Hello everyone. 
Nice to be here with you all today. 
Let's see. 
I will want to introduce on the next slide. 
Skipping ahead here. 
I did want to introduce, I'm Megan Knapp, OCLC project manager for the Outside the Box pilot project. 
The next slide to introduce partners. 
I would like to introduce two of our -- there we go -- I would like to introduce two of our partners and copresenters from the project for public spaces, Elena Madison on the webinar. 
And we have Hallie Rich from Cuyahoga County Public Library system. 
As we get started here, I would like to give a brief overview of the pilot program and I will turn things over to Elena and Hallie to talk more about specific components of the program, especially place making and how we think of the library as a community gathering place.  
So, I will jump right in. 
Starting with the program goal for Outside the Box, which is to build communities shared entertainment experiences. 
And the way that we think about that in the pilot is that our library partners work with their local communities to produce events, and that is an initial planning event around place making and then various entertainment events. 
OCLC, PPS project for public spaces, support these activities through coordination of materials. 
Sometimes the layout of the actual space, and we will hear more about that in the presentations that will follow here. 
Redbox, of course, supports our activities through their materials and promotion through their online sources, through email and so on.  
What's been happening so far?
You see images here of the community events that some of the community events that have been going on. 
There was up in the top right, an outdoor concert in South Carolina. 
We also have a movie event here on the left that happened in Georgia. 
And then at the lower right, this is an event that I think Hallie will talk more about. 
This is with the Cuyahoga County Public Library system, movie mania grand opening event. 
These have all been wonderful. 
We have had 12 events to date. 
We have reached over 3,000 people which has been really exciting.
You will see some of the quotes from folks as we go forward. 
It has been a very positive response. 
One of the things that we have heard from our library partners that has been really important to us through this process is that the place making component of the program, as we lead into the entertainment events has allowed our library partners to drive community conversations in a new or different way. 
They're in a different role leading the community conversations with possibly new partners or people they've engaged with but not at this deep level. 
And it has been a great outcome of the pilot. 
And, again, we will hear more about that as we go forward. 
It has allowed some of the library partners to form new partnerships and change some perceptions within the community which has all been a very good thing. 
As I mentioned, some of the quotes that we've heard. 
This is from an event that happened in South Carolina, Richmond library. 
Based on their place-making event, the planning session that kicks everything off, they decided with their community that they wanted to turn the library parking lot, a very gray, very concrete area outside of the library, they decided they wanted to make it a green space for a day and have a concert there. 
They called this idea the pop-up park and they brought it to life and through Astroturf and planters and fun things turned a very you know, concrete area into a park. 
A mini park for a day. 
You will see some of the images from that in our flicker group.
It was a great experience. 
Everyone enjoyed the day. 
It was amazing that in a very short time they were able to make this come to life. 
As you can see here, one of the questions came from the mayor who attended, can we keep doing this?
Can we make this a permanent fixture?
Great feedback there. 
A quote from our partner in Billings, Montana. 
They held one of their events, a block party. 
And it celebrated summer reading. 
It celebrated a number of things. 
It was also around this idea of connecting the community and getting people to come out for a day in the sun. 
It was a beautiful day. 
As the assistant director said, so many people came out that she would like to do it every year. 
Again, great feedback and positive experience, not only for partners but for the people attending the events as well. 
And lastly, this is an image from the Richmond library in Columbia, South Carolina. 
This was the planning event, place-making event. 
This sort of kicks off the process in each community. 
And what we heard from a library partner in Columbia was that this idea of bringing the community together, again, leading the different conversation and thinking about, you know, driving the conversation in a different way was a wonderful experience. 
We're hearing that from multiple partners. 
This place-making aspect, involving the library as the community center has been key to the program and to the pilot. 
I think this is a great time to turn things over to Elena to talk more about the place-making process. 
Already done. 
Elena, I will turn things over to you to talk about the place-making outside of the box. 
>> Elena: Thank you, Megan. 
Hello everybody. 
My name is Elena Madison, Project for Public Spaces, nonprofit planning and design organization. 
We have been working in public spaces over 30 years. 
I haven't been here over 30 years, but my colleagues and founders have been and we have always thought of libraries as kind of anchors of great public spaces, and it has been so exciting for us to work with OCLC and their library partners with the support of Redbox to experiment with this Outside the Box program and be able to actually make physical improvements and physical changes along with the programs for our pilot libraries. 
So, one of the things we start our conversations with, and I guess maybe you're wondering, well, you are just organizing an event. 
Why do you need to talk about place making and what is this all about?
What this is all about is really thinking of even the event that the library is organizing as something that is bigger than the sum of its parts. 
And thinking about how this event and how this -- the library -- the tremendous library resources that every library is bringing to their community, how they can create something bigger and stronger into the community that lasts longer than just the two hours or three hours or five hours of the community event. 
So, we in very basic terms call this creating a place. 
And sometimes you have places like the parking lot where you have a great event. 
And other times you have the porch, the front door, outdoor plaza, or the park, or the library and other community partners can actually make great things happen. 
Our goal through the place-making process and planning process was to get people, both the libraries, but also their community partners to think more broadly and more holistically about the role of even a fun event and a summer event and what that can do for their community. 
We really talk about what makes a great place, and there is a lot of attributes and a lot of things that go into the making of a great place. 
There is sort of key elements, but a lot of intangibles, and, of course, things that you can physically measure. 
And sometimes they don't really tell the story. 
But for us the key attributes, use as activities, having something happen. 
That's why the connection with Outside the Box and with the library partners was so natural. 
Without an event, without a program, without something happening in the space, you're not going to get a great public place. 
But we also want to make sure that this event, this happening, this presence of the library is actually supported by comfortable amenities, by places to sit. 
It looks good. 
It feels safe. 
It is attractive. 
It's historic. 
So, that goes into our thinking of how do we make this comfortable and what is the image of this place?
And then we think about access and linkages. 
How connected the place is actually to the rest of the community. 
Is it walkable?
Is it convenient?
Can you get there by bicycle?
And in something like a special event in the parking lot of the library, some of these things may not come into play, but having this broader thinking of how do we get here?
And what is really connection all about?
Is it about physical connections or is it really about broader program -- about letting people know what is actually happening here. 
Once you have the three elements, users, great program, comfortable amenities, information, good linkage into the community, you get this magical thing that makes great public spaces and great places happen. 
That is sociability. 
And that is something that you can't really force. 
You make that the place where the community comes together, the place where various people feel welcome, even if they're different. 
The place where neighbors run into each other. 
The place where strangers make eye contact. 
The place where people smile and feel happy. 
The place that everybody is going to talk about in the event that people are going to talk about from the mayor to the five-year-old who attended the movie, they're going to talk about it this summer. 
And that's ultimately our goal.
Place-making is all about people and we think it is a tremendous opportunity to partner with libraries because you guys are all about people as well. 
So, we think that when you focus on place, you do everything very differently. 
And I'm saying place, as opposed to a project or a building or even just putting an event together. 
Place kind of connects all of these elements in one whole. 
Creating great community gathering places, and we believe libraries are tremendous community gathering place already. 
But creating them in the public realm, really has to do with offering a number of elements and following some principles to make that happen. 
So I'm not going to read through this slide. 
You can read it for yourself, but I'm going to actually share some examples of these elements and what makes a great community gathering place. 
So, the first thing is basically using your outdoor space, using the public space to create the feeling of the front porch. 
So that it is about active usages, flexible use of the space. 
Sometimes opening longer hours.
The photo that you see on the right is the Princeton library in Princeton, New Jersey. 
It is in an old historic building. 
They recently went through a renovation. 
They created this community room. 
You can kind of see it in the back right past the chairs. 
The community room is part of the library but also has access from the outside. 
People in the community can use the room, even on days and at times when the rest of the library is closed. 
So, they were able to provide this flexible venue, and the library has become -- it has always been very important, but it has really given them a tremendous presence in Princeton and on this plaza where the library is located. 
So, inviting entrances are also very important to create this front porch feeling. 
Make it identifiable from a distance. 
People know they've arrived. 
The other photo I'm showing you are the steps of the New York City public library. 
And everybody is kind of familiar with that space. 
Just the look and the feel of it and the fact that people would meet and have it as really a meeting spot in a huge city like New York City. 
Even if they're not going to the library. 
It is a big and strong, strong symbol. 
The other important component for us is to provide easy pedestrian access and bicycle access, and, if possible, transit taxes. 
It is all about linking to adjacent areas and having a range of options, and we know for a lot of libraries, the people who use your resources are not always driving. 
But that's the case for great public spaces as well. 
We're not just about those who can afford to drive or have the capacity or old enough or young enough. 
We really want to provide a space where everybody feels comfortable and feels invited. 
We want to also develop a series of attractions and destinations within our public space. 
Whether it is a small parking lot or a park or a porch or a front door, there is always ways to do that. 
When we were developing the idea for the events that we put together with OCLC and Redbox and library partners, we were always thinking of can we create little attractions and destinations, even if it is one big event. 
A choice, giving people a choice of things do and giving a variety of people a choice of things to do, and triangulation. 
A simple concept about connecting elements together that makes sense. 
On the two photos that you see, you have tables, chairs, umbrellas, plantings, all put together so that you can use them. 
That's logical. 
People understand that. 
A lot of times we tend to spread things into space to fill up the space instead of putting them together. 
Triangulation opportunities are both physical but also programmatic. 
Clustering the partners, activities, around those destinations and thinking of multiple mini destinations within our space. 
Here is an example. 
This is the Salt Lake City Library. 
This is essentially the front door. 
It is a great plaza. 
They do so many events and festivals and art and book fairs and all of this connects and feeds into the library. 
So, it is a space that is very well used and it has tremendous potential and they're using it really, really successfully. 
This is an example from the same library, they have -- this is a temporary art installation. 
And, you know, it's quirky and funky and people are using it and they were reading books in this space and it was created specifically for the library. 
There is a lot of opportunities to do that. 
But we also believe that every great public space, whether it is the front door in the plaza in front of the library, or the city hall, or neighborhood park, should be flexible and --
in terms of design and design elements. 
We can allow for overlapping and changing uses. 
So we can offer built-in infrastructure to make programming easier. 
Simple things like having access to electricity oh that we can plug in the -- so that we can plug in the amp, or speakers that are already mounted. 
All of these things can make a difference when you are putting an event together and you probably know that. 
Fostering connections between the indoor and outdoor space. 
We understand for libraries sometimes, this is a little difficult because, you know, you need to control the books and you need to control who comes in and who comes out. 
So we're always looking for opportunities both to learn from designers and libraries that are doing already this, or figuring out ways to make this fluid connection better, even if the doors are not always open. 
And we also love temporary experiments. 
I'm hoping that all of the events that were organized and took place and attracted 3,000 people this summer with all of our library partners with really a temporary experiment and these communities will actually pursue them and try to either make them annual or even more regular. 
So, it's all about showing the potential of a space. 
So, these are two examples. 
The bottom slide is actually, again, Salt Lake City public library, where the library has the detectors, but it connects, and it is open into this internal courtyard and you can take your book and go outside and read. 
And the top photo is a library in the Netherlands, where the library and the movie theater are connected and they are sharing the space. 
You go to the library and across the hallway is the movie theater. 
Again, combining the uses to increase the public function of the outdoor and the indoor space. 
And we want to provide great amenities. 
We want people to be comfortable. 
We want them to have fun. 
We want to be wimsical. 
And one of our biggest goals in any public space to provide comfortable places to sit. 
Our needs as human beings are not that complicated and a good chair or comfortable bench can make a huge difference in how we perceive the space. 
This is an example from New York City where we're located from Bryant park, Bryant park reading room. 
It is actually a very simple amenity. 
It's tables and chairs and they have a few carts and it is mostly periodicals and reference literature. 
Bryant Park, located on the back of the New York public library, it is a separate thing, the reading room. 
You can see it is not very complicated and it is a great attracter and people love it. 
The other thing we're always looking for is seasonal uses and finding a way to draw on and highlight the seasons and do different things obviously for different seasons. 
I know libraries are tremendously skilled at doing this indoors and inside your spaces. 
And we're still kind of learning together what libraries and other civic institutions on how to actually do that in the public realm that goes beyond the lighting of the Christmas tree or, you know, the 4th of July celebration, and it is something that is more visible and present in the public realm. 
And then finally, last but not least, management is a huge component, and, again, libraries are so skilled at hosting and basically presenting events all of the time that it -- it hasn't been really difficult to talk to our library partners about that. 
And I think all of them have done a tremendous job at making both the space and the events themselves like really lovely and secure and fun and kind of providing a real venue for the community. 
And that's ultimately our goal with the place-making program. 
So, today, a lot of civic institutions are kind of doing their own thing, but they're islands in themselves. 
Sometimes we see ourselves as completely separate parts, planning is something else, and IT  -- city hall. 
Really come together around these shared community gathering spaces and civic spaces. 
We want to see the public realm as like the connecter between all of these elements and all of these civic institutions that are already providing a lot to the communities. 
So, very quickly, speaking about the place-making process within our experience with outside the box, we started with these place-making workshops, where we talked about the events that the libraries were planning, but we were also talking about these broader principles of what makes a great place. 
And our thought and hope was that these principles are going to be shared with other important partners in the community. 
So, it wasn't just about putting together one event. 
It was really about thinking of the library, of the public space around it, even of the parking lot as a resource for the entire community, and leveraging that with the community partners, with city hall, with the parks department, with the local university, into something broader. 
Providing more support to the library.  
So, we used a little questionnaire. 
We call it a place game. 
I'm not going to read through all of the questions for you here, but we looked at our four elements and we asked participants in these place-making workshops to actually answer these questions as little groups. 
It is all about discussion and consensus and coming up with ideas not just as an individual, but as a member of this kind of ad hoc group that was assembled to evaluate an existing outdoor space and brain storm ideas how how it could be better and what programs it could actually host. 
In some cases, we were looking at fairly clear spaces that were really adjacent to the libraries and it was very easy to make the connection. 
And in other cases, some of the discussions about programming activity ended up being discussions about programming in a nearby park and bringing the library to this location. 
So, it was quite interesting to see the range of different discussions that we had through these workshops. 
And, of course, they were used to plan the events, but moreover, they were really used to attract partners and this have broader conversation and from all of my discussions with Megan and with OCLC and with the library partners, that was actually exciting for everybody to see themselves in this broader context and as a bigger contributor and someone that actually has a lot to say about broader issue, community issues. 
Here is an example of a few photos from our place-making events. 
I think one of them is from Hallie's library. 
I'm sure she is going to talk about it. 
What we tried to do is actually have a site visit with the community participants at some point throughout -- through the workshop, so that it is not just sitting inside and brainstorming ideas but being in the space and doing an evaluation of the space first before you go on to the visioning part of it.  
So, for us, this is part of a community-driven process. 
Our organization works with communities across the United States and internationally actually on what we call place-making, and it is all about creating a vision for a public space.  
And sometimes it's a park. 
Sometimes it's library plaza. 
Sometimes it's a street. 
But it's all about really looking with the community to create this vision and then implementing, even in the short term, what we call short-term experiments. 
And in this case, we felt that the library events were really the experiments that would have a longer term impact or at least will help the communities envision the spaces in the long term and make the necessary improvements, even if it takes, two, three, five years. 
Do the events now and see how the spaces function and inform longer term plans and designs in that process. 
So, after a few of these events, what we did is we developed our little kit of parts, little elements that help us build a place and build an experience out of these events. 
We looked at a color pal  -- 
pallets. 
We looked at other colors and materials and we put together this simple catalog of elements that we were offering. 
OCLC was helping the library partners obtain and use for the event. 
We started with livable seating, tables and chairs. 
We looked at shade. 
It seemed like any event would need that. 
We looked at umbrellas. 
We looked at tents, of course. 
We looked a lot at making -- 
because a lot of the times we were dealing with either a parking lot or a square or a plaza that was very hard surface and kind of harsh and maybe made of concrete, we looked at cover and surface cover to actually make it more like a park. 
Even if it is for like a day or two. 
So, you can see the artificial grass and the planters that were used in Columbia. 
And they covered a very large parking lot to transform it into a park, and then some other cases we were a little more modest and we tried to be more flexible, but we really wanted to create this feeling of comfort and use color as an accent. 
This is a simple diagram we developed for Billings, Montana. 
We had the experience with the artificial turf covering the entire parking lot and it was great and the photos were wonderful, but we realized it is a lot of labor to install that much artificial turf. 
For Billings we were trying to come up with a concept where we used some areas and we covered them up, but we don't cover the entire parking lot. 
It was just too labor intensive. 
And this is actually the event.
They roughly followed this little diagram and they located a lot of their amenities in a way that made sense. 
And it was very, very successful and as you can see, it looks good. 
It's fun and people seem to be really enjoying it, and we stayed within the Redbox colors. 
And it was just a really pleasant and I think very successful event. 
We did the same thing with our partners, and with Hallie. 
We actually looked at different options of what would make more sense and where should the inflatable screen be located and where should the seating be located and kind of adding some other programs or potential for other programs, children programs that are shown in like the yellow bubble that you see, and then we ended up learning that the children programming will be more located near the library. 
We were looking for different options. 
That's part of the goal of this program, to see what works. 
We understand that every community is different. 
Every library is different. 
Their needs are different. 
And we really want to be flexible. 
So our kit of parts is not like here is three chairs and five umbrellas. 
We tried to be very sensitive to the local needs and the layout and the way that the event is being approached, we wanted to be to very, very local. 
And I think we were very successful with that. 
So, with this, I'm going to pass the ball to Hallie. 
>> Hallie: Thank you so much, Elena. 
And thank you to the Project for Public Spaces and all of the wonderful support that your team provided as well as the incredible support that OCLC has provided throughout this entire process, and certainly the support from Redbox. 
It has just been I have to say such a treat for our system to engage in this pilot program this year. 
A year in which we are really concentrating on this concept of public space and the library really being that community connection point at Cuyahoga County Public Library we are in that process of reimagining the public library in the 21st century. 
We see it evolving into that center of community life, community connection point. 
Some of those features or qualities that Elena talked about when thinking about place or place making, I was even jotting down notes as you were talking. 
Comfortable, it looks good, feels safe, sense of sociability, all things that resonate with us right now as our system is in the process of a major capital improvement plan. 
Looking a lot at our buildings and our spaces and how do we create that warm sense of place.  
There we go. 
Sorry, it wasn't advancing. 
I'm sharing this quote which is actually from the September issue of Library Journal, article on the public library as a catalyst for civic engagement. 
Describe -- how we see the public library evolving or changing. 
2020, public library will be more about what it does for people than what it has for people. 
And this is relevant to the Redbox pilot program this year.
Because this really seem to understand this concept that the library is this place, this community connecter. 
And so we were delighted to have the opportunity to participate, because that's really where our heads are, about bringing community together in a meaningful way. 
And it was clear from the very beginning that Redbox got that and that that was their intent and that OCLC and project for public spaces were also playing an important role there in making that happen. 
I'll share just a moment kind of where we are as an organization. 
And some context about how our thinking is reforming at the moment. 
Cuyahoga County Public Library is currently engaged in our most significant capital improvement program in our 90-year history. 
We are renovating or replacing 18 of our 28 branches and are focused on creating spaces that are welcoming, open, and foster that sense of community connectedconnectedness. 
This is really obviously top of mind for us. 
This year we were thinking about events connected to these public spaces that we are having frankly a whole lot of fun working on. 
And these are four of the buildings that have already opened this year. 
We actually have a new building opening on Saturday, and one more before the end of the year. 
It has been a pretty massive undertaking. 
We really are looking at that concept of shared community space and how do we make it a place where people want to be and want to convene. 
We have highly interactive early childhood spaces. 
You can see a couple of examples in the photos here. 
These are places that are designed to draw children in, help them to work on early literacy skills. 
And we also think about the full family experience. 
There is seating for mom, dad, grandma, grandpa when they bring the little ones in. 
We have family bathrooms in the new buildings which is a silly thing to think about, but most certainly adds to the level of comfort for families when they come into a public space. 
We have open access to a variety of computers and have them in the children's spaces and certainly on the main floor. 
And we're also investing in these unique recording studio spaces. 
Digital audio recording studio that you see here in a photograph and then in the Garfield Heights branch, which I will talk about momentarily, there is a full video recording and editing suite. 
And I mention these things because they are consistent with our vision for shared community learning space. 
And it connects to that central theme of the Redbox program, which is to create engaging, shared community experiences.  
And just to fill you in on our events that we did this year, we targeted two communities with events in two of the new buildings in our system. 
The first event was in Warrensville Heights, which the new building opened in April of 2012. 
And then the second was in our Garfield Heights community. 
And that branch actually just opened at the beginning of September.  
And just to share a little about the community of Warrensville Heights, this is one of the communities in our system with higher poverty rates and lower educational attainment, but there is a really strong connection to family that is sort of this unique characteristic of the Warrensville Heights community.
And the building itself is part of a broader economic development plan for the city, one that is intentional. 
The mayor was deliberate in starting with the library and a YMCA. 
So that proximity that Elena was talking about around shared public space, library sits next to a new YMCA. 
The idea, investing in these public buildings to create this town center atmosphere. 
The mayor sees it as the beginning of a broader economic development opportunity for the Warrensville Heights community.
That is the context of the setting for this event. 
The event itself, wanting to build on that strong family focus that they have in Warrensville Heights, and focus on building education in the community. 
We decided it would be really fun to do an outdoor movie event. 
And the idea was to do it right before back to school. 
Calling it the last blast of summer. 
And the idea was to have the mayor get up and speak and talk to the kids about getting ready to go back to school. 
Let's do something fun together as a community. 
And so, you know, families, it was kids. 
We had popcorn and bottled water and crafts and we worked to engage with our neighbor, the YMCA, and there were other activities. 
We tried to make it a fun, interactive, exciting night out for families. 
And you can see, we leveraged some of the materials that Elena talked about earlier. 
We had the Astroturf, although I'm totally jealous because we didn't get any of the cool planters. 
We tried to supplement with red balloons. 
Bistro sets, and tents that it made for a really fun atmosphere. 
And I think you can see from just a few of the photos that the kids had a really great time. 
And the movie that we watched, "despicable me" which everybody just loved. 
There was a lot of excitement. 
And I know our staff were excited because people were talking about it. 
There was a lot of buzz. 
Garfield Heights, our second event, we decided that we were going to piggy back on the grand opening of this new building. 
And Garfield Heights is a community, facing similar socioeconomic challenges like Warrensville Heights. 
This building design, intentional in helping the community build 21st century work force skills. 
And what makes this one in particular special is that it has the full video editing and recording suite with a green screen and all of the technology that anyone would need to make an awesome movie. 
We knew that for this event, we had to do something that would introduce the branch to the community. 
Introduce them to the amazing resources, especially that video, digital video recording suite. 
And, you know, have some fun with that whole movie theme. 
That connection to Redbox, of course. 
So, for our grand opening, we called it "movie mania."
and, you know, we had naturally the ceremony ribbon cutting that you have at these kinds of things. 
A variety of activities built around the movie theme. 
Kids could go in the studio, pick a set location and have their picture taken in front of the green scene. 
I think we had the wizard of OZ, props to get their photo snapped and take that away with them as a fun souvenir from the event. 
We had our audio recording studio in that building open so that the community could come in, and we did this reading and recording a story. 
It was a community-generated story that we have -- we have the audio sliced together and it is hysterical. 
We are looking forward to posting that under the branch page of the web site sometime soon. 
Movie makeup demonstration. 
You can see that scary looking child reaching out who the character who was there.
He was turned into a zombi and he sat patiently for two hours while the movie makeup was applied. 
We filmed the process and did the time lapse. 
So we will be able to post that as well. 
People can see that transformation into that movie kind of process. 
And that was the focus of this event. 
Behind the scenes, pieces, parts of making a movie and what goes into it. 
Of course, outside you can't have a movie event without having some kind of popcorn. 
We had popcorn from a local vendor, as well as ice cream and the tents and seating and people just had a nice time. 
We had about 1,500 customers to came through the doors that day and attended the event and we got some fantastic feedback. 
People had a wonderful time. 
So, that's the overview about our engagement in the program and a little about the events that we hosted. 
But I thought I would share three quick lessons learned. 
As a result of our participation in this program. 
I think these are things regardless of being a part of the outside the box program, they're take-aways that I -- I don't know, I hope that folks find useful that could be applicable to any library organization. 
So, the first one is -- first lesson learned, most certainly, is to generate that sense of community buy-in. 
Elena talked about the workshops that we did ahead of time. 
Planning workshops where we went to a site. 
We talked about kind of our vision for what we might be able to do with a fun event. 
We got people outside looking at the outdoors space, the indoor space, how can we integrate the two. 
What are the cool things that we might be able to do together?
And we had some really amazing ideas that came out of the session. 
What I will share, though, is that this particular session happened at one of our branches where we didn't end up hosting an event. 
There were a few different factors into why we ultimately moved. 
One of them, and I think this is an interesting take-away, we were planning to build the event, piggy back again on this tradition that this community has had for years and years of their ice cream social kickoff to summer reading. 
And while the group got creative in the planning process and threw out all kinds of fun ideas, when it really came down to it, they wanted their standard ice cream social. 
They didn't want to deviate. 
Where we didn't have kind of that community buy-in that we were looking for, okay, we think we can find that elsewhere. 
That was an interesting and surprising lesson learned, but one that really resonates and we applied it then to the other two community events which were uber successful in our perspective. 
That takes us into this second lesson learned. 
We need to be comfortable working with uncertainty and being comfortable having to be flexible. 
We know that conditions change.
Things don't pan out as we originally envision them, and we can be as specific as we want to in all of our planning, and most certainly that is something that we need to be as detailed and specific. 
We have to get okay with uncertainty because you may need to change plans. 
It turns out we can't schedule the weather. 
So, I talked about our Warrensville Heights branch outdoor movie, and we had originally planned it to be the last blast of summer right before kids went back to school. 
And, sadly, that Thursday, when we were supposed to have the event, it was pouring rain all day long. 
And I was watching the forecast. 
I was even like sort of stalking a meteorologist from one of our local news stations.
I finally got him to answer me on Facebook with what will the weather be at about 5:00 tonight?
We had to cancel the event and reschedule it. 
So, you know, some of the buzz that we had going into the first one you know, you lost a little bit of that. 
But, you know, you have to roll with it. 
That is part of what we learned as well is that need to be flexible. 
And that really does take us into the third lesson learned, the last lesson, if you are going to be flexible, you then have to get creative. 
And rolling with it and making changes, even if it is in the 11th hour, it sort of forces you to get creative and think differently about what you can do with the resources at hand. 
And I'll share even in our Garfield Heights grand opening event, originally our plan was to incorporate the outdoor movie equipment and have a movie mania event with -- 
culminating with an outdoor movie. 
Again, one of those things that you have to roll with it, unfortunately, there had been issues in the community over the summer, and the mayor and others were less excited about having an evening outdoor event. 
So, we said, okay. 
Not a problem. 
And we found ways to build in unique elements of that movie mania theme into the daytime grand opening, and, you know, we feel really good about the way that we were able to pull that off. 
And, you know, we integrated some social media into the promotion, you know. 
You can see some of the fun photos. 
I had to share one of the green screen pics because they were adorable. 
All kinds of families that came out and had their photograph taken. 
You had to get creative and think a little differently and that was part of of the point, too, of the Redbox Outside the Box program, thinking of fun, engaging ways of bringing the community together around that shared entertainment experience. 
So, that's it. 
And I think now we can open it up to questions. 
>> Megan: Thank you Hallie and Elena so much. 
Thank you everyone. 
Active chat. 
Fun conversations going on there. 
And great questions coming in. 
And I hope Jennifer will help me, too, if I miss some of them. 
But I wanted to kind of go back through on topics that have come up throughout the presentations. 
Elena, this might be a good one for PPS, is some folks were talking in chat during the place-making discussion around the community transit piece and how their libraries are not necessarily situated in a place that is easily accessible. 
So, do you have thoughts around maybe resources or ideas that -- where you have experienced that in other locations that we might be able to share here?
>> Elena: Well, I mean, I know a lot of libraries and I was actually thinking of that one. 
Hallie was showing her fabulous photos of all of the new libraries and they all look suburban in design and they have the great front lawn in the front, but it is just for show and not for use and you're supposed to basically drive there and be dropped off. 
And this is part of our thinking and has been in the design of anything, whether a library or any other cultural or civic building. 
So, we know around the country a lot of people are focusing on bicycle connections, focusing on trails, foe cursing on --  
focusing on -- shuttles or trolly that goes through destinations downtown. 
Here in New York, east coast, what we have seen a lot in smaller communities, I'm not talking about New York City, but smaller communities, we have seen safe routes to school. 
It is a big program. 
It is really developing. 
Recently we have had conversations about safe routes to the library. 
A lot of times the same kids who are trying to walk to school will need to go from school to the library. 
And in a couple of projects, we actually were involved in developing this a little bit further. 
One of our projects was in Ft. Myers, Florida, moving the large county library from a suburban location to Main Street downtown. 
That was part of the conversation. 
Safe routes to the library may be part of the broader discussion of safe routes to school.
>> I know that in PPS's workshops and many of the materials on your web site, you talk about -- and you have talked about today, too, experimenting, small partnerships or collaborations where you can test things out. 
Whether it is around transit or ways to get to the library. 
You start about starting with small projects and partnerships, to form the longer term plans. 
It does not have to be a complete renovation immediately or transit plan immediately, but there are small steps that everybody can take to inform the longer-term vision. 
>> Elena: Definitely. 
>> Megan: I think another item that came up, we can all have these great plans about our space, but then how do you fund that?
And that is a great question, a big question I know we all think about. 
Again, and, Elena, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I know that you have talked a bit about this as well, partnerships, and part of that, and Hallie addressed this as well, part of that place-making conversation at the beginning of the pilot project was to get community buy-in which can help in building the partnerships that may ultimately lead to funding conversations. 
So, e-Len-Len  -- Elena, I don't know if you want to add to that. 
Something that you have addressed as well. 
>> Elena: Well, I think -- 
yeah, partnerships are really essential. 
A lot of times when we have these conversations in communities, sometimes you need kind of an outsider or different program to get everybody to think together about how they can share these resources. 
And it may turn out that, you know, the library has all of the PA equipment but you don't have a screen. 
Maybe the high school has a screen. 
It takes a little running around. 
I have been very involved in my own community, Jackson heights, Queens, one of the most diverse zip codes in the United States.
It is a very dense community. 
And we basically organize as neighbors. 
We close the street right next to the park because we felt we didn't have enough public space, and we do events all of the time. 
And a lot of times they are on a shoestring budget. 
The library is a great partner.
And they do reading on the carpet, every, I think, Friday afternoon. 
But a lot of it is kind of about having a -- I'm not saying it's easy. 
It takes actually a lot of time and energy. 
Sometimes it's easier to buy your own, I don't know, projector than having to run 20 miles to pick up a projector and use it and then bring it back and learn how to operate it. 
But that is just an example. 
But a lot of times, being able to hobble this together with very little just shows everybody how committed you are, and then you stand much better to get resources for broader, larger events.  
>> Megan: Thank you. 
That's great. 
I see -- and thank you, Hallie, for responding, too. 
I see questions around security and security measures taken at events. 
That has been on a case-by-case basis. 
In other cases we have brought in private security or not we, but the local communities have.
That is always a concern, and we always want to be sure -- I think that was one of the reasons that we unfortunately had to cancel the beautiful first movie event in Cuyahoga County, we wanted to keep people safe. 
Thunderstorms were not allowing that. 
Hallie made the right call even though it was tough. 
The idea is to connect people, keep them safe, and let them have a great time at these events. 
And, Jennifer, did I miss any topics?
I want to make sure that we address all of the topics that came up in chat. 
>> Jennifer: One question came up around the concept of maker spaces in relation to this project or just in relation to libraries in general. 
I don't know if Hallie maybe or -- and Elena, actually, both of you, how have you seen the place-making piece integrate into this new concept of creating maker spaces in our communities with libraries?
Either of you, actually. 
>> Hallie: I can speak from the Cuyahoga County Public Library as it relates to the maker space, that emerging trend. 
We have focused in on that, having that connection back to our mission, which is focused on reading, life-long learning and civic engagement. 
The maker space concepts that we have been exploring are focused on building 21st century work force skills, that piece of life-long learning. 
For us, it has been dedicating space and technology within the new buildings, audio recording studio, video recording studio, and really trying to generate energy and enthusiasm and excitement around that. 
Working with the local schools to bring in kids in after school and do programming with them. 
We partner with a local arts organization, progressive arts alliance, that is really exceptional in terms of training students to use some of that equipment. 
So, we try to bring in outside resources to help make the best use of the technology that we have available and the new spaces that we're creating.  
>> Elena: From just strictly place-making perspective, maker spaces are great. 
Makers usually want to show everybody what they've made. 
So, maker fairs or even smaller-scale events, we've partnered a lot with similar events to actually activate public spaces. 
In New York City, one of the big maker fairs is hosted by the New York City, New York Hall of Science, but it is really in the park and in the outdoor spaces of the Hall of Science, that most of it happens. 
Those are great ways if you have those resources and people interested in them to both give them a space to show and share and invite everybody else to see what they're doing.  
Essentially, famous outdoor markets, Brooklyn flea for example, started as sort of a maker market.
>> That's great. 
Thank you Hallie and Elena. 
This is Megan again. 
I want to see -- we are at time. 
I want to be respectful of everyone's calendars and just share a bit about what's next. 
Our pilot continues through this year. 
We're still working on wrapping up and taking things forward. 
What are the best practices and the learnings that we can apply to any future efforts. 
So, I hope that you will watch for future plans at our web site here and OCLC.org/outsidethebox. 
My contact information is there. 
If you have follow-up questions for me directly or anyone, I can pass the information along.
Feel free to contact me. 
Thank you all for being here today. 
Thank you especially to Jennifer and Ahniwa and Hallie and Elena for presenting and keeping us in a good webinar space today. 
And thank you all for attending and for being a part of our conversation.  
>> Elena: Thank you. 
>> Jennifer: Thank you so much.
One more reminder to folks if you're not yet subscribed to the newsletter, click on the link in chat to enter your email and we will keep you posted on upcoming events or additional news about Outside the Box. 
We also will ask you when you leave this room to fill out the short survey that will provide feedback to the presenters and also to us as we develop ongoing programming. 
Thank you again. 
Thank you for all of your great work on this project, Megan, and Hallie and Elena as well. 
Thank you so much.