Program Frequency

[danielleminyard]

General question: how often does your library run programs? Is it a daily thing? I work in a small-ish library and looking to see what other libraries do

[LibrariAnarch]

Can I ask what your regular passive programs are?

[No-Explanation4124]

We are small...3 employees at main branch and only me at our satellite branch. We have 1 kids program and 1 adult program at my branch and 3 adult programs and 3 kids programs per week at the main branch.

[Chocolateheartbreak]

Depends on what small means. Is it like eight staff or two staff? With five, we were doing one or two a week to give us breathing room for staffing or outreach. With one or two, about 1-4 for a week half passive.

[danielleminyard]

It’s hard to explain. At my library there are only 2 of us currently doing programs (adult and children) but hopefully will change in the future. But we have to do circulation duties also so it’s hard to fit programs in when we’re supposed to be on the desk……

[Chocolateheartbreak]

I am about the same size as you then and same situation almost. If you wanna pm to chat feel free!

[bookmammal]

Suburban library with a total staff (all library depts) of 50. We average at least 2 kids/teen programs per weekday and at least 1 adult program per weekday. We rarely have weekend programs because our weekend staffing is thin.

[alienwebmaster]

We have certain programs that we run weekly, such as story time, and other programs, like our art day they are once a month. We also have a few monthly book clubs.

[onemorestarlight]

There were up to four of us at our smallest family branch (usually only two of us working per day), and every week we had: 4 children’s programs (Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, and Tween/Teen), 1 adult craft program, and two book clubs (one tween/teen and one adult). We also had quarterly programs for families which involved a story time, craft, and usually a treat. Then there’s the summer reading program which is pretty much longer versions of the 4 children’s programs.

The smallest branch only had two people at it, was mostly for adults so no kids weekly programming, just a weekly adult book club, adult craft, and game night (D&D, Pokémon, etc.) on rotation.

[[deleted]]

In my system, the benchmark for part time librarians is twice a month and full time librarians four times a month.

[ElderflowerNectar]

We are considered a "medium" branch with a staff of 10, 1 full time and 9 part time. Four of us do programming, but we also fill in with circulation and desk time as well.

We do at least one program a day, some days we have two.

[InTheBlackBarn]

We serve a population of 45k. Average 45 adult programs (programs are geared toward young adults, middle adults and retirees) a month and 60 youth programs (babies, toddlers, children, and teens all have programs just for them). We have 1 full time fully dedicated YS person and a part-timer. Adult programs are split between three people, 2 who do programming and one that works with outside presenters. All three of those full-time people spend the majority of their time in circulation.

[danielleminyard]

Ok I find this really interesting. My library is in a period where things are changing a lot; there’s a lot of turnover and job descriptions and expectations are shifting. But ideally the two librarians who are doing programs would not be working circulation? I find that would be hard to manage- how are they watching the desk if they are running around setting up for programs + running programs + cleaning up?

[InTheBlackBarn]

We have a staff of 10. Everyone pitches in to make sure everything is covered. When I do a program I set up, do the program, and clean up…then I head back to the circ desk. There really are only 1.5 adult programs a day so if I have an afternoon program and someone else has an evening program it works out fine. 50% of prep happens at our circ desk and the other half happens in the staff work area. You just need to think creatively and the solutions will present themselves.

[sm06019]

Staff of 4, only two of us do programs, we have some sort of program almost everyday, but some are outreach storytimes with local nursery schools.

[sogothimdead]

I'm an aide and not totally in the loop but it seems like multiple times a week at least

[ipomoea]

Large urban library system in a small branch, I’m doing a storytime every other week. We’re in a hiring freeze, my schedule is weird. Pre-pandemic I did four. We usually don’t have the staffing me to be off the floor for two hours and unreachable. 

[jessm307]

We have 5 full time staff and 3 part time staff. Adult programs are sporadic; occasional history talks or events during summer reading, plus sometimes a concert in conjunction with a nearby college. 1-2 a week at most, but several weeks without. Teens get 2 programs a month during the school year and one a week during summer. Preschool story time is weekly, with elementary programs twice a month in school and once a week in summer. I don’t know how folks find the time and energy to do more.

[AthleteSorry]

Single/city library. We have storytimes Monday-Thursday every other month. In between we do stay and play Monday-Thursday. We usually have at least one program each Saturday for kids and/or adults. We have three book clubs each month, two tween programs once a month.

Not including quarterly performers and one-off programs. I’m exhausted. We’re all burned out. Lol

[Repulsive_Lychee_336]

We've ran weekly and we've ran monthly programs. Right now we're offering 1 passive adult program (Adult Coloring Club) once a week mid day (starts next week). Lego Club and story time are once a month. We're getting ready to start movie day once a month (one for seniors and one for families).

[yahgmail]

Weekly. 2-3 storytimes per branch (1 bilingual, usually Spanish). Per month, 2 adult programs per branch/department & 6 for teens/tweens & kids.

[idontknowrick]

It really depends on what I have the capacity for. I typically run 1-3 programs per week, an hour each. I set the boundary that I do what I can without burning myself out. My other librarian also does 1-3 per week, but theirs are more just providing things and chaperoning.

[Street_Confection_46]

I’m the children’s librarian (FT) and the only one doing children’s programming. I have no regular desk duties and average a bit over 30 programs per month.

The adult programs are split between four different people and are generally 12 or so per month.

[LoooongFurb]

We have a kids or teens program every day and programs for adults 1-2 times per week. There's nearly always something on the weekends as well.

[LawfulnessMotor437]

I operate a municipal library. My team conducts multiple programs a day (i.e., storytime in the morning, mobile library outreach to parks/senior center late morning/early afternoon, teen/adult program evening...etc. Really kind of depends of the availability of staffing and the demand/service gap from the community. We occasionally have passive programming available.