Harry Potter Book Night

Set-up for this program was quite complex since it involved so many components and areas of activities. Three floors of the library building were used for the event. The library director prepared and distributed floor plans in advance, and furniture was set up the morning of the event. A light crew set up directional lighting both outside and inside the building. A coat check area was designated at the staffed circulation desk, and two library staff members monitored staircases: one for walking to the fifth floor and the other for going down to second. A coloring book area was staffed next to the library’s juvenile collection for young children. (View floor plan under Attachments at right.)

Nine library staff and 30 CLC faculty/students participated in the event.

After entering the building, children were sorted into "houses" and given instructions. Each child had a paper badge or sticker attached to their shirt or jacket that designated their house. Guests then selected a wand and stopped at the photo booth before going off to class. Depending on their assigned house, they were directed to two of the following classes: potions, divinations, charms, quidditch or book reading. 

• A faculty member of education professions taught the potions class, where she demonstrated how to make “elephant toothpaste.” (View the house schedules and potions class examples under Attachments at right.)
• A media specialist from Allegany County taught the divination class, which covered how to interpret tea leaves that predicted the future.
• In the charms class, a volunteer magician demonstrated tricks.
• A faculty member from the sociology department and many graduate assistants taught quidditch, where students learned fundamental skills like throwing and catching balls, catching hoolah hoops, pitching a ball into a net, etc. 

Throughout the event, wandering wizards visited the different areas and assigned extra points to children for good behavior or deducted points if they violated the posted code of ethics. A few of the roaming wizards were library staff wearing academic gowns with hats and scarves. Faculty, graduate assistant and student volunteers also wore embellished academic gowns. One office in the library organizes commencement ceremonies and stores an assortment of academic gowns in various sizes that were available to organizers that evening. In addition to the roaming wizards, each house had a designated head of house who led students around the library. They were dressed in relevant house colors:

• Gryffindor: maroon and gold
• Slytherin: green and silver
• Ravenclaw: blue and bronze
• Hufflepuff: yellow and black

After class, everyone met back together to see who had won the House Cup. This year it went to Hufflepuff. 

All attendees were encouraged to wear their favorite wizarding outfit in order to compete in a costume contest. At the end of the evening prizes were awarded to an adult and child for the best costume. Two library staff members channeled participants through the security exit gate at the end of the evening’s activities. Library housekeepers cleaned up immediately after the event.