On the Sunday before Halloween every year, Boulder (Colo.) Public Library’s (BPL) George Reynolds Branch is taken over by the Haunted Library for two fun-filled hours in an open house-style program.
We have fun and spooky activity stations throughout the entirety of the library. Activities include crafts, Bobbing for Donuts, Not-So-Spooky Storytime, face painting, candy guessing game, Spooky Photo Booth, Slime Walk (like a cake walk, but you win slime), Monster Bowling, Spooky Creatures and more! Each station has a treat or a prize to give out to participants.
The whole staff contributes to our plan for Haunted Library. The main goal is community engagement and to help the community foster a love of the library and feel more connected to it. The program has grown every year since 2014, and now the community expects and looks forward to it.
Getting started
We start by planning the stations, and then we plan the budget for each station which have included professional face painters and local animal educators who bring animals for the event. When we first started, we did everything ourselves or our Teen Advisory Group (TAG) did. In fact, it was TAG that first suggested we “haunt the library” as a program for families.
Preparation is done throughout the year at our staff meetings and also while on or off the desk to come up with the budget requests. As October nears, around July or August, I ask staff at other locations if they would like to be a storyteller or help with Haunted Library in any capacity to bring in the entire library system. Finally, we map out and schedule everything.
Spreading the word
To get the word out, we include the program in our quarterly program booklet, display flyers throughout the library, and use digital signs that are in all the libraries of BPL. We also advertise through the local school district’s monthly email that is sent to all parents in the district.
On the day of Haunted Library, we place an inflatable lawn Halloween decoration (a stack of pumpkins) outside the library where it can be easily seen from the road. Our biggest marketing is word of mouth and the longevity of the program.
Making it happen
The program started with a $300 budget from the Boulder Library Foundation. With that funding, we purchased candy to hand out, donuts and string for a Bobbing for Donuts game, paper bags to decorate with Halloween stickers, cupcakes for a cupcake walk, face paint, and fake spider webs for decoration. Now, the budget is upwards of $1,000 and allows us to provide a professional photo booth, a reptile educator, and a professional face-painter. We negotiated a cheaper price with the photo booth company and offered to use their logo on our promotional materials.
We also have three crafts that use supplies that are in storage and some supplies we need to purchase. We have changed the Cupcake/Slime Walk to a Truth or Scare game which uses a prize wheel that we already have. The other large purchase is the candy to hand out to Haunted Library participants.
Opening the doors
This program takes over the entire 3,000 square feet of the library except for the computer area. The first year we tried to do everything in our Meeting Room, but it was far too loud and crowded, so we moved it into the library.
There are stations near the stacks and in the Children’s Area as well as the Meeting Room. Four to six staff members and two to four volunteers are on hand to help with set up, cleaning, and keeping things running smoothly. It usually takes about 30-45 minutes for set-up, especially if we’re using fake spider webs as décor. At least one staff member/volunteer is in charge of each station, even if it’s being staffed by a paid performer. This person ensures that things are going smoothly and gives out the treat/prize that is available at that station to all participants.
Reflecting on the haunt
Our Haunted Library’s attendance increases each year. It has grown from attracting about 50 people in its first year to more than 250 in subsequent years. And almost all of them come wearing costumes—even the adults! Staff also come in costume, which the participants enjoy.
Since it is an open-house style program, we don’t have all attendees in the library at the same time. We wouldn’t fit! Some participants go around the library several times, participating in different stations more than once and that’s great! Each station gives either candy, a spider ring, or slime to participants. One of the crafts is usually a paper bag which can be decorated to hold goodies.
Each year, we have a debrief meeting where Haunted Library’s program coordinator asks staff what worked and didn’t work and gets suggestions for improvement. We learn something new every year. All feedback we’ve received from participants has been positive. In fact, they start asking in late August/early September if we’re doing it again. This shows that we are reaching our goals of community engagement and library ownership.
Check out the Instagram promo for this year’s Haunted Library!
View this post on Instagram
Stella Fowler is a library specialist at George Reynolds Branch of the Boulder (Colo.) Public Library. This story first appeared on Programming Librarian, on September 26, 2023.
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