Bringing Readers Back: Book Based In-Person Events Beyond Community Reads

To register for this webinar please follow this link: https://speakerpreneur.zoom.us/webinar/register/7716712636846/WN_Op37xlUfTZySY_CoDhXQlw. Sessions are free and available only to members of the Michigan library community. Registrants will receive instructions and a link to attend the session directly from PCI after they register.

After years of social distancing, our patrons are eager to return to our buildings. Why not welcome them back with new programs, ones that focus on our brand, books? Join experienced Readers’ Advisory expert, Becky Spratford, as she shares a variety of proven in person, book-based programming from small scale to on-going series and everything in between; programs that are not only engaging and fun, but will also increase patron visits and checkouts.

There will be plenty of options for all sizes of libraries. Try one, all, or just use her ideas to help you craft your own. Your results: a trail of happy patrons in your wake.

As a result of this program, attendees will learn:

• How to make a visit to the library itself a worthwhile experience for adult leisure readers
• How to build interactivity into Readers' Advisory Services
• How to leverage your brand [Books] to engage adult users

Instructor: Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Readers' Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database and writes reviews for Booklist and a horror review column for Library Journal. Becky is a 21 year locally elected Library Trustee [still serving], a Board member for the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, and on the Executive Board of the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with horror readers, Becky is the author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021]. You can follow Becky on Twitter @RAforAll.

PCI Webinars are recorded and available to members of the Michigan library community in the Library of Michigan's Niche Staff Skills Academy about a week after they air. New webinars will be in the New category for several weeks. You do not need to register for a webinar in order to view it later in the Staff Skills Academy.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Library of Michigan.