Beyond the Bookshelf
Read about how others are succeeding using our tools in their communities. #beyondthebookshelf
GRAPHIC NOVEL MAKING CONTEST
San Jose Public Library
Service Area: : San Jose, CA
Population Served: 1,000,000+
01 Opportunity
Since 2009, San Jose Public Library has been hosting their annual Graphic Novel Making Contest to support and encourage the creative interests of their community’s artists and storytellers of all ages. With each year, the contest has grown and the number of submissions continued to multiply. With this increase in popularity, the SJPL team started looking for a way to make handling the entries more manageable for the judges, and more accessible to the general public.
02 Innovation
Using a Custom Submission Page, SJPL was able to streamline their submission process, making it easier for them to collect work from their community. Because of this process, judges now had immediate accessibility to the submissions which in turn allowed them to quickly create a readily-available collection for the community to enjoy with unlimited, multi-user access on BiblioBoard Library.
03 Engagement
The 10th anniversary of the Graphic Novel Making Contest marked the largest number of submissions to date and culminated in an awards ceremony with over 350 community members in attendance. This new approach to facilitating and hosting the contest submissions also means that with every contest going forward, the archive of submissions on BiblioBoard Library will continue to grow and preserve the talents of the local creatives participating for years to come.
300th ANNIVERSARY ARCHIVE
BiblioTech / Bexar County
Service Area: : Bexar County, TX
Population Served: 80,000+
01 Opportunity
2018 marked the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Presidio de Béjar and the city of San Antonio. To commemorate the occasion, BiblioTech, the nation’s first all-digital public library, wanted to partner with towns and community members throughout the county to preserve and share accounts of the area’s rich cultural history.
02 Innovation
Using a Custom Submission Page, BiblioTech invited local residents to submit photos, documents, oral histories, videos, and other digital ephemera to celebrate the area’s storied past, recognize progress, and prepare for a bright future. In collaboration with these public contributions, city managers and librarians curated multimedia digital collections reflective of the various towns’ unique stories.
03 Engagement
In addition to making the project a community-owned initiative by incorporating public contributions in the collections, BiblioTech also opted to have the Bexar County 300th Anniversary Digital Archives included in the Open Access side of BiblioBoard Library. By doing so, BiblioTech ensured that these collaborative collections were made available to anyone with internet access, worldwide. Together, these instant-access collections that comprise the 300th Anniversary Digital Archives will celebrate, preserve, and promote the diverse histories of Bexar County for years to come.
LISTEN UP STL
St. Louis County
Service Area: : Greater St. Louis
Population Served: 319,000+
01 Opportunity
St. Louis County Library wanted to tap into the community’s large, eclectic music scene to help celebrate and promote local creatives. With Listen Up STL the library saw an opportunity to not only introduce patrons to the abundant local talent but also to help the musicians gain a wider audience of listeners and generate new interest in their shows at local venues.
02 Innovation
Through their BiblioBoard subscription, SLCL created a Custom Submission Page to solicit music from local artists and make it available for unlimited, multi-user access in a collection on BiblioBoard Library that they aptly named, Listen Up STL.
03 Engagement
Beyond the ever-growing digital collection of over 130 albums from local artists of a wide variety of genres, the library has also gone on to host a series of free, outdoor concerts called “Listen Up STL Live” featuring artists that also participate in the collection. As this creative programming continues to expand its engagement, it also continues to bring in new library patrons as well.
CLUB INK
Geauga County Library
Service Area: Geauga County, Ohio
Population Served: 93,000+
01 Opportunity
For years, Patrick Culliton, Marketing Specialist at Geauga County Public Library, has been encouraging and supporting local writers with the library’s Club Ink writing workshops, author fairs, local author collections, and more. From there he realized he also wanted more ways for the library to engage with local creatives outside of the writing community as well.
02 Innovation
Using the same tools behind Geauga’s Custom Submission Pages for the written word, Patrick expanded to create Custom Submission Pages for local photographers, musicians, artists, and even culinary enthusiasts. This expansion has allowed all mediums of local creatives to make their work available in the library’s catalog and discoverable on BiblioBoard Library by the entire community.
03 Engagement
On how these Custom Submission Pages and local creative collections are shaping Patrick’s approach to community engagement: “[People are] used to going to the library to take things, but now you can think of the library as a place to put things in.” As these digital collections continue to grow in size and popularity, the library also continues to introduce complementary physical programming to allow local creatives to express their story, regardless of the medium.
RAP CLUB
New Hanover County
Service Area: Greater Wilmington, NC
Population Served: 220,000+
01 Opportunity
In 2012, youth services librarian, Scooter Hayes, used a grant from the Friends of the New Hanover County Public Library to introduce a new children’s program called The Rap Club. Meeting once a week to write and record songs, this program aimed to provide younger patrons with a fun opportunity to play with language and express themselves, all while developing critical literacy skills. As the program continued to generate more and more interest, Hayes and his team wanted to showcase the group’s talent and hard work with the greater community.
02 Innovation
Using the Creator tool, Hayes was able to easily upload and organize the Rap Club’s songs, music videos, interviews, and performances into a collection on BiblioBoard Library for unlimited, multi-user access.
03 Engagement
Since New Hanover County Public Library utilizes BiblioBoard’s geolocation authentication, anyone in their service area is able to access the Rap Club collection with just a click of a button, no login or library card needed. This instant access allows for members of the community to learn about the program and enjoy the Rap Club’s talents with ease, while also creating new digital library users. With the success of the Rap Club collection, New Hanover plans to continue to use the Creator tool to build additional collections showcasing other creative programming like their Fiction to Fashion Show.
