Celebrating National Library Week with LibFest 2014
Last year, Alamance County staff was interested in starting a new program to announce National Library Week 2014. Our libraries wanted to hold a fun, celebratory event while encouraging our community to become users of our resources. It was decided that Alamance County Public Libraries would host the first annual LibFest on April 13, from 2:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., outside on the lawn of one of the libraries. With less than a month to go, staff is finishing up details and praying for beautiful weather.
For entertainment, international library hip-hop star, Melvil Dewey, will kick off our event with a high-energy performance guaranteed to get kids and families excited about reading and libraries. The festival will also include performances by a local organization, Studio One, and the Andrews Elementary School Unicycle Team. Other events include full body storytelling with Casey Nees and an appearance by the Durham Paperhand Puppets. We have also invited a local North Carolina author J.D. Rhoades who will be on hand to sign copies of his books, which include Breaking Cover, Safe and Sound, and The Devil’s Right Hand.
Local organizations—such as the Friends of the Alamance County Public Libraries, Graham Fire Department, Alamance County Arts Council, Children’s Museum of Alamance County and the Alamance County YMCA—will be present to share information. Local businesses such as Red Robin and Captain D’s will provide lemonade and tea. Several area food trucks will be selling food and snacks and donating a portion of their proceeds to our libraries.
Activities will include bounce houses, face painting, and a make and take with Home Depot. The Durham Scrap Exchange will encourage kids to test their creative limits by creating unique artwork with repurposed materials.
Alamance County Public Libraries will also have a craft fair, silent auction, and bake sale that day featuring handmade and home-baked items made by our staff or patrons. We will also be selling a new Alamance County Public Libraries t-shirt, and note cards featuring photos of our libraries. Funds raised during this event will go towards the creation of a mobile maker space for the libraries.
This is the first time our libraries have attempted such an event, and we hope that it is a successful kickoff of National Library Week for our patrons as well as attract new users to our resources and services. If you have any other ideas on how to grow this event, please feel free to comment below.
Tags: author programming, community partnerships, National Library Week
