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Hi all, I have a few question or you:
1.) What are your expectations for this thread?
2.) What kind of programming help, if any, do you need?
3.) For what kind posts of you looking? What did you (not) like the urban chicken description program?
4.) Do you prefer how I come up with these programs and how I locate and persuade local presenters to give these talks?

Just a friendly reminder that I cannot post another successful class/idea until someone else does. I love to give, just don't want to be the only one. I've given an example with Urban Chicken Farming in April (note: forgot to mention that I did do the program in August and that was not a good idea).

Can't wait to hear others' successes!! Also, please don't delete your posts. Nobody knows your name or is going to embarrass you here.

To possibly get more attendance in computer classes, find out when local job fairs occur and map out your classes likewise. For instance, in Wyoming on February 20th, 2013 there was a high school career fair [http://www.sweetwaterlibraries.com/news/archive.php?searchterm=2013&pagenum=2] in Sweetwater County. (Tried to get a job fair that wasn’t university-related and really only came up with the high school one, so I’m going into pretend land and making this an adult job fair.) I looked on the archived events of the county's library system [http://www.sweetwaterlibraries.com/news/archive.php?searchterm=2013&pagenum=2] and did not see any computer classes. I had to do some searching and did find some in their archived events, but no current ones that I could find when I clicked “Adult Programs” under their “Events” tab.

Preparing in advanced, they could have done the following: start with the (1) Basics of Computers, then move onto (2) Intro to Word and (3) Intermediate Word (both of these with a focus on what a patron would need to write a resume), (4) Intro to Internet, (5) and Job Searching at the Library. The librarians there could end the series with #4 if they didn't feel comfortable with #5, or persuade someone from the Unemployment Office to present on #5.

I am aware that some libraries may not offer computer classes at all or on a regular basis and Sweetwater Co., Wy. may be one of those. I used this library system because I randomly decided on Wyoming as an example.

Now comes the marketing aspect of this. I found these posts on the Programming Librarian: http://www.programminglibrarian.org/library/planning.html. They’re good in a general way, but I’ve found them lacking in the how do I apply this aspect. Now, the Word-of-Mouth marketing does work. What it is essentially is telling people, “Hey, we have a program on X.” So how do you do it?

A). A person comes up to you and you see they have many items on that topic or on interviewing, resume, computer help items, etc. You say to them, “I see you have a lot books on career-related items. We have quite a few programs coming up. What are interested in expanding your computer skills to get the competitive edge? Help with advanced features with Word for your resume, Internet job searching, what’s making you frustrated with the computer?” This lets them know some of the possibilities and I can take it from there. From time to time I ask if they are on our e-newsletter mailing list and tell them that they will get an earlier preview than picking up the physical copy calendar of events to get into the scoop before most people.

B.) You go out into the stacks and see a person in the job and career section, which has been decimated because most of the items are checked out. You take the calendar of events for the computer classes and say, “Hi, I saw you in this section and thought that this might help. We have computer classes on resume making coming up and you may be interested in it. It’s a very relaxed and informal session where I go over the general formatting of a resume and answer your questions specific to you.”

[City Chickens:]

Here's an example of one my recent gardening programs:

City Chickens: "Has the idea of raising chickens been pecking at your mind lately? This family-friendly hen session presented by Jane Smith, agent of the X Cooperative Extension of X County, covers the basics on nutrition, health, overall management, and housing your own chickens in an urban setting. Registration required." I tend to have programs in the evening, which is typically from 6:30pm-7pm, so people have a chance to get home from work, eat or snack, essentially get situated before coming to the library. Also, I typically have them on Tuesdays or Thursdays because Wednesday is Church Night down here and I tend not to have programs on Mondays since, being a former cashier at a grocery store, Monday night is grocery shopping night!, but occasionally have because that's just how the schedule works out sometimes. The "registration required" may turn some people off. I like to have it when I have the computer class (because of limited number seating) and outside presenters (I don't want to be embarrassed and not have anybody show up when the presenter has put in effort to prepare). Sometimes people put in "registration recommended" as an alternative.

While this were less people at this program than we usually get for gardening ones (around 30 people) and there were some mis-communication between internal departments, I did have 17 people show up for this. So I'm having this program again. The person that I supervise and myself are going to schedule several gardening programs more wisely for next fiscal year to maximize attendance.

What do you mean what if you deal with exciting business programs? If they're going on, tell us about them. We have them going at a nearly monthly basis at one of our branches. Sure talk about it. When I have someone for one of our target collection programs (we pick an area of our item collection and update the average publication date of those items and have programs around that topic, e.g., if auto repair material has an average publication date of 1999 and we want the average to be 2002, our collection development person will buy more books in that area and librarians will have programs around that topic to promote material), I'll talk about that. Anything goes...even hog butchering.

[YOU!! Yes, you. Lurker.]

YOU!! Yes, you. Lurker. Share your program ideas. I don't care what they are; have them out in the open! When I first became a library programmer I was fed to the sharks. My supervisor, bless their heart, wasn't very good at programs, couldn't give me ideas, and I didn't know my co-workers and community well enough to program well and I would've liked to have help, gosh darn it. Now that I've gotten to be familiar with my community (and had a couple of really good programs through sheer luck), I'm doing fabulously with my third season programming. I've got several topics with a couple classes for each topic in mind and I want to make it easier for those who are stuggling for program ideas, those who've been in the field and newbies. So I'm going to be greedy and withhold what I'm doing at my branch until someone else volunteers a successful program from their branch/library/what-have-you. Successful could mean patrons liked the program, it's a repeated program, you got 5 people and you were estatic!! Tell me when you held the program (month, time, day); which community members you contacted and did the program (or if you did it yourself!); what you liked and/or would liked to have done; this is a really good program for older adults/middle-age/teens/parents/couples without kids, etc.; and anything you want to talk about your program that went so awesomely. This is not the time to be quiet! Talk to you soon!

I cannot say for all branches, but I do know at this branch that two of our most popular classes seem to the introduction to computers and introduction to Excel. I wonder...if you have trouble filling in your computer classes, why not contact county departments to see if any employees there would like to take the classes.

I didn't get the person in time to give the pregnancy clas in April, but I got someone from County's Family Services to do one right after Mother's Day on the 14th! I'd like to do a parenting class, something like Tips for parents surviving their chlid's middle and high school years; tips on having child suceed with ADHD, etc. Have you done a class similar to that? If so, where did you go to get someone to give the class? School consuelor? Someone from County, like a psychologist?

I've also got someone showcasing military rifles from the Second World War to draw guys in. What programs have you done that has drawn guys into programs?

For the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, we have a local community member who was a marshal for the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), one of the six sponsors of the march, and a local university history professor speaking about the march and its place in the Civil Rights movement. For the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, another local university professor how slaves, the Union and Confederate military and politicians changed President Lincoln’s mind on slavery and freed slaves in NC during and after the Civil War.

We also have several gardening programs (growing roses in the Sandhills area in NC, container gardening, urban chicken raising, rain barrels, and beekeeping) going on in the system with volunteers from the local cooperative extension and gardening societies.

For April, since NC's peak birthing time is between August-October I'm doing a program for couples "What to expect when you're expecting" class. Still working on that. I'm trying the county health department first.

In May, I'm trying to get an astronomer (check the newspaper to see if they have a science section or column on certain days and persuade the science columnist to present) at our branch for the penumbral lunar eclipse (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2013.html) on the 25th.

M. Carter