Week 11 Event Planning

Now that Morgenne, Cameron and I have actually put up our display, I have a much better appreciation of the work involved. I am so grateful to my team members, as they had so many resources to make our 'Fantasy' themed display truly spectacular. Morgenne, in particular, devoted many hours creating her amazing dragon, which is really the backdrop of the whole cabinet. So many fantasy books between the two of them, a lot of which I'd never even heard of. My contribution was pretty much limited to assisting with the planning, some childrens' books (a very old Alice in Wonderland and a not-so-old Pagemaster) - oh and the fabric for the backdrop and ground. We were in fairly constant communication, thanks to facebook and text messaging. At no point were there any arguments, and discussions were always completely amicable. We all listened to each other and I feel that we worked very well together. (Thanks guys!)

Looking at event planning on a larger scale, whether it is an activity or a simple display, requires several steps:

• Ideas (brainstorming)
• Feasibility (is it achievable)
• Resources (do you have the budget or props to hand)
• Time (do you have enough of it to get the job done)
• Delegation (can you share around some of the work)
• Publicity (within budget / technical support, etc.)

Events and Displays in Libraries

Frankston Library holds frequent events. They have a section of their website dedicated to upcoming events, ranging from regular workshops to special events such as 'Locked in the Library' (an event for juniors on Halloween); Live Music - Czarina; Poppy making workshops. Most of these are free or gold coin entry.

Cambridge Library holds several events over the year: Kaleidoscope Ensemble for kids, International Games Day, classes for the technologically challenged. However, these are not free - $15 per hour for the first 2 hours, $10 per hour after 2 hours. A bit on the pricey side, I thought.

Here are a couple of displays I thought were eye-catching, for a variety of reasons:

I have been keeping a keen eye out to see what events are being promoted lately, particularly around libraries and/or public events to do with reading. I heard an advertisement on the radio just the other day regarding the Clunes open day event. Clunes is a book town, several hours journey away, but it did catch my attention, so I used our good friend google and discovered that on the Victorian Government website, on the Events Calendar is the 2014 Clunes Booktown Festival. It is  under the category of Arts, Culture & Heritage, and has it's own website http://www.booktown.clunes.org
so I went to the website and here is what I found:
For a $20 entry pass, you can get access to talks, readings, lost trades village, workshops and much more.
Clunes has 3 festivals per year, and I imagine that most of the rest of the year is spent planning for those 3 days.
I was looking for information to help library staff with the basic requirements of planning an event for their library And then I hit the jackpot! 

I found a document (pdf) which has details of a workshop offered to libraries titled "Event management for public libraries: the essentials". I've shared it on the Diploma facebook page, I've read through it and it really covers the basics very well. Particularly as it has been created with Library staff in mind. Here is the link:
http://libraries.vic.gov.au/downloads/Statewide_Marketing_Project/presentation_event_management_workshop_final.pdf

I think that's enough for this entry.........
Till next time,
See ya!