Things a Children's Librarian Does #8: March Break Programs (Planning)

March break in Toronto is a chaotic time for children's librarians.  With children having a week off from school, parents and caregivers often need activities and outings for their kids.  The Toronto Public Library provides tons of free March Break programs for children to attend all week.  At our branch, we have planned eight programs from Monday to Friday.  One program per day on Monday and Friday and two per day from Tuesday to Thursday.  There are also two regularly planned family time story times on the Saturdays preceding and succeeding the March Break.  In total, there are ten programs in the time children are off from school.

The planning for March Break begins as early as six months prior.   There are many questions to answer and factors to consider:

Questions:
How many programs do we want to run?
How many performers do we want to hire?
How many programs do we want to run ourselves?
How many programs can we run ourselves?
Should we show movies?
What age groups should we target?
What programs have we had/done before?  What was successful?
How do we decide who gets to come? (Space and audience limitations) - Will it be first come first serve? Or will it be registration etc.

Factors:

Staffing
How is the staffing situation during March Break? Will people be on vacation?  Fellow co-workers might be taking time off spend the week with their own children.  In addition, extra help will be needed from co-workers in the form of taking extra reference desk shifts, crowd control and noise management as you spend the time running around and preparing programs.

Budget
Performers can be expensive so decisions must be made on how many the budget can afford.  I like to get more performers during March Break because of the fact that it is an intense one week sprint unlike the summer holidays where one can spread programs over eight weeks.  It's great to have performers increase your program numbers without necessarily increasing the work load.  There isn't enough time to prepare for and perform 5 self made programs in one week (M-F).  Luckily, the central marketing department gives many branches an extra performer by booking one on their budget every year.  Woohoo!

Local Marketing
After all this planning, it's all about making sure people show up.  Simple in house flyers will work but in addition the branch sends out flyers to each of our local elementary schools in order to remind parents to come to the branch.

The Programs:

Saturday March 12 - Seed planting Story Time (Ages 7 and under)
Kids get to plant seeds after a story time!
Monday March 14 PM - Mad Science Performer (Ages 7 - 12)
Tuesday March 15 AM - Library Bingo and Scavenger Hunt (Ages 7 - 12)
Tuesday March 15 PM - Razzmatazz Performer (Ages 7 and under)
Wednesday March 16 AM - Bubble-thon Story Time (Ages 7 and under)
Wednesday March 16 PM - Snakes with David Kondo Performer (Ages 7 - 12)
Kids get to touch a live snake!
Thursday March 17 AM - March Break Olympics (Ages 7  - 12)
Five fun activities!  Like the olympics!
Thursday March 17 PM - Marky Weinstock Peformer (Ages 7 and under)
Friday March 18 PM - Movie (all ages)
Saturday March 19 - Animal Tales Story Time (Ages 7 and under)

From this we have:
1 all age program - the movie
5 programs for children 7 and under with 2 performers
4 programs for children 7 to 12 with 2 performers
3 self run programs from M - F

Wish us luck!

RTL2011