Over three weeks, we offered a series of three programs about fitness during the winter.
For our first program, we had Doug Dunlap, a local author who writes hiking guides, visit the library. He talked about winter preparedness for hiking.
The following week, Jim Toner, director of the the University of Maine Farmington Fitness Center, discussed the Mainely Outdoors Program, which offers low-cost equipment rental and group activities like hikes.
For the final program, we led a group snowshoeing along some local snow mobile trails, followed by a potluck of soup and warm drinks back at the library.
Advanced Planning
I planned these programs a month before they were held. I began by contacting the author to arrange an evening visit. I then visited the local fitness center to get lists of the equipment they have available for rental and to schedule a day for the director to speak at the library.
The actual snowshoe outing required the most involved planning. This included posting signs on the trail and arranging to have potluck soup and warm drinks at the library after the walk.
Marketing
We advertised on our Facebook page, in local newspapers, and with fliers shared at other local rural libraries and on our "talking board."
Budgeting
There was an extra hour of pay for the librarian, as the hike occurred on a day she does not work.
Day-of-event Activity
On the day of the hike, we had two volunteers, in additon to the librarian, to ensure everything ran smoothly. Participants brought their own snowshoes, though we did help arrange if someone needed to borrow a pair. It was a lovely walk on a beautiful snowy day.
For the fitness director's talk, I arranged chairs and offered some technical help.
Program Execution
We are a small, rural library, and each event was attended by at at least five or six people. I was a new librarian, trying to increase visibility of the library as a keystone of the community, and my goal was to increase attendance to our library.
After holding these programs for the first time last winter, several patrons have asked for the snowshoeing to become an annual event. Other results were donations of our visiting author's books to the library, and drawing some new faces to the library, who later became patrons.
These programs contributed to an overall increase in usage of our library.
Advice
Keep the snowshoe short — a mile or two — so young kids and seniors can enjoy it, too.
Offer warm drinks afterwards; this provides a chance to chat that really bonded our group.
Our town is small enough that we had extra snowshoes for folks to use, so we let patrons know that they could call the library if they needed some to use for the hike.
Supporting Materials
- Feedback (Coming Soon!)
- Programming Librarian Facebook Group
More Programs
Roaming Readers Walking Club
Audiences:
Run with It
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