Just Wondering - Pivoting to Inside from Outside

In this month's column by Manitowoc (WI) Public Library Youth Librarian Susie Menk, she is thinking about unexpected changes in program locations. And she's wondering....what do you think?

So have you ever had to pivot and move a program from outside to inside or from inside to outside?  How did it go?  What did you have to do to make it work?  Did you have enough staff or help to manage the program?

We have a program in October called Trunk or Treat.  We have agencies from the area sign up to decorate their trunks, hand out goodies and also hand out or talk about the services they offer.  This program is geared to help families see all the different agencies that our community has to offer and ways that these agencies can help families in need. We usually pair this event with a haunted house or Halloween activities for kids.  This year our teen group, also known as the Boo Crew, put together a Creepy Crawl event.  There were hands on activities and crafts for younger children all created and managed by our teen group. 

This year our event ended up on a day with inclement weather.  We had been checking the weather and by Monday morning we realized we were going to have to call the event—either we could cancel or we could move it inside.  At the time, we had over 30 agencies signed up to participate in the Trunk or Treat and our Boo Crew had already started decorating parts of the library for the Creepy Crawl.  We really didn’t want to have to cancel.  So, after much conversation with other managers and our director, we decided to move the event inside.  

We expected that the attendance would be less due to the predictions of rain—it was supposed to rain all day and the highest chance of rain was right during the time of our event!  Boy were we wrong!  Not only did we have patrons dressed up and arriving early, they ended up lined up out the door and down the block in the pouring rain!

We had tables set up in the main area of the first floor and more in a meeting room on the second floor.  The Creepy Crawl activities got moved to the youth department on the second floor.  We thought we had it covered until the people came and kept coming and kept coming and kept coming.  Best estimates show that we had close to 3000 people!

Lessons learned—never underestimate the community’s love for library programs!  In putting the tables all in one spot, we were trying to ensure there were quiet areas for the public.  In hindsight, this was probably not necessary.  It would have been better to spread the tables throughout the library to keep the lines moving.  Several pictures show the sheer volume of people we had.  When the fire chief walked in, I simply told him not to look at the lines! ☺

In addition to the tables on the first floor, we used a meeting room to set up more tables.  About 30 agencies still came to the event and spreading the tables out would have been better instead of cramming them into one meeting space.  Using this meeting room space created issues with people crowding the stairway and then some patrons using the elevator and cutting in line.  

Crowd control ended up being one of our biggest issues that night.  Although I must say, the patrons that was talking to in the entryway were grateful we were still doing the event and very patient.  We had few complaints that evening.

Hopefully, next year’s event can be held back outside in the large parking lot and we won’t have to worry about being inside again.  If we do, we will be better prepared.