Thanks to everyone who participated in the Lucky Book
program this March! It was a success beyond anything we hoped for.
Stats
Total Number of Books Wrapped: 92
Total Number of Books Borrowed: 83
Total Number of Entry Forms Returned: 63
Total Number of Correct Responses: 63
We hoped this year to get more passive programming going at
the library. To the non-library professional, “passive” programs are special
things which happen at the library without the direct supervision of a staff
member. Our Lucky Book contest had the added advantage of taking place over the
course of a month, so patrons were free to participate without the restriction
of the program being a one-night-only affair.
The interest was fantastic! At the
start we selected 30 fiction and non-fiction books for the contest – by the
time the contest was over we’d restocked the table three times over!
If YOU Want to Host a Lucky Book Contest
We drew inspiration from other libraries and bookstores that
offered “blind dates” with books. The book would be wrapped in plain paper so that patrons could not see exactly what they were getting. All they
had to go on was a short description of the book’s subject before they decided
to take it out or buy it.
We went a step further and made it into a contest. Playing
with St. Patrick’s Day and the “luck of the Irish,” we placed entry forms in
each of the book where participants could write their name, contact
information, and the answer to a question about the contents of the book. The
required answers were short, we didn’t want anyone to write an essay, we just
wanted to be sure that the books were read.
There was no limit on the number of books patrons could take
out over the course of the month, though we did limit the number per check-out
to one book per patron. Once you returned the first book, you could come back
and select another.
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| The Secret History by Donna Tartt |
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| Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden |
The grand prize was a $25.00 gift card to Barnes and Noble, with three additional “instant winner” entry forms placed at random in three contest books. The folks who chose those books were given $5.00 Dunkin Donuts gift cards when they returned their entry forms to the Reference desk.
Our first time out, we limited the type of books to items available in the adult fiction and non-fiction section, but this would be a fun way to spice up a teen or children's summer reading program too.
