Members:  Mary Dalto, Karen Fishman, Bob Kackley, Sandy Lynch, Christine McCarthy, Don Manildi, Lisa Wheeler, Jane Williams, Evelyn Yocco
Regular attendees:  Kimberly Kraus, Patti Longenbach, Jennifer Royall, Rebecca Wilson

The committee met nine times, beginning November 30, 2000, and ending May 15, 2001.   We were overall pleased with the variety, quality and popularity of activities sponsored by the Libraries for MD Day.  (The library brochure lists all activities.)  Indoor activities, except those at the Performing Arts Library, did not draw as many visitors as we would have liked.  The beautiful weather brought record numbers to campus but also encouraged them to stay outside.  Lack of inclusion in the campus program and restrictions on outdoor signage also did not help to draw visitors indoors to some activities.

The committee issues the following report and recommendations to aid those coordinating next year’s Maryland Day activities for the UM libraries.  Save the date:  April 27, 2002!

PLANNING
The library committee should be formed and start meeting by late October 2001.
Be firm about only sponsoring library activities that are planned in time to be included in the campus program, the deadline for which is mid-December.
Have more carryover from the 2001 to the 2002 committee than was the case with the 2000 to 2001 committee, which had only one member in common.
Include a representative from each department that participated in the previous year’s MD Day on the committee and have one representative from each new activity on the Libraries’ committee.
Have the Graphics Coordinator and the Friends of the Libraries’ Program Assistant ex officio on the committee.
If exhibits are part of MD Day, plan them so they are useful for longer periods and/or support other events or publicity efforts too – i.e., do no exhibits just for MD Day.

ACTIVITIES
If activities such as demonstrations or the 2001 bookmaking are done (as opposed to tours or exhibits) keep them short and, if possible, interactive.
Focus on activities for children, prospective students and current students.

KIDS KARD, COLLEGE PASSPORT
Limit to interactive activities.
Do not do in the tent.
Consider stickers rather than stamps to validate the “kards” and the passport.

PUBLICITY
One thousand schedules for the day of the event itself are too many, unless systematic distribution of them is planned (i.e., in bags for all visitors to the tent or handed to every visitor or group or handed out by someone roving the mall).
The schedule can be a one-page listing of library events.
Consider promoting Libraries through the prospective students’ orientation lectures at the start of the day and/or offer library tour/s to prospective students.

VOLUNTEERS
Orient volunteers more on what is where for campus MD Day activities generally and especially campus command central, locator booths, redemption sites for Kids Kard and College Passport, and food tents.
Make volunteers aware of early morning orientation for prospective students (where they need to get from orientation to other sites on campus quickly).
 

TENT
Concentrate on talking to visitors and giving out information about Libraries generally and MD Day activities specifically.  Have a greeter who hands out schedules.
Move labor-intensive activities such as tattoos and balloons to other locations.  (Note:  We distributed 1,375 balloons and have 1,175 to give away next year if we choose.  The Libraries’ name is printed on them.)
Have perhaps one giveaway  -- i.e., free books plus raffle for Friends’ gifts, in the tent.
Display (secured) more items available from Friends’ virtual gift shop.
Secure everything that is not a giveaway.
If the tent has more than one giveaway, pre-package them in bags to hand to visitors.
If free Dover books are done again, concentrate on titles for younger children.  Consider having one on display and others in boxes available to library volunteers only.
Have the name banner in front of the tent, facing into McKeldin Mall.
Use tablecloths but secure them with clamps, Velcro or something else sturdier than tape and figure out how better to anchor other items like posters.
Consider hanging double-sided posters about library MD Day events around the tent sides.
 

ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY
ART LIBRARY
WHITE MEMORIAL (CHEMISTRY) LIBRARY
ENGINEERING AND PHSYICAL SCIENCES LIBRARY
PERFORMING ARTS LIBRARY
The challenge for most indoor venues is what to offer and how to attract visitors.  In 2001 the minimalist approach (except for PAL) was used.  Four of the five branch libraries were open on their normal schedules.  EPSL featured Gemstone posters and the Art Library publicized free copies of famous artwork.

For the Performing Arts Library in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the newness of the venue brought hordes of visitors.
Consider having a raffle of IPAM CD’s or books at PAL’s information table in the Grand Pavilion of CSPAC.
Have a person monitor room capacity if programs are done next year in the piano room.
 

HORNBAKE
ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS, MARYLANDIA AND RARE BOOKS
NONPRINT MEDIA SERVICES
Use the Hornbake porch for one or more activities to draw attention to and inside the building.  (Some tent activities might be moved to or duplicated on the Hornbake porch.)
Sponsor shorter and more interactive activities.
Future activities should be aggressively marketed and included in the Libraries’ plans and represented on the Libraries’ Maryland Day Committee from the outset.
 

MCKELDIN
BOOK-MAKING
This should be a signature activity for the Libraries for 2002.  It was well received in 2001, with 175-200 books being made, plus much interest in the process and the preservation displays as well.  The first-floor McKeldin site was good for the activity itself, but perhaps not as good for publicity.  Book-making does need to be planned for inside.  The challenge is to publicize it more and better for 2002.  Also, more general information on care of books and preservation should be available as handouts for adults.

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
Future activities should be aggressively marketed and included in the Libraries’ plans and represented on the Libraries’ Maryland Day Committee from the outset.
A table on the first floor of McKeldin could be done, with information and a volunteer to direct visitors to the upper floor.

MARYLAND INSTITUTE FOR TECHNOLOGY IN THE HUMANITIES (MITH)
Continue to publicize in library offerings as well as in College of Arts and Humanities listings.

PRANGE COLLECTION
Future activities should be marketed and included in the Libraries’ plans and represented on the Libraries’ Maryland Day Committee.

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Consider a jumbo screen inside McKeldin for constant demonstrations of technology.