Bookworm Blurbs

The library where I'm interning has a very strong children's program, but the teen presence is fairly minimal. This isn't due to a lack of effort on the librarians' part, but more that they just have a really hard time getting the teens to come. Because they've had such a difficult time, they don't plan too many programs - it's discouraging to put so much time and effort into programming when no kids show up. However, I am in desperate need of teen services experience, and so I've decided to give it a go. Teen programming is tricky - there are so many different directions to go in, and you have to really know your audience in order to plan something that is going to appeal to as many people as possible. Since my library doesn't have much of a teen presence, no one really really knows our audience, which makes an already tricky process even more challenging.

I decided that the best thing to do would be to pick a program that would be likely to appeal to lots of teens, whether they're big readers or not. As I'm sure many of you know, most teens out there right now LOVE The Hunger Games, and it just so happens that in November, Mockingjay - Part I is going to be released in theaters. I've decided that we're going to have an after-hours Hunger Games release party, where we're going to eat pizza, play some super fun Hunger Games-themed games, and watch Catching Fire. I'll write more specifics on that after the program has been staged, so I can let you all know how successful everything is. 

Now, I have the planning out of the way, so the next step is marketing. If we want teens to show up, we have to get the word out! So today at my internship, I created a flyer to be hung up at this library and hopefully a few others, as well as some local schools: 

You'll notice that I've changed the specific information (such as library name and address, etc) in this version of the flyer, for privacy reasons. I'll be the first to admit that there are plenty of WAY cooler Hunger Games program flyers out there, but unfortunately, I am sooooo not good at graphic design, and so this is what I came up with. It's not the best, but hopefully it will get the job done - and if any of you have any pointers for me for future flyers, please feel free to share them! I would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism. 

I also typed up this press release for the library's newsletter - it's basically the same wording, but with a few changes: 

Are you a fan of The Hunger Games? If you are, please join us on Friday, November 7 from 6:00PM-9:30PM for an after-hours party in honor of the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part I. We’ll be eating pizza, playing games, and watching The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Please contact Librarian at Email Address or Phone Number to register. 

This is my first real marketing experience. I really hope this is successful - if it's not, it's back to square one on Operation Bring the Teens to the Library. Again, if anyone has any comments or suggestions on how to improve my library marketing skills, please feel free to share!