1. BIG IDEAS ON
A SMALL BUDGET
Brian Pichman | Director of Strategic Innovation | Evolve Project
October 18th - CALCON
Follow the conversation
@bpichman #cocalcon14
3. MUST HAVE RESOURCES
Before we begin, let’s start with building a solid foundation
4. WHAT YOU MUST HAVE
Be A Risk Taker
Have Passion and Motivation
5. WHAT YOU MUST HAVE ACCESS TOO
• Equally Motivated People
• Volunteers
• Staff
• Patrons
6. ACCESS TOO - VOLUNTEERS
• Don’t give them “busy work”
• Ex. Cleaning Books
• Give them a tangible product, that they can be excited about
• Start a new program
• Help setting up for an event
• Ask them for INPUT
7. ACCESS TOO - STAFF
• Have motivated and positive staff
• Staff members who want to do more than just “check in and out books”
• Staff Development Days
• Get them involved with programs / decision making
• Skill Assessment
• Staff members all have unique skills / hobbies
• Create badges / shirts that help identify the staff members with those specific skills
8. ACCESS TOO - PATRONS
• You probably know the needs of your patrons
• But do you know the skills of your patrons?
• Identify which regular patrons have which skills
• You will be very surprised how willing they are to help start a new program at
your library!
9. TOOLS YOU MAY NEED
Technology:
Buying Refurbished is OK
• 1sale.com
• Woot.Com
• Ebay
13. FURNITURE FOR YOUR LIBRARY
• Maker Spaces
• People pay a membership to be part of a
“MakerSpace” where the tools are
provided for them to build
• Community Out Reach
• Ask your community for help
• Ask local businesses to make monetary
donations towards new furniture/rooms
and let them advertise on it
• If Fifty People Donate Fifty Dollars =
2,500 = Very Nice New Couch.
14.
15. ART FOR YOUR LIBRARY
• Have Patrons create your art work
Justin Hoenke – Patron Driven Art
16.
17.
18. COLORS FOR YOUR LIBRARY
• Use Bright Fun Colors
• Ask Staff to help
19. SHELVING IDEAS
• Find books that covers are colorful, and choose the books that coordinate
with that season
• Red and Green Books = Christmas
• Orange and Black = Halloween
27. OFFER OTHER ITEMS FOR CHECK OUT
• Guitars
• Patrick Sweeney was able to get
guitars donated for circulation
• Also started a program with them
• Fishing Poles
• Pots and Pans
31. MUSIC
• Ask your local artist to…
• perform at your library
• teach others how to play
• Do a “Battle of the Bands Event”
32. MOVIE NIGHT
• Check out Amazon for Movies
• Sometimes can show a screening before movie theaters do
• Start a “Film Festival”
• Encourage local talent to create or share a movie the created and play it
during the film festival
33. VIDEO GAME NIGHT
• Ask local Video Game stores to borrow equipment to set up a gaming night
• Ask your patrons to bring in video games
38. SNAPCHAT
• Have people add your library snap
chat
• Create a “Guess What This Is”
Game
• Take a picture of something close
up
• Set the timer for 5 seconds.
• Allow people to post on
twitter,facebook, etc to your post
39. SUMMER SCHOOL?
• A library in Kankakee, IL started a summer educational program
• They had limited space, and all the spots filled plus the waiting list was maxed
out
• Offered courses on Art, Math, Writing and Video
• Art – Walked through the different art forms through the years
• Video – Used free Claymation and used Flip Cams (Very Inexpensive Cameras)
• Math/Writing – used iPad apps to engage the participants with learning
40. VIDEO MARKETING CONTEST
• Chad Mairn of St. Petersburg College LIbrary
• Asked the students to create viral video marketing tools
• Used inexpensive Flip Cams
“We need YOU to help hype YOUR library! We are planning to video record
student testimonials regarding the library's resources and services and would
love your input and/or testimonial. And take the video camera away from us!
Record your own tour, conduct your own interviews, or do whatever you want
to help hype YOUR library.”
41. SOFTWARE / HARDWARE
Here are some great Software / Hardware resources for you to try!
42. UPCOMING EVENT TICKER
• Typical cost to have an “upcoming event ticker” is in the thousands. But all
you need is a
• Wall Mounted TV (Buy Refurb)
• A Cheap Computer (Buy Refurb)
• Hook the computer up to the TV and run a PowerPoint slide show.
45. SPHERO BALL
• Engagement Tool
• Drive it around Schools or other
places
• Have people come to you
• Activity
• Race
• Obstacle Course
• Tag
• Golf
• Zombie Style Game
46. PLACES FOR HELP
Resources for you to help fund a little bit more!
47.
48.
49. SOCIAL MEDIA
Most of the time, try to remain positive when
talking on twitter
When Asking For Things
• Sell your idea to them. Don’t let them sell their
product to you.
• You are picking their product to be in your
library.
• Explain your market share (IE patrons, how
many visitors each day, etc)
50.
51. CROWD-SOURCE FUNDING
• People across the world group together to fund new projects and ideas
• People are encouraged to donate towards “awards” based off the amount
they donate.
• Kickstarter.com
• Indiegogo.com
55. BONUSES FOR YOUR PATRONS
• Comcast Internet Access $10 a month (Internet Essentials)
• http://www.internetessentials.com
• For the folks in school, using your @edu address get:
• Free Microsoft Products at www.dreamspark.com
• Free AutoDesk Products at http://students.autodesk.com
• DropBox
• Free Storage Space for Backing Up Your Data
• If you have to filter internet / protect from web based threats
• OpenDNS.com
56. THE FUTURE?
• Create a “Start-Up” Faire at your library
• Make your library a start-up hub
Help someone start a business, and I’m sure they will help promote your library even
more AND help with funding
• MARKETING!!!
• Market your library. Use Social Media! Encourage users to follow and share
• Encourage people to “bring a friend”
• Email Newsletters – MailChimp is EASY and FREE!
• Attend as many free webinars and conferences as you possibly can
• Most of these great ideas are not my ideas. These are things I heard through
conferences or just by talking to people. I encourage you to do the same!
57. MORE IDEAS
• Knitting Club – Get people together to knit together.
• "Sniff Off" contest with tea blends from a local tea shop to celebrate National Tea
Month
• "Dog Listener" from a local kennel / animal shelter
• Library Literary Speed Dating Program: bring 3 favorite books to talk about
• "Parkin' lot pickin'” with 20 local musicians in the library parking lot, each performing
for 10 minutes
• Jigsaw puzzle exchange
• Dial-A-Story – Set up a voicemail box and read a story for patrons to call in and
listen too.
• “Ask A [Expert]” Locate your community experts like Laywers, Accountants, etc and
ask them to do a workshop for your patrons.
• “How To Faire” – Similar to a Maker Faire, but learn how to do things (planting,
fishing, sewing, comic book drawing…)
• “UFO” – Unfinished Objects – repair broken tech
• “Break and Make” – take apart technology and put it back together
