2022-02-25 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 10, Issue 8
Featured Story
Editor’s Note:
We will soon be recruiting for 3 new SPLAT members! Stay tuned to the LibIdaho listserv and ICfL’s blog for details.
When will the food be ready?
On the first of December, my co-workers and I held a well-attended “Night at the Library” event at North Idaho College. While some of the staff were familiar with this program, many of us were new to it. The library had put on this event twice per semester, once for midterms and once for finals. However, that all shut down in 2020 (for obvious reasons). This semester, we started the event again, though this time, we opted for only one event for finals.
We had no idea what to expect, as it had been a year and half since we’d put on this event and our two-year college had a good level of newcomers who’d never heard of “Night at the Library.”
We were expecting anywhere from fifty to two-hundred people. That’s a broad range, especially when trying to prepare for food quantities and social distancing. Luckily, those more experienced than I encouraged my co-worker Katrina and I to prepare for the full two-hundred people. We ordered 200 servings of sandwiches, cookies, chips, and beverages (a mix of pop, water, and coffee).
Come the day of the event, the 200-person food supply was perfect. We had just over 150 people at the event, but of course, there were those who wanted seconds (and thirds). The majority of the event went very well. Prizes went off without a hitch, the majority of the food was consumed, and the majority of students stayed for the entire study night.
The one thing I believe Katrina and I could have prepared for better was timing. Most of the event ran itself. Our co-worker Brian had coordinated tutors from several departments around the college. Other staff members were available to help with food, library research questions, and general housekeeping duties. Neither Katrina nor I expected the night to be that intense for us (we were wrong).
The worst of it was within the first hour. The event didn’t start until 3:30 PM. To prevent the spread of germs, Katrina and I had decided to plate the three types of sandwiches and cookies, while letting the students get their own packaged chips and bottled drinks. Our plan was to serve food at about 4:00 PM.
We had students arriving at 3:00 PM, and nearly all of them had the same question: When will the food be ready?
We’d tell them: The food isn’t going to be ready until 4:00.
And they’d say: But the event starts at 3:30?!
The questions continued to build as 3:30 PM grew nearer. And nearer. Once 3:30 PM hit, it was the only thing on students’ minds. Sure, studying for finals is great and all-but when will the food be ready?
Even with the constant task of answering that same question over and over again, Katrina and I were able to get the first batch of plates out by 3:45 PM (with the help of our wonderful co-workers!). The students ate quickly, and that first hour or so of putting out food was exhausting. It seemed food disappeared the moment we made it available!
Looking back, our food strategy turned out to be a bit of a failure. However, it turned out to be a great learning experience. We now know to plan a little differently. For next semester’s programming, we will do the following:
1. Have the food ready at the start of the event.
2. Expect early arrivals, and expect the students to have lots of questions.
Next time, I think we will plan to start prepping food an hour before the program starts. While we imagined we’d have time from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM to get ahead with plating, we forgot to include the time it’d take to direct students and answer a variety of questions. We were slowed down greatly by running from one side of the library to another. In the future, I think if we have a good chunk prepared fifteen minutes before the event, we will be much better off.
I also think we will work to make a more concrete plan. For example, it’d be helpful to assign people specific stations and to have a plan for the food layout on our counters.
Overall, the event went very well- I think learning from this failure will make our next events even better!
– Brooke Urbaniak
Fail Forward
We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.
Cloudy With a Chance of LEGO
For Fall 2021 my library hosted its children’s programs outdoors. Hosting on our patio and in parks has brought many successes. But it spelled disaster for my monthly LEGO Club. For 2 months in a row we had to cancel, because the day of the event brought pouring rain! After the second cancellation we were able to reschedule to the following Friday. Finally, we got good weather and the event was a big success!
Alas, I was home with a cold, but I’ll take the win. I’m going to schedule back-up dates for my future programs, to forestall future weather treachery.
– Simon Clifford
Image Credit: “Rain doesn’t stop a photographer” by fourbrickstall is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Crush Corner
Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!
Willard Library
I came across the Willard Library in Evansville, IN a few months ago. Aside from the beautiful gothic architecture and impressive local history, genealogy, and archival collections, the oldest library in Indiana really leans into their reputation as a haunted library. Their website’s “About Us” section includes just three links: History, Employment, and Ghost. Stories about the Grey Lady ghost date back to the 1930s with the website listing 2010 as the last known sighting. Exploring the history of this late 19th century library has been pretty interesting, and getting to swoon over photos of the building from Google reviews has been an added bonus.
– Mallory Snow
Photo Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Library
SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org
SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.