How to Plan a Library Fest PLANNING TIMELINE

Two months before

Meg Kribble, Harvard Law School Library First planning meeting
• Set date
mkribble@law.harvard.edu • Determine stations and activities
• Decide on prizes and giveaways
HLSL’s Love Your Library Fest is: • Commission art from artistic
an annual, afternoon-long event held in late September to welcome circulation staff member
students and other members of our community back to the Library. One month before
Although not an official part of orientation, Library Fest Second planning meeting
introduces new students to the Library and its staff. • Send blurb to student activities
• Invite vendors
Fest attendees visit stations around the Library to complete fun activities • Create stamping sheet
that inform them about our resources and services, and station worksheets
as well as learning that we are friendly and approachable. • Order shirts for new staff
• Order magnets & other freebies
Each attendee who completes all activities receives a movie ticket Three weeks before
and a chance to win the grand prize. • Add to school events calendar
• Send volunteer sign up request to
library staff
• Request tables and chairs from
facilities
Our Budget: • Make flyers and bookmarks
Grand prize (last year it was an iPod Touch) $200 Two weeks before
Movie tickets--about 220 at $6.50 each $1430 • Put out flyers and bookmarks
Magnets with Library contact info--about 500 $115 • Blog and schedule tweets,
Facebook event
Candy--there is never enough! $250 • Arrange to borrow graduation
Helium balloons $65 robes for “judges”
• Send second volunteer sign up
Large posters $30
request
TOTAL About $2000 • Invite the Dean
Giving students a great first impression: PRICELESS
One week before
Re-usables: staff t-shirts, stamps and ink pads, barrister wigs, Final planning meeting
plastic gavels, plastic table cloths, station signs • Email LL.M. listserv & LRW classes
• Check ink pads
• Buy candy
• Print stamping and worksheets
• Obtain vendor parking permits
• Put out noise warning sign
Volunteer List • Get large posters printed
• 1 IT staff to help with vendor wi-fi setup • Order balloons
• 2 “judges” to roam the library and campus,
Library Fest morning
encouraging students to take a study break • Add TODAY! stickers to flyers
• 2 more roaming assistants to make sure everything’s running smoothly, • Write on classroom chalkboards
refill candy bowls, copy extra worksheets, and other misc. tasks • Put up signs--stamping stations
• 8 staff at four welcome stations, explaining how the Fest works and directional
• 2 staff at Station 1: Open Access Publishing and the Vendor Area • Pick up and distribute balloons
• 2 staff at Station 2: Scan & Deliver in the Computer Lab • Arrange tables, tablecloths,
• 2 staff at Station 3: HLS History with Special Collections candy bowls
• 2 staff at Station 4: Two Truths & a Lie at the Reference Desk • Make sure all staff have nametags
• Put worksheets and stamps at
• 2 staff at End Station: Movie Ticket Pick-up and Raffle Entry
each station
• 2 staff taking pictures • Distribute balloons
Have fun!
Benefits of Library Fest
Meg Kribble, Harvard Law School Library
mkribble@law.harvard.edu

HLSL’s Love Your Library Fest:

• Has been held annually since 2005
• Conveys to students that we are friendly and approachable--our number one goal!
• Introduces students to our services and resources in a fun environment
• Attracts increased participation every year
• In 2009, 400-500 students visited the Library during the Fest--
231 completed all activities and received a prize
• Gives staff who don’t usually work with students a chance to interact with them
• Provides an opportunity for staff from across the entire Library to work together
• Has inspired our university library system to consider hosting a similar,
university-wide event

Two Truths--and a Lie!

How much do YOU know about the Law Library?
Take your first “exam” for the semester and guess
which of the following statements made about the
library and its services are false.
1. a. Harvard Law School Library is the largest
private academic law Library in the world.

b. The Library has plastic bags available to

protect books from the rain.

c. Reference questions may take no longer than

ten minutes of staff time.

2. a. Each time you check out a book, you earn

points toward winning valuable prizes.

b. In a Supreme Court opinion, Justice Scalia

referred to a Reading Room portrait of Justice
Taney.

c. Most of the Library’s photocopiers require
payment using a Crimson Cash account.

3. a. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s lunch box is on

permanent display in the Caspersen Room.

b. It is not possible to make two-sided prints

from Library computers.

c. The Library has a collection of feature films

on DVD that you can borrow for seven days.

Artwork by Circulation Specialist Alethea Jones One of our Two Truths & a Lie worksheets