One of my goals this year is to reach those students who are reluctant to come to the library. I am really good about keeping my regulars coming back, but I need to reach more than just the library lovers if I am going to make an impact on all students. My theory is to get them coming through the door with the fun stuff first. Then I can slowly build those relationships in the hopes that they come to me later for help, be it research or books they might want to read.
I am trying 2 different things this year that seem to be working. I have a National Day Give Away once a month. For instance, on August 31st, it was National Trail Mix day. So students came to the library to make their own trail mix to take back to lunch with them. My latest one was "No Shave" November. Since it was for the whole month, I just picked a day to hand out fake mustaches and book marks. That has been the most popular one so far. We gave out 250 mustaches and over 150 book marks. It was crazy. Who knew that mustaches were going to be so popular. LOL! Here is a list of my Give Aways this year.
The second idea is called Fri-YAY. On Fridays, we set out games, puzzles, poetry activities, crafts, the mystery box, and the latest to make it's debut are the Drones. The drones are so popular that we fly them twice a week, instead of just on Fridays. It gives more students a chance to fly them. I picked up some cheap drones on Amazon.
My plan was to cycle through different activities each month, but that has not happened. Once I introduce a new game or activity, it is a permanent part of Fri-YAY. I tried explaining that to the students, but they want what they want. After all, getting them into the library was my goal. As new things I have ordered come in, I add them to the Fri-YAY activities. The only things that does change is the craft table. It cycles with the seasons. Here was my Fri-YAY list at the beginning of the year when I naively thought I was going to switch all activities each month. Now it is just a Friday free-for-all. The students are coming in which makes me happy, and they seem to be happy with all the choices they have each Friday.
