, Low Cost Extend your programming reach with technology: Interactive blogs and wikis Podcasting Technology Talks Video and Photo Contests Gaming Nights Student Film Festival Customized Social Network

Virtual Poetry Program

Recorded and published a poet per day for National Poetry Month in 2007

Our own community and visitors from across the globe listened and commented

Attendance at the library’s monthly poetry readings went up significantly as a result

Local poets received great PR and requested we do it again in 2008

Podcasting for Free (or close to it)

The Princeton Method:

Purchase USB Microphone ($32.95)

Record and edit using Audacity (free)

Host files at the Internet Archive (free)

Post podcasts on a WordPress blog (free)

Staff Time ( varies greatly)

The Proof is in the Numbers

Poetry Podcast 2007:

12,615 visits as of August 14

4,994 visits in April 2007

32 visitors per day on average since the blog went live in April 2007

31 posts total with 59 comments

Poetry Podcast 2008:

5,320 visits as of August 14

359 visits on April 28 2008 (best day ever)

125 visitors per day on average during National Poetry Month 2008

35 posts total with 95 comments

For more details on the PPL Poetry Podcast Blog visit:

http://slideshare.net/janieh

Create an Interactive Adult Summer Reading Club for Free! Princeton Public Library used a wiki to capture reviews in 2006 (we now use the review feature in our online catalog). Many libraries have set up book review blogs and post reviews from members throughout the summer Steal this next idea – a video contest on YouTube!

Video Review Contest YouTube Channel: Free Prizes – donations may be possible, if not the cost is relatively low: Flip Video Camera $150 MP3 Players $50-$75 Benefits: Great PR Tool Interactive Encourages Creativity Promotes new Technology Fun!

Student Film and Video Festivals

Designed for high school and college students up to age 24

Guidelines and call for entries posted via library web site and press release

Students submit completed films

Committee of volunteers screen and selects film

Films are viewed, often with filmmakers present, over several nights

Cost can vary from close to free to $500 or more depending on amount of PR and if prizes or t-shirts are given to participants

Susan Conlon won the VOYA MVP award for creating this program

For detailed Information See: http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/teens/media/

Photo Contests

Not Just for Kids

Examples:

reading favorite book

PPL’s “Red Bag” photo

Where is Thommy Ford?

Create a set on flickr.com

for free or post directly to your web site

Digital cameras can be purchased for around $100 to use for contests

Create community, online conversations, virtual programs and promote library events and news by leveraging the power of Ning.com to create a customized FREE social networking site for your library.

Become the Community’s Living Room Ongoing monthly programs build connections and create meaning Impact is not just high attendance – it is about creating something meaningful for those who attend Be open to all possibilities and build programs that can be self-sustained with the use of volunteers Examples at PPL: Scrapbooking Circle Socrates Café ESL Conversation Groups Book Journeys SCORE

Partnerships are Key Who can you work with to provide free, high quality programming? Almost Anyone! Theatres and Art Museums Colleges, universities and schools Poetry and writing groups Local clubs and community organizations Business and networking groups Computer Clubs

Annual Programs

Adult Summer Reading Club

Sounds of the Garden State Music Series

Princeton Reads

Princeton Environmental Film Festival

PPL Poet Podcast

Outreach

Citizenship Classes

Ask a Lawyer

Gente y Cuentos (People and Stories)

Senior Care Options

Engaged Retirement

SCORE Counseling

Literacy and ESL tutoring

Continuing Series

Comments from Campus

McCarter Live at the Library

World Cineclub

Art Talk

cosponsored with the Princeton Arts Council

Thinking Allowed (Princeton University Press)

SCORE Seminars for Small Business

Princeton Rep PlayLab

Voices Multilingual Poetry Night

National Issues Forum

Based on the Book Film Series

Princeton Festival Previews

Monthly Programs

Writers Talking

US 1 Poet Invite

Readings Over Coffee

(45 th Anniversary Season)

Book Discussion Groups

Fiction, Mystery, Talking Politics, Spanish, Book Journeys

Socrates Café

Read, Write and Share

Scrapbook Circle

Creative Non-Fiction Writing Group

Tuesday Technology Talks and Databytes

Computer Classes (almost daily)

Ideas Abound

From West Deptford PL in NJ:

Faux Finishing with Lowes

Digital TV tech tips with Radio Shack

Country Line Dancing Nights

For more ideas see: http://www.youtube.com/user/cmw48

From Marylaine Block:

Garage Band night

Memoir-writing workshops

Read to your grandchildren Story Times

Family Game Night

For more ideas see:

http://marylaine.com/cheap.html

Election Night at the Library Rubik’s Cube Competition Watch the World Cup on the Big Screen Synchronized Screening Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon