ALA 2013: We Are the Champions: 20s-30s Library Advocacy

We Are the Champions: 20s-30s Library Advocacy

This is the program for which my extensive notes were lost.  Presenters were:

Speaker: Jessica Zaker, Branch Supervisor, Sacramento Public Library
Speaker: Lori Easterwood, Programming Supervisor, Sacramento Public Library
Speaker: Meg Dana, alt+library Friends

This was all about how their programming geared toward 20s and 30s that they called alt+library morphed into an advocacy and fundraising group.

Here are their websites: alt+library and alt+library friends

Key to the friends portion: have a social event and fundraising together. Start with programming about things your community likes or based on what young people are already doing and go from there. So Sacramento is big in the DIY and gardening scenes. Also one of the librarians was very in to fitness, so they started in these areas and have built out from there.

Examples:

• Spelling Bee fundraiser. They did a spelling bee for grownups but to make it a fundraiser you could get a second try at the word for $1, or ask a friend for a donation, even use a dictionary for a larger donation.  Everyone had fun and they had a pile of cash at the end.
• Crafts to sell to raise money at craft fair:  They get a booth at the monthly craft fair.  Each month to prepare, alt+friends pay for the supplies, meet once a month to make the crafts they will sell.  They also sell books at their booth.

They are a virtual friends group.  Not specific to a branch. They meet outside the library. They are more about advocacy in the community, going out in the community, getting younger people involved with the library and telling them about it. Raising money is an off shoot of the social and advocacy.

These are very good guidelines for how it can work. 

The president of alt+friends was there too. She is going to library school now!

I hope they put up their slides because they had some great pictures and ideas up there.  I will add it to this post if they do.