Building Great Programs

for Patrons in Their

20s and 30s

Presented by Katie LaMantia & Emily Vinci

January 15, 2015

Officially established October 2013 and gaining

momentum ever since.

Let’s start with a

question...

Does your library currently have programs that cater

specifically to the 20s-30s demographic?

Getting Started❖Defining the Demographic

❖Defining your Mission and Goals

❖Marketing

❖ Budgeting

Who are Millennials/New Adults?

❖ Wide range of life experiences and current situations:

graduations, establishing careers, marriages, births,

relocations, etc.

❖ Comfortable with technology

❖ An established social scene

❖ Developed means of exploring their interests

❖ Want a social element to their activities

❖ Born after Gen X

❖ Broadly defined as reaching young adulthood around the

year 2000

Traditional Library Programming

Kids

Teens

Adults/Seniors

Mission and Goals

We want...

❖ patrons of all ages to see the library as a place for them

in the community.

❖ all patrons to view the library as relevant to their

lifestyle.

❖ to provide social opportunities as well as opportunities

for personal growth and fulfillment.

Reaching all genders

Include a variety of programming to appeal to many

interests:

● Crafting

● Gaming

● Movie Night

● Home Brewing

● DIY Home Repairs

● Financial Planning

Themes

Pop Culture/Entertainment

Oscar Night

Karaoke

Education/Personal Growth

Money Smart Week

Fitness Fair

DIY/Crafts

UnValentine’s Day

CrafterWork

Measuring Outcomes

How will you measure the success of your

programs?

What outcomes are you hoping to see as a

result of your 20s and 30s programming?

Statistics and Breakdowns

❖ Sign in sheet➢ Name

➢ Age

➢ How did you hear about this program?

➢ Email

❖ Post-program surveys

Post-program Sample Survey

Program breakdowns and results

Keep track of time and money spent: planning,

marketing, setup, length of event, etc.

Communicate back to management the results of

program, age breakdowns

Don’t discount the power of qualitative comments

Marketing

How will you reach this demographic?

Promoting your programs through your

standard library newsletter and website is a

start, but consider also where your

demographic spends a good deal of their time

online - social media.

Branding

Creating branding for your 20s

and 30s programming isn’t

absolutely necessary -

especially if you’re planning to

hold these kinds of programs

only sporadically, but it can be

helpful in distinguishing your

programs as unique and set

apart from the rest of the

library programs.

Social Media

Facebook Group vs. Page● Group allows all members to

contribute

● Posts show up as notifications

vs. not all page posts showing

up in a person’s newsfeed

● Being added to a group by an

administrator vs. “liking” a page Other social media to

consider: Goodreads,

Instagram, Pinterest

➔ contact information

➔ links to social

media

➔ feed from library

calendar with

upcoming

programs

➔ link to sign up for

constant contact

newsletter

Website & Direct Email Newsletter

➔ pulled from patron database based on set age parameters (20 - 39)

➔ sent during the fourth week of the month advertising the next month’s events and

programs

➔ all-patron library newsletters are sent during the 1st and 3rd weeks, and we did

not want to overload people with library promotion

Working with your budget

❏ Pulling from multiple budgets

❏ Pooling resources

❏ Cultivating staff talent

❏ In our case, success of NextGen programming,

shown through statistics and monetary tracking led

to creation of new budget line for next Fiscal Year

Questions?

What interests and hobbies do you have that would

make a good 20s/30s program?

- Share your thoughts in the chat

Question Time...

NextGen Programs❖ The Nostalgia Factor

❖DIY and Crafting

❖Getting Out of the Library

❖ Strategic Timing

❖ Series

The Nostalgia Factor

Don’t discount the power of nostalgia.

Basing programs on the pop culture of this

demographic’s childhood is a great way to appeal

to and involve a wide variety of people.

Nostalgia/Pop Culture Resources

● Buzzfeed

● Huffington Post

● Reddit

● Jezebel

● Tumblr

● Pinterest

*Patron and staff interest*

90s Halloween Throwback

★ Pumpkin painting

★ DIY dirt cups

★ Goosebumps

★ Fruit Roll-Ups, Gushers,

Fruit-by-the-Foot

★ Trick-or-Treating candy

assortment

B(ring) Y(our) O(wn) G(ame or system)

★ After-school snack

assortment

★ Participants brought a

variety of board games

as well as game

systems and video

games

DIY and Crafting

There’s virtually no end to the different kinds of

crafting and/or DIY programs that you can hold.

These kinds of programs are great for creating

a fun, creative atmosphere that encourages

participants to share and get to know one

another.

CrafterWork

★ Relaxed, social

atmosphere

★ Patrons were free to

bring their own crafts

to work on

★ We also provided

various craft supplies

UnValentine’s Day

★ Combined crafting -

making unValentines

and worry dolls

★ And activities - a piñata

and smashing candy

hearts

DIY Terrarium Workshop ★ Educational, but

messy, crafty and fun

★ Incorporate into

DIY/Crafting or office

decor

★ Participants were

able to leave with a

finished product at no

cost to them

Getting out of the library

In addition to meeting our patrons where they are in terms

of social media and digital outreach, we also need to meet

them where they are in the community.

If the members of this demographic are not spending a lot

of their time at the library, we can’t necessarily expect them

to come to us for programming. Instead, we take the

programs to them.

Strategic Timing

Work, family, friends take precedence

Experiment with days/times- gauge your

community, ask for feedback from your patrons

Try after-hours programming, like a Saturday

night

Community Partnerships

Another plus to holding your programs outside of

the library is the strengthened community

partnerships that can come as a result of doing so.

Whether you’re holding Trivia Night at a local pub

or teaming up with a local winery to hold a tour a

tasting, opportunities abound to create

programming that benefits your patrons, your

program, and local businesses.

Lynfred Winery

Tour & Tasting

November 2013

Junk Food and Wine

Pairing June 2014

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

★ Fall Night

★ Bonfire

★ Storyteller

★ Creepy walk in the

woods

★ Crafts

★ S’mores and hot

cider

Cupcake Decorating at

Michaels Arts & Crafts

★ Held on a weeknight at

a local craft store

★ Taught by an employee

of the store

★ We purchased cupcakes

and supplies

★ Participants got to leave

with a finished product

Series

Creating a programming series enables you to

provide consistent, reliable programs with a set

date and location. Participants know when and

where to expect these programs and are thus

likely to keep coming back. Having an established

audience for your series programs can be

particularly helpful for promoting your stand-alone

programs.

Trivia❖ Partner with a local

restaurant or bar

❖Create trivia answer

sheets

❖Write trivia questions- use

a trivia board game,

online generator, etc.

Trivia can be done in

many different ways

❖ 6 rounds, 5 questions in

each round

❖ Round 1- each question is

worth 1 point, Round 2- 2

points, etc.

❖ Bonus Round- wager total

Young(ish) Adult Book Club

❖ Bi-monthly

❖ Books available 1

month prior to

program

❖ Alternate genres

❖ Incorporate other

events- viewing

film adaptations

Lessons Learned

and

Positive Outcomes

Out of the demographic“Because the goal of this programming group is to provide unique programming

for people in the 20-39 age group, we prefer not to have anyone outside of this

age range, including young children, attend our events. If you feel you have

special circumstances and would like us to reconsider, please let us know.”

● Support from management in enforcing this policy

● Not dissimilar from YS and Teen having strict age

restrictions on their programs

● Age restrictions and the enforcement thereof are by no

means necessary and are entirely up to you

Adults facing social challenges

From our very first program, we have had participation

turnout from patrons on the Autism spectrum and others

who face social challenges.

New Opportunity- research the needs of these adults in our

community and see what additional programming can be

done for them at the library.

Staff Involvement

- New to the Area

- Social Opportunities

- Post-College Life

Transition from Teens to Adults

Teens aging out of teen services want to continue

attending programs with members of their peer group.

Final Thoughts

● Numbers don’t always matter, especially in the

beginning. This is a great opportunity to try new things

and see what sticks.

● Some programs will fail, and you might feel for awhile

like you’re constantly having to tweak things and

readjust.

● Patron feedback can be hugely helpful in deciding what

direct to steer in next.

Coming in 2015:

A Year of Programming for

Millennials and Beyond

Amy J. Alessio, Katie LaMantia, and Emily Vinci

American Library Association

Contact InformationKatie LaMantia

klamantia@stdl.org

Emily Vinci

evinci@stdl.org

schaumburglibrary.org/nextgen

facebook.com/groups/nextgenschaumburg/

nextgen@stdl.org

Questions?

Thank you for attending!

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