Great Library Events

Mary Grace Flaherty is assistant professor at the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her PhD in information science & technology from Syracuse University where she was an IMLS fellow. She earned her MLS from the University of Maryland and MS in behavioral science from Johns Hopkins University and is a Fulbright scholar. Flaherty has over 25 years’ experience working in a variety of library settings, including academic, medical research, special and public. She has published in the academic literature in journals such as Library & Information Research (LISR); Library Quarterly; Public Library Quarterly; Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet (JCHI); Journal of Community Health; Reference Services Review; and the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science.Her books include Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library (American Library Association, 2018) and The Library Staff Development Handbook: How to Maximize Your Library’s Most Important Resource (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), which received a starred review in Library Journal and was "Book of the Week," in Against the Grain

Events and programs have been the cornerstone of library services since the inception of the public library system. Flaherty examines the history of library events and carefully breaks down the necessary elements of planning and hosting a great event. Examining these components, the author outlines ways that events serve both specific and general communities and how to provide inclusive services. In addition to a list of ready-made themes for programs, Flaherty also includes checklists, evaluation guides, thoughtful sources, and even sample budgets to provide a comprehensive outline. By breaking down the building blocks of a library event (Planning, Funding, Marketing, Evaluation, Reporting—each chapter is titled accordingly), the author provides a step-by-step process for a successful event. Flaherty has created an invaluable reference for librarians hoping to revitalize their programs, library students seeking to understand the planning process, and perhaps even those who might wish to contribute to library events by volunteering, funding, or through marketing. Flaherty includes a brief, useful summary of each chapter at the end along with references. The way she has organized the text is as well-conceived as the way one might organize a great library event.

• AcknowledgmentsPrefaceChapter 1: PlanningChapter 2: FundingChapter 3: Marketing and publicizing eventsChapter 4: Evaluation and performance measuresChapter 5: Reporting the resultsChapter 6: Using evaluation data to inform service provisionChapter 7: The Lifecycle of Library Programming