Have you been struggling to get more participants in programs at your library? Do you need more involvement to make the programs worthwhile? Read about this success story that took place at the New Carrollton library in Maryland.

Their program “Boys Read” (created in 2013 to encourage boys ages 8-13 to read aloud from their favorite books) had a dedicated following, but their numbers were small. In order to improve attendance, they took a few different steps that could be adapted and implemented at any library:

• Interactivity – brought in an activity related to the books being read. In this case, they taught magic tricks.
• Expertise – invited colleagues with different backgrounds and guests (archaeologists, wildlife experts) to lead sessions
• Exposure – used a location with lots of foot traffic
• Rebranding – recognized when a new name for the program was necessary. For this instance, when girls wanted to join the activities, they altered the name of the program to the more-inclusive “Kids Explore”
• Expansion – worked to find ways to improve and grow the program (an ongoing task)

Read the whole article here.

Have you successfully increased involvement at your library? Tell us what worked/didn’t work in your experience in the comments! 

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/q5av5ev, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0