Opening Your Library to Your Patrons and Have Some Fun
Open Houses and other events provide a reason to invite your patrons to come see your library. They can be held during National Library Week or anytime throughout the year. In today’s world of online impersonal communications, there are not as many opportunities for your patrons to actually see the resources and meet the people who work in the library. Putting a face to a name (or an e-mail address) creates a more personal work environment and helps to build a bond between the library staff and the patrons.
Open Houses also offer an opportunity to make finding important information about the library more fun than reading a year end report. Design a trivia game around the quantity and the variety of research questions the library answers. Create a puzzle that spotlights the educational backgrounds of the library staff, the expertise of the librarians or the distinct personalities of the staff. Highlight the various sources in the library, or highlight the history of your institution.
The links below can help you create puzzles to challenge and puzzles to entertain:
National Library Week and Open House ideas:
Event & Party Planning links to help generate a successful turnout at your next function:
Library Clip Art for invitations or newsletters:
Games and Puzzle creators: