Missouri Library Association

Missouri Library Association Conference

Thursday, October 3, 2019

KCI Expo Center

11730 NW Ambassador Drive

Kansas City, MO 64153

From Page to Stage: Creating Rewarding Author Events in Your Library

Kaite Stover, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, MO

The book is what brings librarians, authors, and readers together and author events in the library are a terrific way to celebrate all three. Learn how to craft an author event that stimulates the audience, circulation, and book sales. Library staff will learn how to create an author event that goes beyond a book signing. Authors will learn how to present their books to programming librarians for potential library events. Library staff will learn how to talk to authors about creating an event that goes beyond a book signing. Authors will learn how to take their written work and turn it into a program with substance. Library staff will receive a programming planning check list that includes marketing strategies.

Powerpoint presentation

Program planning checklist

Author Event Primer: How to Plan, Execute, and Enjoy Author Events by Chapple Langemack. 2007. Libraries Unlimited. 

Does Iron Man Know Wonder Woman?: Librarians, the Universes, and Pop Cultural Literacy

Kaite Stover, Director of Readers' Services, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, MO

Naphtali Faris, Lone Jack Branch Manager, Mid-Continent Public Library, Lone Jack, MO

Joshua Neff, Librarian, Johnson County Library, Overland Park, KS

Gregg Winsor, Readers' Advisory Librarian, Johnson County Library, Overland Park, KS

For many young (and not so young) readers, pop culture is the gateway to reading and libraries. Pop cultural literacy is also a highly visible way for libraries to demonstrate to the public the relevance and currency of our collections and staff knowledge to a diverse community. Using the Marvel and DC Comics universes, a panel of librarians will talk about the relationships between publishing, filmmaking, serial storytelling, and other entertainment formats. They will also point out the ways these franchises introduce inclusion and diversity embedded in themes of honor, friendship, teamwork, and more. Attendees will learn ways to stay current with pop culture trends, resources to consult, and how to work trends in pop culture into collections, displays, and patron interactions. 

Powerpoint presentation

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