Adults

Winter of Reading Kick-Off and Trivia Night

Mar 31, 2016

Free

🆓

Byline

Anne Kemmerling, Manager of Innovation and Strategy, Denver Public Library

In response to the library’s successful Summer of Reading program for Denver children, the library launched an adult-based Winter of Reading program in 2015. To kick off the program’s second year in style, librarians created a trivia night challenge at Jagged Mountain Brewery, a local craft brewery popular with customers and librarians alike.

During the event, 20 teams were asked six rounds of questions written specifically by librarians for the event. Participants were eligible to win a pair of lift tickets to Winter Park Resort and received a discount on beer during the event. In the end, one team was able to bring home bragging rights as the winner of the competition.

Advanced Planning

By partnering with Jagged Mountain through their Jagged Mountain Gives program, we were able to fit into their schedule with three months' notice. The selection and approval process for being chosen as a Jagged Mountain partner was easy and fast. We promoted the event through our internal channels. We recruited librarians from within Denver Public Library (specifically the Western History department) to develop the six rounds of bookish and wintery trivia questions, along with someone to lead the trivia during the event — the library’s own seasoned trivia ringmaster, Joe Mills.

Marketing

To market this event, we used Facebook, Engage! magazine (monthly newsletter showcasing library programming), Twitter, the library’s website and Jagged Mountain Brewery's website.

Budgeting

The two lift tickets were donated, and there was no upfront cost for using Jagged Mountain as the location and beer/food provider. In addition, the fundraiser made about $250 for the library. The only cost was in the employee hours to create the trivia questions and run the event.

Day-of-event Activity

We arrived at the brewery an hour before the event to set up. This entailed creating a space for folks to register for the Winter of Reading program and pick up the corresponding brochure (which included the list of tasks participants needed to undertake in order to complete the program and receive the mug prize).

Program Execution

About 100 people attended the event, which garnered 10 new registrations for the Winter of Reading program (many participants were already signed up!). We were excited to see new faces at one of our events.

Feedback was so positive from both the event attendees (some of whom were librarians from neighboring districts) and the library employees who helped run the program, that we toyed with having similar types of events to attract new and different audiences.

Advice

By hosting a library event at a location other than a branch, we were able to incorporate elements that are otherwise impossible within the walls of the library. We were able to attract more than our usual customers and programming attendees. We also raised awareness of a relatively new library program that stands to grow significantly in the coming years and serve the adults of Denver in new and exciting ways.