WebJunction

Well, I didn't really think the well had dried up as far as partnering ideas. I have at least one community partnership idea up my sleeve that I haven't shared yet. It's definitely on the unconventional side of things.

A national bicycling organization called Adventure Cycling is partnering with the U of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health to develop a cross-country bike route that follows the fabled Underground Railroad traveled by thousands of African Americans escaping from slavery. This project is in the early planning stages at this point (route maps won’t be published until spring 2007), but the sponsoring organizations are putting the plan together and they intend to fully integrate libraries along the route by:

--Putting library locations on the route maps
--Encouraging cyclists to use the PACs at libraries to journal their experience and email friends and supporters
--Encouraging libraries everywhere to develop programming related to the event--great way for public libraries to have an impact at the community level with a program so large in scope
--WebJunction is negotiating with the organizers to encourage library staff to use our message boards to discuss ways of getting involved and experiences with the cyclists on the route.

Pretty exciting, I think. If you want to learn more, check out the website:
http://www.adv-cycling.org/routes/undergroundrailroad.cfm

(Originally Posted by Librarybob)
Librarybob: Yesterday was a good start.

We ... or I should say one of our Board members who was used to running large church functions ... called up the marketing people at Hasbro. They'd done many Monopoly tournaments, but never a CLUE tournament.

This meant guiding the idea through the marketing maze at Hasbro. They've now assigned someone to it (as I understand) so the hard work has been done. It was, at our end, a simple multi-tier elimination event. People bought seats to play (a $5 or so entrance fee, lowered for "teams" buying several seats) and sponsors bought "rooms" and "characters."

We rented a local mansion ... we sold lunch (when there were lots of people about) and had a silent auction immediately before the final game.

The winner (and one person who bought the same honor in the silent auction) had a reference book on board games "plated" with a special CLUE bookplate we made up.

This is a "picturesque" thing, perfect for getting newspaper photographers to cover.

Blq3: I just love this idea! CLUE is one of my all-time favorite games. I'd pay more than $5 to get a chance to play it in a real mansion.

I know you got some community members, like the county board president and a state representative, to dress up and play the characters --how fun! Did you have all the appropriate props --candlestick, wrench, etc.? Did participants get to move the (real live) characters around the 'board'? I would love to see some photos if you feel like posting them here.

I can see a huge benefit in this unorthodox fund-raiser for generating community spirit with the library at the heart of it. The county and state officials hopefully had fun and went away with good feelings about the library in their heads. The money raised is certainly a tangible outcome. It all sounds great!

Librarybob: Oh, yes ... we had the props. The subsequent library newsletter had a photo of "Mrs.White killing Mr. Body with a Revolver."

Hi,

I know a former colleague of mine used to work with the National Park Service so perhaps she'll have some feedback on this topic...

Max

Very nice!