World Book Night is on April 23--a super-cool night when people who love books get a bunch of books they love to give away to people who aren't necessarily big readers. It's a way to share the book love, and a great outreach opportunity for librarians! You can register to give away books (not just to regular library patrons, though) as an individual, or your library can sign up to be a pick-up site for other individuals who want to participate. Deadline to sign up is October 23!
Cole from St. Croix Falls did this last year--here's her account of what their library did.
Last year we called April 23
"New User Day" and did a little extra publicity-- we already had a
good assortment of kids' books here to give away anyway. Anyone who signed up
for a new card during our open hours (10-7) got a free book.
We had David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day as
our book (you give your top choices [a book that YOU have read] and they send
you a box with about 2 dozen of one title). At the end of the day, I went
around downtown St. Croix Falls and gave some out to bar patrons, a restaurant
owner, the gas station workers. People were really excited to have them. Our
director brought a nice big stack to the high school and distributed during a
volleyball game to people who were going in/out. We put a bit of literature in
each book too.
I know that at the Osceola Library, more than one staff member registered to be
a "book giver" and they had 2-3 titles that they were giving away!
It was fun/easy/a good
promotion. Libraries can sign up to be pick up locations, too. Anybody can be a
book giver, but they will only ship to registered pick up points-- this might
be a good opportunity for teen patrons who are super readers to get out in the
community too!
Labels: book-related programs, outreach
