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Who hosts your programs?
10:13 AM EDT 3/31/07
Do you have library staff present during the entire time a program is being offered to adults? If so, who does the "hosting"?
We do a lot of programming at our library and are trying to figurre out how to make better use of staff time. Currently it is librarians who host the programs 90% of the time but we are thinking that perhaps we should hire support staff to do this -- espcially for film programs.
We have a programming team of librarians from all departments that put together our program calendar and make all the arrangements, do the budgets, etc. but because we do so much it can be time consuming to always be the ones at the program taking care of the tiny details.
How is programming handled at your library?
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Re: Who hosts your programs?
9:59 AM EDT 4/2/07
as a reply to Janie Hermann.
We have two people with somewhat different responsibilities providing "adult programming" (which is now a curious way to put it).
We have one person who does what might be termed "traditional programming" (bringing performers, etc., to the library). She probably spends something close to half of her time on this and is a paraprofessional.
We have another person who does "community relations" (mostly PR and publicity) but who also works up what might be called "community programming" such as our ice cream social. She has her MLS (and also does book talks, selects large print, etc.).
I've learned to take care when these overlap. ;-)
I guess I should note the size of the library: serves approx. 25,000 card holders (out of maybe 37,000 possible) and circs about 950,000 items.
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Re: Who hosts your programs?
10:51 AM EDT 4/21/07
as a reply to Janie Hermann.
AT NYPL we librarians host the program and that librarian attends the program. There are issues of safety and security. Plus, this allows the librarian to effectively evaluate the program.
But if you have a budget to hire people to do this, I don't see why that wouldn't work.
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Re: Who hosts your programs?
11:34 PM EDT 4/26/07
as a reply to Janie Hermann.
When we do programming (for any age level), the librarian who organized the program is present for the entire event. However, we also have a corps of volunteers who assist by counting heads, taking photos, etc.
This is a large urban library. Programs are free and open to all. That means occasionally we have people attending programs who become disruptive due to drugs or whatever. We feel we need a librarian present in case of problems. (We only have a security part time and that individual needs to be making rounds in the building and parking lot.) If necessary, a volunteer can go get the guard or another staff member to assist the person hosting the program.
I guess I should add that all programming is in our auditorium, so staff can't just observe from a distance.
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