Leverage Partnerships (Again!)Once again, look to your community partners and utilize them to run programs or to connect you to volunteers. Repeatedly throughout the Studio Rhode process, successful community partnerships allowed libraries freedom to offer more high quality programs, to reach new people and to achieve their project goals, often while mitigating staff time spent on the project. |
Utilize Library Graduate StudentsIf you have a university nearby that has a library school, reach out to them. Many library graduate students will need to earn credit through field experience or are simply looking for volunteer opportunities in a library. If there is no a library school program near you, consider other departments with subject expertise, like computer science or music. Many state universities have a Master Gardener group, for example, that would be happy to work with libraries to provide free programming. |
Hire Someone on ContractIf money allows it, hire an expert on contract to support your project. If your project requires a certain level of technical or subject expertise, do not spend valuable staff time trying to learn complicated skills on your own. |
Focus on TeamworkDesigning an interdepartmental program can be very rewarding, as it builds team spirit and extends the impact of a project to a wider selection of the community. It also means there are more project team members to share the workload. That said, bigger teams also mean more working parts, so plan to check in with your team and have realistic expectations of what team members can contribute. Work together, and get buy-in from library management so you can be sure everyone is supported. |
