Need input on Libraryseeds

[Col Barrett]

Fellow Appleseeders,

Can I please get some feedback from yall as to who is leading the efforts on Libraryseeds in your state?

I have already done a couple of these and have found they are rather simple and not extremely time demanding. The event itself is typically no more than an hour and a half to share the three strikes, a power liberty benediction and a pitch for Appleseed. As for advertising for the event, you can download the cool 3 strikes poster here: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=2077.msg174789#msg174789 , or request some copies be added to your shoot boss's shoot box at the next shoot. These can be posted at a minimum on the bulletin board at the library, over water fountains or maybe beside the door of the meeting room.

In addition to the posters, see if the library has a newsletter that our event can be added to. Try and have a second event in place so that you can tell your audience if they appreciated the message and thought others should hear it, then they should bring someone next month on x date. Also, a small ad can be run in local papers announcing the event, try and have this done at least once two weeks before, if not 2-3 times if the paper will allow. A sample of the press release can be found here: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=2077.msg22285#msg22285 Remember, most newspapers need something to fill their pages so it doesn't look empty and the nonprofit angle is a good way to get in the paper for free. Don't forget to invite the librarians, their families, home school groups and your neighbors!

Once you invest the hours of getting templates together and contacts at the local newspapers then this becomes pretty easy stuff. I don't think it is out of the question that each member could share the story AT LEAST once a month at one library, if not once at two libraries a month. This will exponentially increase our exposure and get more people to hear the real story behind our program.

Please let me know who in your state has already made efforts or plans to on this front and what they have found does/does not work. I would like to collect info on this and see what kind of difference this makes in our program.

Remember, these can spin off from the libraries and requests may come to speak at senior living centers, church groups, home school groups, tea party meetings etc.

Please post here or PM me with any questions.

[techres]

Those flyers rock!  YellowHouseJake is our SC and leader.  He will be along soon to share his plans, but we are all very excited about this project.

There may be a slight delay here since we this weekend is the Indiana AIBC with Fred and we will all be there together.  HOWEVER, I will make sure we spend some time talking about Libraryseeds during the weekend.

Hope to report back with more ASAP.

Techres

[ATM]

I will begin coordinating Indiana's Libraryseed efforts.

PM sent to Col Barrett - thanks for sharing resources!

I'll be out of town and offline for a few days but will get rolling this weekend.

Let the excitement commence... NOW!

[AuntieBellum]

ATM, Stubborn Yankee is making your job easy. He went to the local library today and scheduled one for June 29th at 6pm at the Rensselaer branch of the Jasper County Library. 

[KYWindage]

Huzzah(x3)!
I hope to get to at least two this afternoon.

[Col Barrett]

Thanks Indiana for hitting the ground running with this thing. I would suggest booking a room a few weeks out so you can get a chance to get promotional items in order and give people a two or more week heads up. I hope you have great success at the 29th presentation. You all know your local libraries, the people, the traffic in and out more than I, so you may get a ton of exposure in just 9 days, but I would think about 2 weeks might be a good minimum in the future. Regardless, let us know how it goes and thank you all for getting involved on this front so quickly.

[techres]

So the only question is this:  Who will get one done first?

Perhaps a contest is in order?  Hmmm.... maybe what is needed is bet. 

Here's what I am thinking: What if each Indiana Red Hat tossed a $5 IU into a hat.  That would be just enough to cover one of the nice pieces of steel from Bobcat Steel for KD.

Who's In?!

[AuntieBellum]

Thanks Indiana for hitting the ground running with this thing. I would suggest booking a room a few weeks out so you can get a chance to get promotional items in order and give people a two or more week heads up. I hope you have great success at the 29th presentation. You all know your local libraries, the people, the traffic in and out more than I, so you may get a ton of exposure in just 9 days, but I would think about 2 weeks might be a good minimum in the future. Regardless, let us know how it goes and thank you all for getting involved on this front so quickly.

You are absolutely right in that ideally we'd want 2 weeks notice.  However, we wanted to take advantage of the upcoming Patriotic holiday. We'll have to hit it hard, so here's the plan:

*Fancy new Libraryseed poster already hanging in the library.
*Press release is going out to my friend at the local paper tonight (Indiana's smallest daily newspaper!)
*Info going to the local cable station's info channel tonight (oddly, a rather informative bulletin system for the local area)
*Stubborn Yankee is calling up the local Scoutmaster to try and get some Boy Scouts out.  SY is on the Eagle Scout board, so this should be effective.
*SY happens to also have a slot on the local radio station every week with farm updates, so he'll ask when he's there if they'll advertise for us, too. 

We'll also have the date for the next Libraryseed ready on the 29th so that we can tell attendees to tell their friends and send them to the next event at the county's other branch next month.

So now the only thing is deciding what kind of pie...

[yellowhousejake]

I needed this, I really really needed this. It warms my heart to see the Indiana Corps stepping up.

On a related note, I spoke with Mudcat tonight and he recently was working a NRA Youthfest which got rained on, so he and Sur+rifle gave history. This led to invitations to two events for the purpose of giving the three strikes.

Mudcat will be posting IAARs when the events are completed.

YHJ

[hawkhavn]

What was that I heard last weekend???
Something about adapt, improvise and overcome???


HH

[Rimshot]

Who's teaching history at the high school and middle school?  A personal invite might go well.  If we impress them perhaps they might pass the word to their students for any libraryseeds we have when school is in session.

[ATM]

Make sure to check out the new Libraryseed AAR board for more tips and ideas:

http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?board=409.0

If you're not comfortable giving the whole presentation yourself, post up a request for storytellers that could join you and then schedule and host your own local event.

I'll be checking in with my local library this week.

Let me know what you need to make these opportunities successful.

[ATM]

I have an appointment Wed. morning to go in and speak with the event scheduler for the Crawfordsville public library.
She sounded very receptive to hosting these events on the phone, so hopefully we'll just pick some dates and get busy promoting.

I'm really looking forward to this. Although, I don't have much practice telling the story in my "inside" voice - I'll probably get shooshed at some point...    HUZZAH!

Who's next? How can I help?

[ATM]

Just got the official OK from Crawfordsville library.

Will select dates and get promo rolling in the morning.

Anybody else made contact? Who's next?