It was a Success, It was a Failure

So, it’s not Friday. But, I missed posting on Friday because I had our Poetry Slam event last night, and I wanted to post after the event so I could tell you about it.

The event was a success and the event was a failure. The event was simple and the event was complex. The event taught me things and the event told me things I already knew. I’m starting to sound kind of poetic…maybe?

Anyways, there were things that we did well, and some things that didn’t work so well. Things that went well was the fact that young adults got a chance to share their poetry when they normally can’t, I decorated the room to give it a fun feel instead of just leaving bare walls, and we had some lemonade, chips, and candy to top it all off. But, the best thing was that young adults had a positive experience with their library.

At Teens and Technology 2011, I got the chance to speak with librarians who also work with young adults. It was really encouraging to see that I wasn’t the only one trying to get teen programs off of the ground. I found that they had similar struggles and successes. One of the things that we all found was that it’s hard to get the number of young adults that you want. A program with only 2 participants seems kind of sad (which is what happened at our Poetry Slam).

But, that is when we have to remind ourselves and others that young adult programming is an entirely different beast than serving other populations, and that if 1 young adult has a positive experience with their library, they might become library patrons and supporters for their entire lives. That means they will have more chances to be enlightened, supported, and aware of the information that is available to them. Even though higher participation is something to strive for, we can’t ignore the fact that our program was successful to the young adults that did come.

Although that is true, that doesn’t mean that we won’t try to do better. If a program is successful for 2 people, let’s try to get 10, and then 15, and then have some big events where we might get 45 or 50, or maybe even 100 people. The saying goes that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Even though small events are very often successful (and I will strive to make every library experience a positive one), I will also be looking for ways to have even more young adults experience and enjoy our events. If you have any ideas that would help, I am a listening ear, and if you want more babbling from my experience, I’m glad to share.

Hope you have a great Easter Weekend, and thanks for reading.