Intergenerational

Film Negative Experience Center

May 14, 2024

$101-250

Byline

Tania Lebron, Children's Library Associate, Pioneer Library System, S Oklahoma City, Okla.

An Experience Center is one of our library system's signature services. It is a passive program that allows customers to engage in a hands-on activity anytime they visit the library and provides a direct connection to our collections.

The Film Negative Experience uses real film negatives for participants to search for items and scenes like an "I Spy" game.

Advanced Planning

The project took around four hours to sort through film negatives. I chose images and scenes within the negatives for customers to search for in an "I Spy"-like game while interacting with the Center.

Marketing

Experience Centers are not generally marketed in our system. They are set out within the department as a passive activity for all.

Budgeting

Our library owns the light table used, however, if one would need to purchase that, it can be found on Lakeshore for $149. The film used was from my own home. We also purchased a few magnifying glasses from the Dollar Tree.

Day-of-event Activity

The set up was minimal and only required an outlet for the light table. We did have to tape down the cords to prevent any trips and falls.

Program Execution

I would say an average of 40 people interacted with this activity daily. This was also dependent on how busy the library was on any given day.

I was surprised to see the age range of customers who interacted. There were individual adults and caregivers with all aged children, including teens who partook in the fun!