Best PracticesManual

P R E L I M I N A R Y R E P O R T • J U N E 2 4 , 2 0 1 4(Final Best Practices Manual to be submitted in September, 2014)

This project was made possible by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library ServicesThis document described the steps in implementing a new plan for reaching patrons of the Athens

Regional Library System and Lyndon House Arts Center: “The Boomer: Reflecting, Sharing, Learning,”a project funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

By Madeline Darnell, Kathryn Ames, Claire Benson, Van Burns, and Nancy Lukasiewicz

ContentsIntroduction.............................................................................................................................................5

About this ManualAssessmentGoalsWords of Thanks (See Final Report)Funding Resources (See Final Report)

Chapter I. Getting Started: Basic Decisions.....................................................................................9Project CoordinatorAdvisory BoardTechnologyVideo and audio conferencing, recording for archive, live streamWebsite

Chapter 2. Monthly Programs: Community Snapshots ................................................................15DescriptionHow to Conduct a Community Snapshot

Chapter 3. Yearly Events and Exhibitions.......................................................................................19Planning EventsSummary of EventsSummary of Exhibitions

Chapter 4. Vietnam Veteran Interviews and Other Programs.....................................................23

Chapter 5. Technology........................................................................................................................25Video Conferencing TechnologiesAdaptations of video conference to include “in person” audienceSetting up the equipment and room for a video conference Community SnapshotOrganizational suggestions for video conference Community SnapshotWebsite

Chapter 6. Communicating with the Public ...................................................................................31

Chapter 7. Evaluation .........................................................................................................................35

Chapter 8. Lessons Learned .............................................................................................................37

Chapter 9. Partnerships....................................................................................................................41

Appendices ...........................................................................................................................................43Partnership AgreementComplete List of Community SnapshotsComplete List of Special Events and ExhibitionsSample Feedback FormsSample Door Prize FormSample Evaluation Report

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Introduction

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About This ManualThere is one fact no one can dispute. The popula-tion of older adults is growing as never before inthe history of the United States. Between 1946and 1964, beginning in the post–World War II eraand ending about the time the birth control pillgained popularity, there were more babies bornper adult woman than ever before. This genera-tion, called the Baby Boomers, came of age in arelatively prosperous and peaceful time. As adultsthey are better educated, healthier, and wealthierthan any generation ever to reach retirement age,and because of the size and history of this gener-ation, they are likely to redefine what it means togrow old in America.

This Best Practices Handbook is the culminationof four years in which the Athens Regional Libraryand Lyndon House Arts Center (hereafter, thePartners) experimented with new ways to providelifelong learning opportunities for and by older,active adults, expanding museum and libraryservices beyond existing walls. They generatednew users through creative uses of new technol-ogy, employing live webcasts and a video archiveof those programs, while continuing a traditionalformat of learning by having adults gather in oneroom together. The project was funded with amatching grant from the U. S. Institute of Museumand Library Services through a leadership grantcalled The Boomers: Reflecting, Sharing, Learn-ing. Because of thisfunding, the Partnershad the opportunity totry out approaches theywould not have hadtime and funds for oth-erwise. (see page ?? onfunding)

This handbook is in-tended to be a resourceof ideas and informa-tion for other, smallermuseums and librariesthat want to implementsimilar programs. ThePartners hope to guidethe user through

processes that worked well for them, as well aswhat didn’t work well.

Assessing NeedsThe IMLS Project Directors of the partnering insti-tutions in Athens, GA, conducted off-site and on-line surveys of older adults regarding high-speedinternet access at home, their use of the Internet(email, shopping, banking, Facebook, and healthinformation), their use of library and arts center fa-cilities, and their interest in live and archived web-casts. A focus group at each institution gatheredinput from their patrons early in the planningprocess. They also met with other agencies in thecommunity to see what other life-long learningservices were already being offered. Through cen-sus figures and several national publications thatidentified Athens, GA, as an ideal place to retire,the focus groups concluded that the audience ofolder adults would grow, that they actively pursuelifelong learning opportunities, and that most arecomfortable with technology to varying degrees.The 2009–2010 onsite survey found that 65% hadhigh-speed Internet at home; 48% used the li-brary or the arts center. Of the online respon-dents, 84% had high-speed Internet access athome; 58% indicated they were likely to partici-pate in a live webcast; 40% were likely to view anarchived video. Regarding program content, 78%were interested in learning more about local au-

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thors and artists; 56% were interested in learningmore about health topics; 54% were interested incomputer technology; 35% were interested inlearning about financial topics. All were interestedin the new service delivery model and expandedaccess to library and museum programming. Since the survey, the popularity of personaltablets and smart phones has grown tremen-dously. The project was conceived before the useof tablets was widespread. In fact, the iPad wasintroduced the same year the project began. Withits growth in popularity, the project adapted itsprogramming and communication technology toinclude tablets.

The Partners wanted to create programs thatwould be relevant and harness this group’s en-ergy, knowledge, and desire to “give back” byproviding them with the tools to create self-gener-ated learning experiences for themselves andtheir community, using live webcasts, archivedvideo recordings, and online learning opportuni-ties. They also wanted to explore technology as ameans of expanding the walls of their institutions,reaching people in new ways, because many inthis generation are already comfortable with web-based learning and social media. Toward the endof the third year, the grant had enough funds leftto run for a fourth year, and as the Partnerswanted to explore using the rapidly changingtechnology and the effects of rebranding, IMLSgranted their extension request.

Through the evaluation process, project person-nel learned that some people who were notBoomers felt excluded and that many in theBoomer generation didn’t want to identify them-selves with the demographic term “Boomer.” Stillothers thought Baby Boomers were someoneelse, even though they fit into the demographic.Matt Thornhill, co-author of The Boomer Con-sumer, confirmed these findings. Thornhill wasthe invited speaker to a project program that in-cluded librarians attending the statewide librarydirector’s conference, museum professionals, andinterested public. His research showed that theterm Baby Boomer was more of a demographicdescription and not a term that most people iden-tified with because of this generation’s unprece-dented diversity. For example, a 53-year oldBoomer could be a grandparent, the parent of ayoung child, or an unmarried professional. Theirlife stages and needs are completely different,even though they are all from the same demo-graphic. While this has always been true to someextent, it is far more prevalent in the Boomer gen-eration. His research concluded that a variety ofprograms of interest to a broad community wouldattract more “Boomers” than programs targetedjust to “Boomers.”

As these trends were discovered, the partnersbegan to emphasize that project programs werefor everyone who was interested, and went as faras rebranding it in the bonus fourth year, leaving

out the word Boomersand calling it simply Re-flecting, Sharing, Learn-ing. Feedback stillmeasured how manyparticipants were babyBoomers, and the advi-sory board was fromthe boomer demo-graphic, so the aim ofthe project wasn’tchanged.

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Goals and Expected OutcomesGoals of the projectTo provide stimulating lifelong-learning opportu-nities for and by older, active adults who are be-ginning to retire and beginning to have time toexplore, learn and “give back”

To develop and cultivate community identity anddiversity through programming and online contentdevelopment by local Boomer artists, authors,musicians, scholars, health care professionals,business people, local historians, communityleaders, and the “man on the street,” all of whomhave skills, talents, and stories to share

To expand museum and library services beyondexisting walls, generate new users, and build anappreciation for the arts culture in Athens throughcreative meaningful use of new technologyTo bridge the gap between long-term residentsand “newcomers” to the area. Many people retireto Athens, unaware of its long history withAfrican-American arts, Civil Rights, historicpreservation, and ’rock music

To create a best practices model to engage thenew older adults in the work and mission of li-braries and museums, and generate dialogthrough workshops and conference presentations

Expected ResultsA new model of civic engagement for a new gen-eration of aging citizens

A stronger sense of community identity and ap-preciation of diversity

An enhanced web presence for ACCL and LHACaccessible to Boomers

Increased use of ACCL and LHAC facilities andweb sites by Boomers

An archive of webcast programs that help definethe Boomer Generation

A “Best Practices” model for other libraries andmuseums through improved marketing and pro-gramming

An enhanced understanding and shared purposebetween libraries and museums addressing theneeds of Boomers and the community

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Chapter 1Getting Started:Basic Decisions

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There are a few basic decisions to make whenstarting a program such as this:

Identify a partnering institution or agency. (Seeappendix 1 for a sample partnership agreement.)Identify a project coordinator.

Select an Advisory Committee.

Select technology that fits the budget and stafftime.

Set up a web presence to announce programsand make the archive easily accessible.

Partnering Institution(s)The Partners worked together on other projects,including another IMLS leadership grant, so onlyan informal agreement about the division of laborand facilities was made. Through the course ofthe project, other partnerships were created formore short-term programs. Partnerships offeredexpertise and, often, new audiences and venues.Short-term partnerships were made with, for ex-ample, the University of Georgia (UGA) HargrettSpecial Collections Library, the Boys and GirlsClub of Athens, Jittery Joe’s Coffee RoastingCompany, Earth Fare Markets, and Crop MobAthens.

Project Coordinator’sResponsibilitiesTrain in selected technology.

Communicate with potential Advisory Board Members to help in the selection process.

Coordinate date, time, and place for programs,events, and exhibitions. Contact and schedulepresenters or follow up as needed on contacts byAdvisory Board.

Promote programs with help of PR specialist ifavailable (see chapter VI).

Gather ideas for yearly Special Events: encourageideas for events from Advisory Board and com-munity. Set up committees, arrange, and partici-pate in meetings. Take minutes for meetings (orassign someone to do so), recruit volunteers,

manage the small details not covered by volun-teers.

Coordinate with the curator of exhibitions foryearly exhibits. Coordinate publicity. Plan or as-sist with projects related to the exhibitions.Secure and use supporting technology asneeded, such as microphones, speakers, andlight kits, to enhance the quality of the web-basedbroadcasts and on-demand archive.

Schedule and attended partner meetings, advi-sory board meetings, and event-planning meet-ings.

Advisory BoardTo form an advisory board, draw up a list of areaartists, authors, historians, and community lead-ers who fall into the boomer demographic andwho fit the vision of your project. It is helpful ifthey enthusiastically embrace the goals of theproject, lend some of their energy to accomplishits goals, and are available to attend scheduledmeetings. The Partners selected people who hada history of involvement with their institutions andwere community-minded. They also wanted peo-ple who were accomplished and well known (atleast locally) in their fields. One advisory boardmember slot was reserved for someone new tothe community, and older and younger Boomerswere included. The project coordinator contactedthe proposed list, trying to keep a balance of peo-ple loyal to each institution.

The IMLS Project Advisory BoardAdvisory Board met quarterly, and minutes wererecorded and sent to partners and board mem-bers. Partners established the length of term ofservice as three years.

Members brainstormed or brought ideas for pro-grams and events they liked.

Members volunteered or were asked to do vari-ous tasks, such as create and present programs,help with Community Snapshots or SpecialEvents, contact other community members whocould assist by creating programs, attend pro-grams both live and online to offer their input for improvement.

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Members with experience in video conferencingor putting together events were especially valu-able during the initial phase.

Planning occurred during informal conversations,emails, or phone calls between meetings. A rap-port with each advisory board member resulted inmany good programs being developed informally.Established communication preferences. Someused primarily Facebook, others preferred a tele-phone conversation. Most preferred email.

When a board member resigns, filling the positionwith someone new can energize the entire board. Maintained board member interest with emails,phone calls, positive reinforcement, and opportu-nity for their input. When members missed meet-ings, sending out minutes of a missed meetingseemed to help people stay involved.

Sometimes a “failed” idea lead to a successfulidea. Example: Board tried to establish a “StoryCorps”(storycorps.org) type opportunity forrecording memories. Two members carefullywrote guidelines, and an advisory board memberrecorded examples. Board members asked theirfriends and acquaintances to record, but peoplesaid they feared being recorded and archived be-cause ’they would hear their mistakes over andover. However, the advisory board learned fromthis, and when they decided to record memoriesof Vietnam Veterans, they knew veterans might bereluctant to record memories by themselves. So,one of our board members volunteered to be aninterviewer and, because the recording was morelike a conversation, the project was successful.The interviews also led to a consistent format andlength. The interviewer was a retired radio profes-sional who was skilled in interviewing.

TechnologySome important considerations about what tech-nology to use need to be decided early in theplanning. The IMLS project was designed formost programs to have a live audience at thevenue, a live online audience, and a recording forthe archive. Since the project found that the liveonline audience was lower than expected and theaudience watching the archive was higher, an-other project might like to channel efforts differ-

ently. Budget, staff time, and equipment neededare points of consideration. Video or audio confer-encing, recording to archive, and live streamingwere the services considered or used in the IMLSproject.

Deciding whether to include a live online audiencecan influence the rest of your decisions. Some ofthe factors contributing to low online participationmight be as follows:

Video conferencing technology was difficult forsome to use and required a download that peoplewere unwilling to make. Many people reportedthat their computers couldn’t access that technol-ogy because it required a more up-to-date oper-ating system. The ACCL modified all of its publiccomputers to make them accessible to the liveonline broadcast and to the archive to try to ad-dress this issue, which might have helped thearchive but didn’t seem to increase the number oflive webcast viewers.

There is a national trend to record television pro-grams and watch them on demand. DVRs, AppleTV, Roku, and other devices, which make thisprocess easy and reliable, are gaining in popular-ity rapidly. The popularity of the archive vs. thelive webcasts could well be part of that trend.As the IMLS project progressed and the technol-ogy changed, some of the initial problems wereaddressed. The project changed video conferenc-ing services to one that allowed watching bothlive and archived programs from a tablet or othermobile device in addition to a computer. The proj-ect is currently trying a live streaming technologythat is more user-friendly than video conferencingbut also has some drawbacks.

People who used the live video conference weremostly people who were already familiar with thattechnology from the workplace. Perhaps, as morepeople with this kind of experience have morediscretionary time in retirement or semi-retire-ment, the use of the live webcast will be more ap-preciated. The Partners found this way ofwatching and participating to be of real value topeople confined to home. The “Boomer” genera-tion is likely to be in that situation in larger num-bers in the future.

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Video Conferencing Service There are many available today, each with its ownfeatures and price tag. This project mostly usedWebEx because it was the leader in the industryat the time the project began. Staff invested con-siderable time and money training to learn thecomplex product Training Center so they wouldhave the most tools possible at their disposal.Over the life of the project, WebEx evolved con-siderably so that it was much easier to use, andthe IMLS project adopted and would recommendWebEx Meeting Center, or one like it, to allow par-ticipation from tablets or mobile devices. It is alsomuch easier to use because it lacks the sophisti-cated features of Training Center that ultimatelywere not used.

Features: This type of service allowed for onlineviewers to participate through voice, typed ques-tions (chat), polls, and other features. Most fea-tured a change in presenter so a presenter wouldnot need to be physically present. It allowed useof PowerPoint and other kinds of documents,video, and web browsing during a session. Someservices offered excellent self-tutoring programs,making formal training unnecessary. The recordedprogram can be kept on the company’s server ordownloaded to a more user-friendly format, suchas YouTube. If kept on the server, reporting fea-tures recorded how many times the program wasviewed and the email address of the viewer.

Equipment: Laptop, webcam, telephone with agood speaker, and portable microphone andspeaker (for the “”in-house audience) were neces-sary. A light kit might be useful in some venues. Ifa telephone is not available, VOIP can be used.The project used a telephone because initially theVOIP technology produced an inferior sound. Ad-ditionally, VOIP was awkward with multiple pre-senters. A direct Internet connection, rather thanWiFi, is highly recommended. Ideally, there wouldbe WiFi available or a second Internet connectionand second computer to monitor participantquestions and technology concerns. Editing usingthe software provided by the service is quick andeasy, making the program ready to archivequickly.

Audio Conferencing ServiceThese are similar to video conferencing servicesbut less expensive because the online viewersconnect only with audio. The IMLS Project did notuse this type of service. (See discussion in Chap-ter 5, Technology.)

Recording To Archive (without Video Conference)A project might consider simply recording theprogram as it occurs live, then editing to insertPowerPoint, video, or other documents shown tothe audience for the archive. The project pro-duced a few programs this way because a videoconference was not possible.

Features: This approach might be the most eco-nomical, but would require significantly more stafftime to edit the program. The potential of a liveonline audience is lost.

Equipment: A good video camera with a built-inmicrophone, editing software. A light kit and aportable microphone and receiver set are useful insome venues.

Live Internet Streaming TechnologyA newer technology is available from the web de-signed for performances of all sorts. Currently theproject is experimenting with LiveStream, and amore complete report will be available in the finalBest Practices Manual.

Features: LiveStream was chosen because itwas more user-friendly to join than the video con-ferencing service and its tools allowed a more in-teractive recording for the archive. It required a lotof staff time to learn, and the extensive self-tutor-ing available in Web Conferencing technologywas not available. Online participants had to reg-ister to access the feature that allows them to askquestions. The only way listeners can participateis through typing questions (chat). Currently thereis not a way to ask for feedback from participants.Equipment: Two laptops, video camera, web cam,portable microphone, and receiver set. A light kitmight be useful in some venues.

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WebsiteThe website was used primarily to communicateabout upcoming and past programs, events, andexhibitions website. Most importantly, it served asa place to access archived community snapshots,recaps of events, and other recorded programsthe project wanted to include. Links to the web-site were frequently posted to Facebook, an e-newsletter, and other electronic communications.The website hosted instructions on how to loginto video conferences, how to download an appfor the Conferencing Service, and other informa-tion to help participants get involved. (See Chap-ter on Technology for details about the website.)

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Chapter 2Monthly Programs:CommunitySnapshots

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See Appendix 2 for a complete list and brief de-scription of each community snapshot.

DescriptionCommunity Snapshots were programs thatBoomers and others in the community could at-tend live at the venue, via a live stream from theweb, or on demand as an archived video from thewebsite. The topics were determined at first bythe advisory board, but as the project becamebetter known, community members offered ideas.The advisory board and part-ners approved these propos-als. If some ideas were actuallypromotions of a particular busi-ness, the idea was rejected infavor of programs that wouldshare the real interests of peo-ple in our community. Somesuggestions involved an “ex-pert in the front of the room,”but the ones that best embodythe spirit of a CommunitySnapshot involved a commu-nity member (or several) pre-senting ’on a topic of expertiseor interest. At the end of eachSnapshot, audience memberscould suggest topics on theaudience feedback form or bycontacting project personnel.

Community Snapshot programs attracted inter-est-specific groups in the community. There wasnot a general pool of individuals who attended allor most of the programs available. People at-tended because of their interest in a particularspeaker or subject. This approach met the goal ofgenerating new users and including the diverseinterests of our community. However, some advi-sory board members suggested that a more lim-ited scope of topics might have developed a loyalfollowing for the programs and provided moredepth of learning. Which philosophy to embraceshould be part of the goal in planning future projects.

Partnership with community groups was an effec-tive way to address different community interestsand assisted with the promotion of the event andsubsequent attendance. An example of this in

year three was the Making Tangible History ofAthens program, which reached a high number ofindividuals in the community who heard about theprogram from local history organizations or UGAand were attracted to a topic of strong interest inAthens. Involvement with various communitygroups in planning and organizing programs is aneffective strategy.

Feedback from the evaluation surveys completedafter each program provided valuable informationto project personnel on how to make small im-provements that added to the positive experience

of participants. Changes in pro-gram delivery or technologyuse were evident from month tomonth in the webcasts. Staffbecame more comfortable withand effective in the use of com-puter/Web-based technology todeliver and record the pro-grams as the project pro-gressed. Use of a professionalvideo recording group and up-graded recording capability ofWebEx through direct stream-ing has allowed creation ofhigh-quality recorded programsfor archiving on the website.Overall, this area became muchstronger as the grant pro-gressed.

Offering programs on different days of the week,on weekends, at different times (morning, after-noon, or evening) as well as at different locationswithin the community provided opportunities forpeople with different scheduling needs to partici-pate in the project. Varied formats, includingworkshops and virtual tours, also allowed thegrant programming to reach different audiences indiverse ways.

An unexpected outcome was that the project be-came know for its Vietnam Veteran interviews,Thanks for the Memories, and other oral historyprograms. A local charity, which organized its ownoral history project, asked this project to recordand archive their interviews for them. This pointsto the value people place on preserving local oralhistory.

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Conducting a Community Snapshot Preparation Weeks or Months Ahead Decide on topic, presenter, and venue, and makethe necessary contacts to schedule everyone andthe venue. In the IMLS project, the advisory boardthought of or approved the project idea, whichproved to be a good process in that the thoughts

of several people often enrich the initial idea.When given the opportunity, the presenter(s) oftenhad contacts that helped publicized the program.Schedule any additional project personnel whowill be needed: one host to monitor the videoconference as it is streamed live, one person tointroduce the presenters, someone to evaluatethe session at the venue and to give out and col-lect feedback forms if used, one person to passthe microphone to audience members as they askquestions.

Plan and implement publicity. (See chapter 6,Getting the Word Out.)

The Week BeforeProject personnel receives the presenter’s Power-point, video, or other documents to be used bythe presenter during the program and uploadsthem to the computer system. Once in awhile, in-compatibilities in technology occur, and a fewdays lead can be enough to solve problems. Conduct a rehearsal if desired. (Early in the proj-ect, rehearsals were almost always scheduled.Because the technology was so new, presentershad lots of questions.

Create a “Day Of” folder, which will have lists ofwhat equipment will be transported, notes on thepresenter’s introduction, notes on ending the pro-gram, and handouts.

The Day of the Community SnapshotSet up equipment in the room ahead of presenta-tion (two hours ahead is not extravagant if it iswebcast) to allow time to set up and adjust micro-phones and speakers, log into video conferencingtechnology without interruption and set up addi-tional lighting if needed.

Set up chairs, tables, and make any other neededphysical changes to the room. Windows mayneed to be darkened in order for the audience tosee the projection clearly.

Handouts may be given to the audience as theyarrive, provided someone is assigned to do so.Handouts may also be put on the audience chairsor left on a table for attendees to pick up as they enter.

If webcast, the host begins the webcast prior tostart of program (a half hour will allow time totroubleshoot). A slide announcing the title andpresenter(s) is helpful so that the live audienceand online audience have something to see whenthey arrive and while someone makes introduc-tions.

During the Community SnapshotIntroduce presenter and other announcementssuch as thanking partners, funders, reminding au-dience to silence cell phones, telling audiencehow to ask questions. A special slide and instruc-tions are needed for the online audience. (Projectpersonnel usually did this before introducing the

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speaker.)

Webcast host monitors the online presentationwhile the presenter engages audience. If there is more than one presenter, or if the pre-senter insists on moving around, the webcammounted on a tripod with a swiveling feature willneed an operator to keep the presenter always inview online.

Audience questions can be handled differentways. A microphone can be handed to each audi-ence member before they ask a question or com-ment. Another idea is to have one free standingmicrophone for everyoneto use, but this involvespeople getting out of seatsand crossing other audi-ence members to get tothe microphone. A thirdmethod is to hand outblank cards and pencils atthe beginning of the pro-gram and give the cardswith questions written onthem to a designated vol-unteer. If webcast, allowonline audience to partici-pate in Q & A.

Assigned person winds upthe presentation at the ap-propriate time, thanking thespeaker and audience. Ifthere are more questions, invite audience to stayto ask questions. Project personnel noticed thatpeople enjoyed mingling after the program. Proj-ect personnel can also make announcements,such as telling the audience about more pro-grams on the archive, or encouraging them to likethe program on Facebook or to visit the website,etc.

If feedback forms are desired, remind both the in-house and online audience to complete them. Theweb host may need to launch a poll if that is thedevice used for feedback from online audience.Having someone at the exit to collect feedbackforms produces the best results.

Conduct the drawing for the door prize, if that ispart of the plan. Project personnel began having a

door prize as a means of collecting email ad-dresses for the e-newsletter. (See Appendix 5 fora sample door prize form.) Project personnel or-dered credit card–sized flashdrives with the proj-ect logo as door prizes and also to give topresenters as a token thank you.

After the Community SnapshotIf webcast, log off video conference, saving pollto desktop, if poll was used.

Take down and put away equipment and anyroom furnishing that need to be returned.Listen to recorded program, edit as necessary,

and post to the archive.

Write and post a blog onthe website with a shortsummary of the programand a link to the archive.Notify advisory board andall involved in the programwith a link to the blog anda note of appreciation.

Evaluate. The IMLS proj-ect had a professionalevaluator attending eachCommunity Snapshot,which is a luxury, but thisrole could be filled by avolunteer. She createdquestions for the in-house

and online audiences to answer after the event,and then combined the information for a report oneach event, including counting the attendance.Sample feedback forms are in Appendix 4. Feed-back from the reports helped improve each Com-munity Snapshot.

If volunteer hours are important, collect andrecord these while memories are fresh.

If web conferencing service is used, see Chapter5 on technology for greater detail.

Refreshments added a welcoming element and areason to stay afterwards to increase social inter-action. Donations from local businesses or sup-port groups affiliated with the Library and LyndonHouse made this possible occasionally. As atten-dance increased, refreshments were not provided.

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Chapter 3Yearly EventsAnd Exhibitions

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For a complete list and summary of events andexhibitions, see Appendix 3.

The project’s goal for yearly events and exhibi-tions was to engage Baby Boomers and theirfamilies, friends, and the general public in reflect-ing on the past, sharing these memories withfriends and family, and learning from these uniqueexperiences. Three early events and exhibitionsprovided unique experiences for all ages in ourcommunity. Organizing and putting on events wasa great opportunity to recruit volunteers interestedin the subject of the event and a meaningful vol-unteer experience. It was also hoped that aftertheir initial Boomer-related visit, viewers wouldfeel comfortable to come back to the arts centerand library regularly and attend future events andexhibitions.

Planning EventsEach event was different, but the basic processwas as follows:

Decide on an idea. Projects emphasized spe-cial, unique assets to our community. Every com-munity has its assets. Advisory Board, Partners,and community members contributed ideas.

Identify community resources: groups, peo-ple who are involved in an interesting hobby withothers, or something about a community’s historythat would make the event appealing to a wideaudience. Successful events develop because ofcore people or groups who agree to be involved.A good idea is one which, when you ask peoplewho might be involved, say “That’s a great idea,”and offer other people and organizations theyknow who’d also be likely participants.Locate the best venue for that theme.

Appoint a committee. Find a community leaderand someone on staff to coordinate, but the morepeople involved in the various aspects of theevent, the richer the event. From there, the com-mittee can develop the idea and perhaps identifymore community resources. Six- to twelve-months’ lead time is recommended.

Develop a marketing plan. Some publications re-quire advanced notice of a few months. Think ofdifferent kinds of marketing—not everyone reads

the newspaper. Word of mouth is still the best ad-vertising, ’which is another reason big commit-tees were advantageous: there are more peopleto spread the word. The three completed eventsare summarized as follows:

Summary of Annual Events (See Appendix 3 for details.)

Mystique of the AutomobileA Festival of Cars, Art, and Fashion. This eventfeatured 100 vintage cars; vintage clothing mod-eled in a staged fashion show paired with a carfrom the same era; four music groups playingmusic from the 1920’s to the 1970’s; children’sactivities; artist-made trophies from car parts; afull color catalog; an art exhibition; posters;graphics; website and Facebook presence; par-ticipant feedback; an archived video. Attended by3,000.

Athens Rockin’ Roots RevisitedThe event highlighted Athens’ music heritage thatprovided fertile ground for three famous musicgroups who put Athens on the map for nearly allmusic lovers: REM, the B-52’s, and WidespreadPanic. The event included a panel discussion byfour musicians, three performances, and an exhi-bition of artifacts from that era.

Athens Aviation: Then, Now, NextMany of Athens citizens were unaware of thecommunity’s unique and prominent history in thefield of aviation. This event highlighted its aviationhistory, as well as presented some of the airport’scurrent use and future plans. Partnering with theAthens-Clarke County Municipal Airport gave thecommunity a chance to see the operations of air-port. The airport has limited commercial activity(most locals use Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson In-ternational Airport), yet the small community air-port is vital to the economic growth of Athens.

Future Event: Athens Maker FestThis event is scheduled for August 2014 and willbe documented in the final Best Practices Man-ual. It is a natural blend of the work already goingon in the studios at Lyndon House Arts Center,

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the emerging media center at the Athens-ClarkeCounty Library that, among other things, will fea-ture a 3D printer, and a fairly new initiative in ourcommunity to create a public Maker Space. Theevent will expand on traditional arts and crafts toinclude makers who create with technology. Anew technology-oriented exhibition will be ongo-ing at Lyndon House Arts Center and will aug-ment this Maker Faire–inspired event.

Summary of Annual Exhibitions (See Appendix 3 for details.)

Exhibitions helped satisfy theeducational, informational,and cultural interests of thetarget audience in an arts-ori-ented community. There wasno single procedure for creat-ing exhibitions. The curator ofexhibitions at Lyndon HouseArts Center was skilled in lis-tening to the audience anddeveloping exhibitions, withthe help of some of that audi-ence, to enhance the interestand educational needs of thatgroup. Many exhibitions weredesigned to coordinate withevents or activities and enrichthe participant experience.

In the first year, this processled to three exhibitions relatedto the first-year event Mys-tique of the Automobile: AFestival of Cars, Art, andFashion. (See Appendix 3 for more details.)

Automotive Fine ArtRichard Blanchard, Jack Jurakovic, and CharlesJoseph Maher was an exhibition in the southgallery of paintings featuring the . Outside In: Se-lections from the George Bugg Collection con-sisted of a variety of items, including an actualNash Metropolitan that was driven into the gallery.Two Wheels Through Time displayed a variety of

vintage bicycles and motorcycles and was cu-rated by a collector on the steering committee ofthe Mystique of the Automobile event.

Discovering History: DecorativeArts and Genealogy from the Wareand Lyndon Family EraThe project’s year-two exhibition was planned be-cause the target audience expressed great inter-est in genealogy and local history. The exhibitionshowed the genealogy of both early occupants. Aheritage room librarian from the Athens ClarkeCounty Library assisted with the research. A bookabout the history of the house from its earliestdays to the present was created. The research

presented a local playwrightthe opportunity to write andproduce a short film, AthensRevisited, which was shownas a Community Snapshotwhile the exhibition was run-ning.

Richie Havens: Recent WorksThis exhibit occurredserendipitously. RichieHavens had been a long-timesupporter of Lyndon HouseArts Center and was a well-known musician who rose tofame during the 1969 Wood-stock Music Festival. He wasalso a visual artist. AfterRichie died during this sec-ond year, his wife asked ifLyndon House wanted to ex-hibit some of his work.

Future Exhibition: Roy G. Biv 8.2This exhibition was two years in the planning anda huge stretch for the Partners. The final draft ofthis manual will include details.

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Chapter 4Vietnam VeteranInterviews

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The Vietnam War was a defining event for theBoomer Generation. Many of the older Boomersfought in the war or protested the war. UnlikeWorld War II Veterans, and today’s Iraq andAfghanistan War Veterans, these soldiers returnedfrom service without a welcome. In fact, manywere greeted with hateful protests and wordssuch as “baby killer.” Because there was still adraft, most soldiers had to join the service unlessthey were willing to be permanently expatriated orcould convince a skeptical draft board that theywere conscientious objectors. At that time,women were not drafted. If they volunteered, theywere not sent into combat. The project did notfind a woman who served for the interviews.

The Advisory Board wanted to hear their stories.At first they thought of a “story corps” format, butan earlier experience led them to believe that aninterview format would be better. An AdvisoryBoard Member was an award-winning retiredpublic radio journalist who willingly volunteered toorganize this project and conduct the interviews.

The project’s goal was not only to record vet-eran’s’ war stories but also to ask how the experi-ence had altered their lives. It was also anopportunity to thank them for their service, wordsmany had not heard before. The interview formatlent itself to these objectives.

At first it was difficult to find veterans to interview.All of the early interviews were of people some-one working on the project knew. After the localnewspaper published a front-page story with con-tact information, many others joined the project.The Army Times also picked up the story, and wehad volunteers from across the country. Our video

conferencing service would have made long-dis-tance interviews possible, but in the interest ofkeeping the project manageable, project leadersdecided to limit interviews to veterans from theAthens area or who had lived in Athens.

The project coordinator collected names and con-tact information, and the interviewer scheduledinterview times. The first three interviews wererecorded in an office, but on the advice of an ad-visory board member, settings that portrayedmore interest and dignity were selected. Thismade scheduling more difficult but it was wellworth the extra effort in that it produced a morepolished video for the archive.

The interviewer followed up on all contactsand conducted a telephone interview thathelped her ask appropriate questions for theinterview. The veteran could choose whichstories he wanted to tell for the taped inter-view.

The interviewees were asked to bring in pho-tos or other memorabilia to help tell their sto-ries. Recordings were very simple. Theinterviewer and the veteran sat next to eachother, and the video camera on a tripod, op-erated by project personnel, was placed nearthem so the camera’s microphone would

clearly pick up their voices. After the interview theproject coordinator scanned the photos andmemorabilia and returned them to the vets, andthe “film” was given to an intern who insertedscans of the photos and memorabilia as well asintroductory slides and uploaded it to YouTube.

The project coordinator collected a list of emailaddresses for the veterans, and as each programwas available on the archive and a summary waswritten for the blog, notice was sent to the veterans.

An unexpected outcome was that many of theveterans became acquainted. The interviews havebeen seen hundreds of times. Some are watchedmore than others, probably because some vetsuse electronic media more frequently than others.

The Advisory Board is currently planning a similarseries of interviews with people who rememberthe first days of public school integration in ourcommunity. Details of that will be available in thefinal Best Practices Manual.

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Chapter 5Technology

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Video ConferencingTechnologies The project explored technology as a way to cre-ate more opportunities for connecting patrons tolibrary and arts center cultural programs and ex-tending them “beyond the physical walls.” Thearchive allowed the Partners to at least double theoriginal number of audience members. One pro-gram went “viral” and within six months had over10,000 views.

Video conferencing technologies, such as WebexTraining Center or Meeting Center, which wereused for the project, were created for office andbusiness use. They were designed for computer-to-computer meetings and communicating bysharing documents, websites, and videos. Someallow participants to connect with voice and web-cam. The challenge for this project was to adapt itfor a live, in-house audience as well as online andto insure that audience questions were audible tothe online audience and in the recording.

There are several web conferencing services of-fering a variety of plans tailored to different needsat a variety of prices. Idealware’s article "A FewGood Online Conferencing Tools (http://www.ide-alware.org/articles/few-good-online-conferenc-ing-tools-1) offers a roundup of affordablesoftware options, as does TechSoup’s webinar"Getting to Know Online Conferencing Tools.There are a number of free ones, but they tend tobe “buggy” and do not have very many features;still, they might be useful to try out a service. In aDecember 2013 review of the top video confer-encing services from PC world http://www.pc-world.com/article/2017422/top-video-conferencing-services.html), the following services were re-viewed:

Adobe ConnectCitrix GoTo MeetingIntercall Unified MeetingLogMeIn Join.ProMicrosoft Lync 2013 (beta)Skype PremiimVyew Professional

This project used WebEx, which, at the time theproject started, was state-of-the-art. WebExTraining Center was very complex, and the proj-ect found that only its basic tools were useful. The useful tools were:

Chat for asking the presenter questions or forasking for help when viewing

Polling for valuable audience feedback

Audio for asking questions or commenting. Abilityto select join by telephone or VOIP or both is use-ful but not necessary.

Sharing documents and video

Drawing tools for pointing out specific information(occasionally)

Invitations to the meeting. These allowed an emailinvitation to advisory board members, partners,and anyone else interested who notified the proj-ect coordinator. Reminders could be pre-set forthe week, day, or hours before the program. Therewas a link to the program in the invitation makingit easy for invited members to join.

Recording. Limited editing on the service’s serveris useful to trim the front and back of the record-ing. The program can be downloaded if the serv-ice allows.

Toll-free conference line. The option for VOIP wasused by many participants, but not for presenting.The toll-free conference line is expensive. Anotheroption is that everyone pays his or her own tolls.Many people have toll-free calling these days, sothis may not remain an issue.

Reports for how many people viewed and theiremail addresses

The option to use a webcam, which allowed thelive audience to see online viewers, and audioconference, which allowed online viewers to askquestions instead of type them, was not usedvery often.

Sales of iPads and Android tablets totaled morethan 42.8 million from the second quarter of 2012to the same time in 2013, and people in the babyboomer demographic were increasingly joiningthe ranks of tablet owners. Thus, the projectchanged its video conferencing service to WebEx

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Meeting Center, which allowed participation fromtablets or other mobile devices. Another bonusfor this option was much less expense. While itdid not have all the tools available in TrainingCenter, it had the tools we used most.

Learn to use the Video Conferencing Service.Many have excellent free support that teach howto use the service. Formal training can be pur-chased with some services. Practice so that thetasks are nearly automatic.

Adaptations of Web Conference ToInclude “In-Person” Audience

Web-conferencing services were designed for of-fice-to-office communication. A challenge of theIMLS project was to adapt this technology to ac-commodate a live in-person audience at a venue.Community Snapshots never involved just onespeaker in front of a computer, as is typical of aweb conference. Even if there were just one pre-senter, there was also someone to introduce andmonitor the online and live audiences. Sometimesthere was a panel of four our more, or a speakerwho insisted on standing in front of the audience,behind a podium, or wanted to move around.

One adaptation is mounting a webcam on a light-weight tripod with the ability to swivel. This al-lowed a camera operator to follow a pacingspeaker, or switch between speakers. There is nospecial skill required for the camera operation.Most any willing volunteer or project staff will dowell. A webcam with a zoom lens would be ideal,but this project did not use one. A lightweight tri-pod does not block the audience view as muchas a heavy-duty tripod. Sometimes it is best touse the tripod on the table, other times on thefloor. There are USB extensions that can extendthe range of the webcam from the computer.An extra-long Ethernet cord was very useful toallow placement of the laptop computer so the“in-house” audience would see the speaker well. An extra-long telephone cord was very useful toallow the telephone (if needed by the video con-ference technology) to be placed near the presenters for the best audio.

So that the online and archive audience couldhear the in-person audience questions, a portablemicrophone and speaker system was used. Dur-

ing the question and answer sessions, a volunteertook the microphone to the audience memberwho had a question. This voice was transmittedthrough a wireless speaker system placed nearthe telephone. A speaker who insisted on roamingor using a podium could wear a lapel microphonethat was part of this kit, and the speaker’s voicecould be easily picked up by the telephone be-cause it was amplified through the speaker sys-tem.

This project used Shure Performance Gear: Wire-less Combo Microphone System and EuroliveB205D: Multi-purpose 150-Watt Active SpeakerSystem. It was portable and easy to set up andtake down and, most importantly, had goodsound quality. Testing the settings in a test webconference is recommended. Too much amplifica-tion, or too little, will result in unpleasant soundquality in the video archive.

A laptop that meets the specs of the video con-ferencing service will be needed, along with a di-rect connection to the Internet. The laptopconnects to the service and holds the presenter’sslides and videos, as well as other informationneeded. A second laptop with a designated per-son operating it would be ideal to monitor ques-tions, including technology questions, from onlineviewers while the program is in progress. This re-quires a second Internet connection, which couldbe WiFi. This project did not have two Internetconnections or WiFi. This second person couldbe in another office simply monitoring technicaldifficulties, but would have to be in the room tomonitor questions.

It is possible with this technology to have a pre-senter who is not in the room. Meeting the pre-senter and chatting after the program seemed tobe an important part of the experience for the “in-house” audience.

A projector or projection system so the “”in-houseaudience can see what is on the computerscreen.

On cloudy days or at night, a light kit was helpfulto illuminate the presenter(s). Because relativelylow light was needed so the “”in-house audiencecould see the projection, many complained thatthey couldn’t see the speaker well enough. The

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online audience requested the additional light aswell, and it made for a better recording.

Setting up the Equipment and Room for a VideoConference Style Community SnapshotFirst, plug in the surge protector and extensioncord if needed. Place surge protector under thetable used for the other equipment to minimizetripping over wires.

Plug in the computer to power and the Internet.This will give the computer time to update itself ifit has to.

Place the telephone on the table near the com-puter, using the extra-long telephone cable ifneeded. Tape the cable down so people will nottrip on it.

Connect the wireless microphone(s) and speakersystem so that the speaker is near the tele-phone’s speaker and the microphone doesn’t cre-ate feedback. Connect the computer to theprojector. Turn on projector and focus.

Connect webcam to computer. Mounting the webcam to a tripod with a revolving handle facilitatesfollowing a roving speaker and the audience whenthey asked questions.

Consider setting up an HD video camera and an-other tripod “just in case” the Internet doesn’twork, as was the case in this project twice.

Lighting: (optional) Set up the number of seats needed. If this is anunknown quantity, always have extra chairs readyto set out if needed. Too many chairs make theaudience look skimpy.

Organizational Suggestions for Video Conference Style Community Snapshot

Create a “DAY OF” folder that will have the fol-lowing:

A list of equipment and chores for the day of apresentation. Check the list before going to themeeting venue.

Instructions for equipment, such as the wirelessmicrophone and speaker system

Computer system changes if the IP addressneeds to be changed

Pre- and post-presentation script and other notesto help the program run smoothly

Dedicate a box for storing cables, extensioncords, web-cam, and other equipment to make iteasier to prepare for the day. If using feedbackforms, include pencils.

Take handouts. Any live audience can be an op-portunity to promote your project. Bookmarks ad-vertising the website, a flyer explaining theproject, and the participant feedback form wereplaced on the seats before people arrived. An al-ternative would be to have a volunteer pass thesethings to people as they arrive.

Website The website was the online presence for the proj-ect, exceeding expectations for the number ofhits. The Project personnel blogged about up-coming community snapshots, events, and exhi-bitions, as well as summarizing them whencomplete. Visitors viewed the archive of programsfrom the website, and it became a little library ofits own. As one patron wrote:

I love your site. It gives me the feeling of being ina library surrounded by copious amounts of infor-mation for me to look around and find whatpiques my interest. Being at work, I haven’t hadthat much time to explore, but I did download anew version of java flash, so I could view GeorgeBugg’s piece on vintage cars, and I also likedlearning about Pete Muzyka’s Abandoned RuralGeorgia. My mother was born and raised in Birm-

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ingham, Alabama. I spent much of my childhoodon road trips through the south.

Useful Website Features

Front page blog: This blog announced upcomingcommunity snapshots, events, and exhibitions.Summaries of programs and event recaps withlinks to watch were placed on the front page untila new blog was written, then placed under theArchived Community Snapshots and Events Re-caps feature. Because there were so many pro-grams after the third year, the programs werecategorized for the fourth year’s new website. Community Snapshot and Event video archive:The Community Snapshots that were producedas video conferences were at first archived on the

WebEx server. Those that were filmed and editedwithout the video conference, or in addition to thevideo conference, were archived on the library’sYouTube account. After the project launched,some people couldn’t access WebEx because ofincompatible operating systems, so we reducedfrustration with a visual YouTube or WebEx tag ineach title. Toward the end of the project, allWebEx recordings were downloaded and con-verted to mp4 files for YouTube, eliminating somefrustration with WebEx. There are instructions onthe WebEx website for converting files.

Events Calendar: JEvents, an add-on to the

Joomla template.

Information: Videos to show how to join a live we-bcast on WebEx, and how to download theWebEx App for mobile devices. Helpful Informa-tion links consisting of a collection of interestinginformation from a variety of sources.

About Us: Explanation of the grant, pictures andtext about each advisory board member, text de-scribing Baby Boomers, and a link to our email account under “contact us.”

About Our Grant: Summary of goals of the IMLSLeadership grant and information about IMLS.

Website Features That Were Not UsefulInitially there was a forum, hoping people would

comment about varioustopics. However, thisfeature brought nothingbut spam and increasedthe workload of the proj-ect coordinator in need-ing to check frequentlyfor spam and take itdown. After a fewmonths, and no appar-ent interest from thecommunity, we took theforum down.

Initially there was a fea-ture where people couldpost photos from thepast. Because therewere no photos posted,and it was discovered

there was a Facebook page called “Growing Upin Athens Georgia” where people posted photosoften, the forum was taken down. Facebook pageowners were invited to do a Community Snap-shot.

HostingThe website was hosted on a paid account, BlueHost (there are many others). This prevented thelibrary’s server from becoming overloaded. Thewebsite was set up on a commercial contentmanagement system, Joomla!. Joomla was cho-sen because it had the most written about it for

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problem solving, as well as plenty of templatesand built-in features. Other features purchasedwere:

Site Back-up ProSiteLock Domain SecurityJEvents for the calendar

Akeeba for site back-ups (just in case Site Back-up Pro fails)

JoomGallery for photo album (currently inactive)Kunena for the forum (currently inactive)

MaintainingThe library’s webmaster designed the website.Before launching a website, the following is rec-ommended:

Testing all the features Testing the website on different operating sys-tems. The website will not look the same on everycomputer. Make adjustments so that it will appearas you need it to be on different kinds of comput-ers.

Training for the project coordinator from the web-master on how to create and publish a blog, in-sert photos, update calendar of events, andlinking to YouTube from the Library’s archive. Cre-ating a site menu to help people navigate and findinformation on the site remained the task of thewebmaster in our project.

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Chapter 6CommunicatingWith The Public

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As with building a business, building a customerbase, reputation, and network were time-consum-ing processes in this project. Even now, duringthe fourth year, there are too many in the commu-nity who know only about someof the programs, ’not the proj-ect itself. There was never a de-finitive way to publicizeprograms, events, and exhibi-tions, although word-of-mouthwas most common. A multi-faceted approach to publicity iswhat has worked best.

The idea of blending traditionallifelong-learning programs withlive web conferencing and anarchive was incomprehensibleto many of our prospective par-ticipants at first because it wasso new. As time went on, peo-ple caught on, and interestgrew. Only a few people joinedin simply because they were in-terested in the technology aspect. Currently, peo-ple are more accustomed to watching archivedradio and television stations, so these aspects ofthe project are not as mysterious as they wereformerly.

Publicity TacticsA website to post information about upcomingcommunity snapshots, events, exhibitionsPosters announcing the project for Library, Lyn-don House, and several businesses around townPress releases and PSA announcements weresent to all local newspapers and radio stations.The local paper is dwindling in its reach, and itsrecent decision to charge for online access hashurt groups desiring free publicity.

A monthly e-newsletter with announcements ofprograms, events, exhibitions. The free MailChimp service was satisfactory and consistentlyhad between 30 and 35% “opens” on a list thatgradually exceeded 600. A template designed formobile phones as well as computers was chosenat the design stage.

Flyers announcing upcoming programs, events,exhibitions, for the lobby of the library and Lyn-don House were made available to the public totake.

Flyers were also posted atrelevant participating part-ners, such as Jittery Joe’sCoffee, Earth Fare Market,and the Athens CommunityCouncil of Aging.

Email to organizations thatmight be particularly inter-ested in a specific subject ofa community snapshot. Weconsistently send email no-tices to groups that serve asimilar demographic witheducational programs.

A Facebook page updatedwith announcements of up-coming events

Bookmarks with website address were given toeveryone attending Community Snapshots andmade available at events.

Flyers explaining the project given out at eachCommunity Snapshot and other occasions andmade available in Lyndon House lobby

Announced website at all public meetings

Posters for each yearly event

Paid advertising for all events and a few Commu-nity Snapshots as budget permitted. Most paidadvertising was web-based and print media.However, for the Rockin’ Roots Revisited event,we advertised on a commercial radio station thatplays popular music.

A newly launched website and Facebook page isnot easily discovered. See www.idealware.org forseveral useful articles on using social media.

Feedback from participants said “word of mouth”and personal emails to friends and acquaintancesis the best way to let people know about a com-munity snapshot and encourage attendance. Ex-pensive media advertising in the early stages didnot bring returns.

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Partnering with another agency or having aspeaker who is well connected with a fan basebrought the most people to the venues, but thiswas not true of the archive viewing. Sometimes alarge audience on the archive saw a program thatwas not well attended.

E-newsletterThe Mail-Chimp e-newsletter had a little morethan 30% “open” rate, which is above industryaverage, but a disappointment to project person-nel. The larger the list, the lower the percentage ofopens. We liked the reporting features of MailChimp. The company reported how many opensand who opened how many times, and how many

clicks on links, who opened links, and how manytimes. They rated list members on a scale of l to 5stars, depending on how regularly they open thenewsletter. It also reported who did not open, aswell as bounces and unsubscribes. The larger ourlist, the more opens, but the percentage of openswent down.

To build the email list, project personnel offered adoor prize at each community snapshot. To enterthe drawing, an entry form asking for an email ad-dress was given to participants. The door prizeentry form said “by giving the above informationyou agree to receive email notifications from Re-flecting, Sharing, Learning, including the pro-gram’s monthly newsletter.” We used the emailusually once a month, not wanting to turn people

off, but do not know what is the optimal numberof sends. (See Appendix 5.)

Avoiding the spam filter became a challenge dur-ing the project. As spam filters got smarter, the e-newsletter had to change. Mail Chimp had a goodlist of suggestions, and the support, even for ourfree account, was helpful.

Setting up Mail Chimp with autoresponders topeople who signed up for the newsletter tookmany hours initially. We experimented with sev-eral of the templates, but decided to use a verysimple, one-column design that looked great onmobile devices as well as computers. It was easyto use and helped project staff be straight-forward.

FaceBookPublicityOutletsFor each CommunitySnapshot, Event, andExhibition, the publicrelations specialist sentpress releases to thelocal and regionalmedia. Project person-nel targeted additionalorganizations:

Athens Convention and ’Visitor’s BureauClarke County School DistrictAthens Chamber of CommerceAthens-Clarke County Unified GovernmentAthens Banner-HeraldFlagpoleRed & BlackAthens PatchWUGA 91.7/97.9 FMMagic 102 FMWNGC 106.1 FMChuck 103.7 FMPower 100.1 FM1340AM WGAUWUOG 90.5 FM (student station)WMSL (Prince Ave. Baptist Church Station)WXAG 1470 AM The Light

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Interesting flyers and posters were mostly createdin-house with Microsoft Publisher or Photoshop.Versions were created for color and black andwhite reproduction, as well a low-resolution ver-sion sent in email to organizations and used forthe website and e-newsletter. The project was for-tunate to have someone skilled in making attrac-tive and attention-getting designs. If staff isunavailable, perhaps an intern or volunteer couldproduce these.

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Chapter 7Evaluation

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Having a professional project evaluator was anexcellent decision by the Partners when planningthe grant. The Evaluator reported on each Com-munity Snapshot and each event. One value wasthat the project was adjusted and improvementswere made as the project went along. She cre-ated the feedback forms and helped design thequestions to gather data to help determinewhether the goals of the project were being met.Suggestions for future Community Snapshotswere also gathered.

The reports were a summary of her observationsof each event and Community Snapshot and theinformation compiled from the feedback formscollected at each event. She used both verbalsummaries and charts to show results from eachquestion. She complied a report at the end ofeach year using all the data and comments fromparticipants. At the end of the project she will cre-ate a similar report for the entire project.Whenever there was a video conference, feed-back from an online audience was gathered usingthe polling feature. At the end of the program, thehost opened a poll and instructed viewers tocomplete it. Prior to the program, the host used aPowerPoint slide to explain the polling feature.If funds for a professional evaluator are not avail-able, project staff could create feedback formsand learn something about how the audience isexperiencing the program. Often simple modifica-tions can be made to a standard form. Feedbackforms also provide valuable ideas for future pro-grams. While the impartial analysis and chartswere valuable, an “”in-house evaluation after eachprogram would also be valuable.See Appendix 6 for a sample evaluation report,and Appendix 4 for a sample audience feedbackform.

Conclusions after the first three years:

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Chapter 8Lessons Learned

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The Biggest Lesson: People don’tnecessarily identify with “BabyBoomer.” For some, the term is a“turn off.”

When you look at the description of Boomers andthe statistics about them, it should be no surprisethat the generation is like no other ever to reachretirement age. They are at various life stageswithin the 18-year span of the age group. The factis, even as Boomers are aging, they, more thangenerations before, want to stay active and en-gaged. This is the generation that first took uprunning and aerobics in great numbers and thatadopted feminism. Boomers work past retire-ment; only 11% plan to stop working entirely. Asurvey by AARP reveals most Boomers plan towork ““until they drop.”“

In 1979 the U.S. divorce rate peaked. There were2,331,000 marriages and 1,181,000 divorces, ac-cording to the U.S. Census, and the first of theBoomers turned 33. Thirty years later, 39% ofBoomers have been divorced, and the national di-vorce rate is declining. Many started a second orthird family, so a 55-year-old Boomer might be agrandparent or might have a school-age child ofhis/her own. Boomers will inherit approximately$8.4 trillion from their grandparents, parents, andothers, so they are wealthier than previous generations.

Because the diversity of interests in members ofthis demographic, the term Boomer is not some-thing with which its members identify. Our projectwas certainly weakened by its initial title, “TheBoomers: Reflecting, Sharing, Learning.” We areglad we had a fourth year to rebrand it, calling it“Reflecting, Sharing, Learning.” Combining whatwe learned from experience with what we learnedfrom our guest speaker, Matt Thornhill, co-authorof Boomer Consumer, we will take age referenceout of the project, while still planning programswith the help of the advisory board, who areBoomers, and the community. We will still meas-ure Boomer interest because that is what wepromised IMLS we’d do, and we still hope to in-terest Boomers. But our chances of drawingBoomers to our programs increase if the pro-grams target diverse interests instead of age-re-lated programming.

People need help attending video conferences.Many were willing to give the WebEx video con-ferencing at try, even if the whole idea was new tothem. However, project personnel would oftenhear by word of mouth that many efforts were un-successful. These would not show up in a poll orattendance count.

To help people successfully sign on to a webcast,careful instructions were outlined in the blog an-nouncing each program. At first the project cre-ated a section on the website demonstrating eachstep with screenshots. Links to the demonstrationwere included on each blog. Feedback said thiswas still confusing, so the project made a videodemonstrating all the steps. When WebEx Meet-ing Center began, a new video that included howto get the app for tablet or phone, as well as howto log in, was created.

Feedback forms told us that people who had themost successful experience with the live videoconference were already experienced in using thistechnology, perhaps from work. Project personnelwonder if this is a feature that would be morepopular in the future, as a more technology-ori-ented workforce begins to retire or have more dis-cretionary time for lifelong-learning, and as theteleconferencing technology improves.

The implication of this would be for a smaller li-brary or museum to concentrate instead onrecording high-quality video/audio for its archive.The WebEx video/audio, even at its best, is notexcellent because of its technology. It uses a tele-phone line to transmit audio, and the webcam hasmany more limitations than a good video camera.Besides, the video of the speaker is recorded in asmall box to the right of the screen that displaysthe PowerPoint or video presentation. To somepeople, this is lacking compared to a dynamicrecording of a speaker.

However, without live video conferencing, this“real time” option for active participation in life-long-learning would be lost. As Facetime, Skype,and other personal-use video conference technol-ogy increases in popularity, web conferencing forlifelong-learning may not seem so strange anddifficult. Project personnel can imagine many cir-

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cumstances when this option would be welcome:people who are tied to home because of caretak-ing responsibilities, recovery from illness, high gasprices, inclement weather, etc. It has a real poten-tial of helping people fight the feeling of isolationand loneliness that often afflicts older adults.

Another drawback to filming with just a videocamera is that the editing process takes severalhours. The editor has to insert the PowerPointslides into the correct places in the video.

Make the video archive more accessible.Learning how to take the WebEx video file andchange it to an mp3 to post on YouTube solvedthe problem that people had viewing WebExrecordings. This is a highly recommended prac-tice if using a proprietary format. People don’twant to download a player even if they know how,and many can’t access the file for a number ofreasons.

The website forum was a disappointment.At first, we set up a place on the website wherepeople could discuss various topics with eachother. We discontinued the forum after six monthsbecause it became a place for spammers and in-appropriate remarks instead of dialogue. We insti-tuted a sign-in feature to discourage spammers,but ’without success. The tendency of onlinecommenters to be abrasive and inflammatory iswell-known in Internet circles, and providing op-portunity for such comments is best avoided. Thisresults in an unfortunate loss of a forum in ’whichpeople can post and read thoughts about com-munity topics.

Getting the word out.It was difficult to get the press interested in ourproject from the beginning. The story announcingour grant did not get much attention on ChristmasDay when it was published. Person-to-personcontact remained the most frequent way peoplelearned about the project, with email and newslet-ters gradually increasing as the project went on.Even after three years, the project is not widelyknown.

The two newspapers in town often listed pro-grams and events in their calendars. Severaltimes a reporter wrote a feature story that landedon the front page or prominently in the “LivingSection.” This coverage boosted attendance, butthe reporter wrote only about the particular eventand never connected it to the project as a whole.We found that volunteers wanted to help withevent publicity. For the first event they created thegraphics and news releases as part of their volun-teer work. In spite of guidelines and discussionsabout thanking funders and being part of theIMLS grant, volunteers were not conscientiousabout doing this. Close supervision or “”in-housepublic relations proved to be the best options, sowe chose to have all media releases created in-house after the first event. Skilled volunteers stillhelped with graphics, and the problem of brand-ing ’ceased to be a problem after the first event.

Student interns created problemsas well as being helpful.Interns from UGA were part of our initial plans.They offered knowledge of and enthusiasm fornew technology and a willingness to do a goodjob (with building their own portfolio in mind).However, university students have academicschedules and obligations, which made schedul-ing difficult. Next, we worked with a professionalwho offered a good rate because he was just set-ting up his videography business. This person dida great job on some things, but he was limited inhis equipment and therefore his capability. Finally,we established a relationship with a very helpfulprofessional video company to help us with com-plicated videos like the promotional video weused at conferences, editing special events videoto make a recap, and other projects. We foundthis mix of new and established videographers tobe very helpful, but were grateful for the free guid-ance and quality and timeliness the professionalcompany added to the project.

Project staff found that we could do many thingsourselves without professional help, such as theVietnam Veteran interviews. As technology im-proves, it is easier to get a semi-professional re-sult for simple projects. Creating customizedlooks for video is also possible because of user-friendly editing tools.

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Motivating people to fill out thefeedback survey was not easy. An important part of the project was evaluatingeach program and event, and we learned a greatdeal from this process. Collecting as many feed-back forms as we could was a priority. For theCommunity Snapshots, we put the feedbackforms in each chair along with information aboutthe project. We mentioned that the surveys wereimportant before the program began and againwhen it ended, and showed people where to putthem when completed. A narrow exit door wasuseful if someone was willing to collect them aspeople exited. Pencils were readily available. Wealso gave each person a Door Prize GiveawayForm to fill out with name and address, and had adrawing for a thumbdrive with the project’s logo.This incentive helped us collect email addressesfor our e-newsletter and get more feedback formscompleted as well.

The Internet is not always reliable.Because the archive was a key part of the project,the video camera and tripod were always at handfor a Community Snapshot whether we wereplanning to use them or not. There were two oc-casions when we expected to use the Internet butarrived at the venue to find that it was down. Theprogram went on as usual and was recorded forthe archive even though the webcast was can-celled.

Some suggest to narrow the focus at first.People attended programs according to the topicor speaker. Soliciting topics from various sourcesin the community left the range of subjects wideopen, and therefore the topics were not relatedfrom month to month. In a discussion with Advi-sory Board Members, it was agreed that if startingagain, they’d like to group similar topics in a se-ries that would last for a period of time. For exam-ple, topics relating to authors, the writing process,and publishing could be a four- or six-month se-ries. Topics relating to local history could be an-other series, and so on. This way, a more loyalaudience following would develop. Currently, westart over each month building an audience.

A picture is worth a thousandwords.With all the other things to remember before aCommunity Snapshot or Event, appointing some-one to photograph the occasion was often over-looked. Therefore, we didn’t make enoughinteresting photos to share on FaceBook or inother social media. Occasionally the project per-sonnel received photos from someone attendingor used screen shots from the video archive. Itmight have been as easy as asking an advisoryboard member to take a few photos.

Who was served?Outcome expectation was that we would provideprogramming for the target audience that woulddemonstrate the value and quality of libraries andmuseums in our area. Who is out there that is notbeing served? Did we find new library and mu-seum users? Did we find nontraditional users ofmuseums or libraries? To some extent we thinkwe did. This is a question ’we will consider morecarefully in the future.

Library as a community living room.People have found a social seting, as evidencedby how many linger after Community Snapshotsand attend events and exhibitions. We are notsure we’ve come as far as we’d like on the possi-bility of the library being a gathering place forconversation and exchange of ideas.

Outreach to library and museumprofessionals.Presentations to conferences of the ALA, PLA,GLA, and Southeast Ocher Life Long LearningConference proved there was a healthy interest inthis IMLS project. We did not make inroads intothe professional museum organizations. Propos-als were either turned down or, in the case of theGeorgia Art Educators Association, very poorlyattended.

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Chapter 9BuildingPartnerships

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Partnerships were very valuable in the project,and more of a focus on partnerships would havemade the project even stronger. A more completediscussion of partnerships will be available in thefinal copy of the Best Practices Manual.

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Appendices

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Appendix 1: Sample PartnershipAgreement

Appendix 2: Community SnapshotTopicsCelebrating 50 Years: A Conversation with BrendaBellinger, Milton Leathers, andRev. James Kendrick.

Origin: Advisory board member whose pastorwas celebrating his fiftieth year as pastor of thesame African-American church and advisoryboard member who is a local historian wanted tointerview Rev. Kendrick about the changes he’sseen in our community during his pastoral tenureof fifty years.

Presenters: Choir director and long-time mem-ber of Kendrick’s church, local historian as inter-viewer, and Rev. Kendrick

Technology: Video camera and editing software.Uploaded to YouTube.

Ways to Participate: Video archive

Program Summary: To take advantage of thisopportunity, there was no time to publicize theevent, so viewing was from the archive only. Asthe conversation lasted nearly two hours, muchediting had to be done. The pastor recalled im-portant social transitions in the Athens commu-nity, from a segregated society to the integrationprocess, school desegregation, the election of thefirst black president, and some of his own philos-ophizing about lessons learned from life. The

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community choirs that were a part of the celebra-tion were also recorded. This was the firstarchived Community Snapshot, so it was dividedinto 15 minute segments. Since then, YouTube al-lows programs to be uploaded in their entirety.

From Inspiration to Quilt

Origin: Advisory board member

Presenter: Advisory board member who is alsoan internationally known art quilter living inAthens, GA.

Technology:WebEx Video Conference

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: This artist was experiencedin giving online presentations because she doesso for an international audience. She gave the au-dience insight into how she takes photographs ormakes sketches of places she lives and travels,then creates quilts inspired from her sketches.She dyes her own fabric and showed an exampleof how a quilt that didn’t meet her expectationswas enhanced by a dye bath. She put a link to thearchived program on her website, and it was seenin many places around the world.

Sex, Flies, and Too Much Weight

Origin: Evolved from an advisory board discus-sion about what are the biggest health concernsin our community.

Presenter: The program manager at the AthensClarke County Health Department

Technology:WebEx Video Conference

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: The presenter explainedwhy teen pregnancies, unhealthy practices inrestaurants, and a generally overweight popula-tion were the top three health challenges in ourcommunity and what the health department isdoing to address them. Audience especially likedlearning about the rating system the health de-partment uses for restaurants.

From Idea to Picture Book

Origin: Advisory board member

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Presenter: Advisory board member who is anaward-winning author of children’s books

Technology:WebEx Video Conference

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: For an audience of children,parents, teacher,s and grandparents, this chil-dren’s author explained how her book beganwhen she wondered about how mammals thatlive in the water slept without drowning. In an en-tertaining manner for both adults and children,she described working with an editor and illustra-tor as she wrote her book and ended with theprocess of printing it.

Writing in Retirement

Origin: An Athens author contacted the projectafter learning about it from a fellow author.

Presenter: A newly published author who beganto write novels after she retired from her positionat the university.

Technology:WebEx video conference

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: This newly published authorattended a writer’s’ workshop after retiring and re-ceived helpful and encouraging critiques, as wellas a connection to a publisher. Writing about asmall town near Athens, she researched the his-tory of the area to create her setting and let herimagination go to create her characters and theevents of the novel.

Vintage Cars: The George Bugg Collection

Origin: Several antique car collectors suggestedwe ask this extraordinary car collector to do aCommunity Snapshot.

Presenter: An antique car collector whose“garage” held 99 antique cars all in pristine condi-tion

Technology:WebEx Video Conference, digitalcamera, and video camera

Program Summary: Before the program, projectpersonnel visited the collector’s garage to photo-graph some of his collection of 99 antique cars.Project personnel put these photos into Power-Point slides, and the presenter told the stories rel-evant to each auto pictured. He gave a shorthistory of the times in which each auto was intro-duced. An intern was hired to create a short videointerviewing the collector in the garage, whichwas also posted under Community Snapshots.

Retirement Mistakes to Avoid

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Origin: Advisory board suggested we addresspreparing financially for retirement. They wanted apresenter who was objective, not someone sellingsecurities or other products.

Presenter: The financial educator working withthe library’s ALA grant “Money Matters.”

Technology:WebEx Video Conference. Micro-phone and speaker for audience.

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary:While emphasizing that in-vestment strategy for retirement was highly per-sonal, the presenter described several kinds ofrisks to savings for retirement: the investments’volatility, longevity, taxation, and inflation. TakingSocial Security too early might put some peopleat risk for not having enough in later years. Shegave resources, such as the EBRI online calcula-tor, to help people decide how much savings theywill need according to the lifestyle they plan tolive. There were many questions during the Q andA session at the end.

There and Back Again: A Guide to Overseas Travel

Origin: A community member volunteered to givethis program. She liked the technology we wereusing.

Presenter: A community member who had seena previous program and found she loved to travelafter her youngest child went to college.

Technology:WebEx Video Conference. Micro-phone and speaker for audience.

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: The presenter was an ac-countant who found she loved to travel with herhusband who took long overseas business trips.Within five years she made eight overseas trips,spending 30 weeks out of the country. She pro-vided suggestions for packing, sightseeing, andusing technology to stay in touch with clients andfamily back home.

Living in a World of Art and Creativity

Origin: Public art was a very controversial topicin our community when, according to the town’snew Public Art Master Plan, the first public artproject ’was to be built for the county’s new jail.At the suggestion of the advisory board, projectpersonnel invited a member of the Cultural AffairsCommission to address the topic. As the contro-versy heated up, the presenter decided not to ad-dress this topic and provided one on personalcreativity instead.

Presenters: A member of the Athens ClarkeCounty Cultural Affairs Committee and adjunctfaculty at the University of Georgia Art Depart-ment

Technology:WebEx Video conference. Micro-phone and speaker.

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: ““’Don’t edit yourself. Justbegin.” This is what the presenter suggestedamong a wealth of other techniques to boost yourcreativity. Writing down ideas throughout the day

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on note cards or slips of paper is another tech-nique she offered to help get in touch with what ispersonally meaningful to express creatively. ’Whether it is writing memories for your family, po-etry, painting, dance, sculpture, or song-writing,these techniques can help you make the most ofthe time you set aside for your creative passion.

Two Hats for Every SuccessfulArtist: Creativity and Business

Origin:When the Athens Art Association met,one topic of interest was how to make money inart, so project personnel contacted a successfullocal illustrator of children’s books and commer-cial commissions.

Presenter: Artist who creates commercial pieceson commission and illustrates children’s books

Technology:WebEx Video conference. Micro-phone and speaker.

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: Originality, skill, time-on-the-job: these are all valuable assets to visualartists, musicians, writers, and all other artists.However, the presenter explained how a copy-right is the most valuable asset of all. He advo-cated that artists get all of the business issues outof the way before beginning a creative project. Headdressed questions an artist should ask theirclients so that one can be creative without worryor unpleasant surprises down the road.

Winterville: History of a Railroad Town

Origin: An advisory board member who had beenworking with a small group of people to recordthe history of the small town of Winterville withinAthens Clarke County offered to do this programwith a fellow researcher.

Presenters: Two local amateur historians whowere also professional writers

Technology:WebEx Video Conferencing and aprofessional company to create a high-qualityrecording for the archive. Project coordinator en-gaged a professional company in anticipation ofthe high interest and partnership with the city ofWinterville.

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: An extraordinary Commu-nity Snapshot, in partnership with the city of Win-terville, was held at the recently restoredWinterville Depot. The presenters told about theresearch gathered by Winterville residents, an“ongoing process,” with old photographs andstories. During the program attendees added tothis body of knowledge with their own sharedmemories of times past. Note: The project coordi-nator heard from two people from out of town,one was to add information, which was forwardedto the presenters, and the other was to ask aquestion of the presenters.

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Finding Meaning: The Juried Show at Lyndon House Arts Center

Origin: Partners suggested highlighting the com-plex process to accomplish the popular annual ju-ried show and offer patrons some suggestions onways to enjoy and learn from this large show.

Presenters: Curator of Exhibitions at LyndonHouse Arts Center and an art education professorfrom the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the Univer-sity of Georgia

Technology:WebEx Video Conferencing andvideo camera

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: The curator described howthe juried show has evolved in over three decadesfrom a small space to a larger one, and how sheselects the juror each year. To help people find apersonal meaning when looking at the exhibition,the professor or art education named severalways to start, such as looking at pieces that ap-pear to be in conversation with each other, findingpieces one is particularly drawn to, discussingworks with others, and talking to the artists. Theobjective is to find works of art you can take awaywith you in your head and enjoy the memoryagain and again.

Project created a video during the two submis-sion days for the current juried show, which in-cluded interviews of artists and the exhibitioncrew. It wasn’t shown because project personneldidn’t realize that the YouTube Channel wasblocked at the venue.

It Takes a Village: The AthensCommunity Supports Aging inPlace

Origin: Partnership with the Athens CommunityCouncil on Aging

Presenters: CEO and the Outreach Coordinatorof the ACCA

Technology:WebEx Video Conferencing, micro-phone and speaker, and lighting to make presen-ters more visible to the camera

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: Addressing the futureneeds of an aging population in Athens, theACCA was nearing the end of establishing TheVillage, a consumer-based membership organiza-tion and alternative to a retirement community. Itwas a new concept that had swept the nationover the past 10 years, the presenter explained. Itis not a brick and mortar organization but rather anetwork of services, people helping people, exist-ing services from the ACCA, and giving people anopportunity to participate in meaningful volunteeractivities.

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Is It Time To Sell Mom and Dad’sHouse?

Origin: Advisory board was interested in issuesinvolving aging parents. One in particular was re-locating parents to a home that would be easierto maintain, safer, and perhaps closer to familymembers. But how would they convince parentsit was time?

Presenter: A realtor who is a Senior Real EstateSpecialist

Technology:WebEx Video Conferencing, micro-phone and speaker. Lighting.

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, ArchiveProgram Summary: The realtor pointed out thatthere are many things to consider when determin-ing whether it is time to sell your home or your’parents’ home of many years. Safety, location,accessibility to shopping, family, friends, and doc-tors are among them. “”She gave some helpfulpointers to the often daunting task of sortingthrough an accumulation of “”belongings andother tips for getting the house ready to sell.

Meet Crop Mob Athens

Origin: The advisory board and others were inter-ested in local farming, or the locavore movement.A representative of Crop Mob, an organizationthat helps local farmers, wanted to present a pro-gram.

Presenters: The Co-Founder of Crop MobAthens and the two cofounders of P.L.A.C.E., Pro-moting Local Agriculture and Cultural Experi-ences, in Partnership with Athens Co-Op Market

Technology:Webex Video Conferencing, light-ing, video camera

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: In the greater Athens area,small family farms are returning after over sixdecades of rapid decline in numbers.

The new farmers are both young families andpeople retiring from other jobs, and they need theopportunity to learn from each other and somehelp to make their new farms grow. Crop MobAthens is doing both.

This Athens Mob is a volunteer group of farmersand non-farmers working together on designateddays to get a lot of farm work done in a very shorttime. ““It makes a meaningful impact on a farm,”“explained the co-founder of Crop Mob Athens.By working together, volunteers can accomplishas much as a farmer could do by himself in amonth—like the legendary barn raising of yore. “Idon’t even think of it as work,” she said. “I alwaysfeel invigorated after working with Crop Mob.”

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Workdays always end with a feast for the workersprovided by Earth Fare Market, Daily GroceriesCo-op, and local farmers.

Good Sports: Baby Boomers TalkAbout Their Lifelong Involvementin Sports and Volunteerism

Origin: A retired promoter for the Atlanta Falconsand a lifelong promoter of sports noticed therewere not any programs on sports in this project.Athens is very much a sports town. He volun-teered to create this Community Snapshot.

Presenters: Local sports celebrities: JamesBanks, former UGA basketball star; Wayne Swin-ford, former UGA football all conference playerwho turned professional; Jessie Tuggle, belovedValdosta State linebacker; Kent Lawrence, UGAfootball player who became a GA Superior CourtJudge; Dick Hudson, consultant to the 2000 Syd-ney Olympics; Ron Weatherbee, a lifelong pro-moter of sports.

Technology:WebEx video conferencing and aprofessional company to create a high-qualityrecording

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: In an entertaining andheartwarming talk, five Athens men, who oncewere outstanding athletes, identified those whoguided them well. James Banks, Wayne Swinford,Kent Lawrence, Ron Wetherbee, and moderatorRichard “Dick” Hudson spoke about volunteeringto help and encourage others to pay back theguidance they received as children and youth.

Art, Healing, Wisdom with Dr. Rich Panico

Origin: Project personnel learned about an earlierpresentation by this recently retired doctor andasked him to participate.

Presenter:: A very popular local doctor, who isalso an artist. After retirement, he began makingart full time.

Technology: Video camera, microphone, andspeaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, archive (The Inter-net was down at the venue when the programbegan.)

Program Summary: The artist spoke to a stand-ing-room-only audience at Lyndon House ArtsCenter. The program lived up to its title. He pre-sented slide after slide of wonderful art, and iflaughter is the best medicine, there was lots ofhealing. While Panico denied that he was givingus ““timeless wisdom,”“ his talk was full of per-sonal stories about living life, information on howthe brain works, and thought-provoking quotesfrom scientists and philosophers. Even for a lis-tener whose drawing has not progressed beyondscribbles on paper, there are plenty of sugges-tions for ways to appreciate art and perhaps, formany, how to look at life. A practicing artist willalso enjoy hearing about his process in drawingwith pastels and ink, and his experimentation withsurfaces.

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Bird Dawgs: Where, When, andHow To See Local Birds

Origin: An avid birdwatcher contacted projectpersonnel to arrange a program about bird watch-ing in Athens

Presenters: A research scientist from UGA’sOdum School of Ecology and a retired veterinarypractitioner who became an avid birdwatcher dur-ing retirement

Technology:WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue only (Unfortunately,the mute button was accidentally enabled and arecording was not made. Online audience couldnot hear, either.)

Program Summary: The research scientist pre-sented slides and commentary about the kinds ofbirds found in Athens-Clarke County and their mi-grating and feeding habits. He described thehabitats of many birds to help bird watchers lo-cate them. The avid birdwatcher described howshe became involved in bird watching and oppor-tunities in the community to participate and learnmore about it.

Abandoned Rural Georgia

Origin: Project partnered with the Athens Art As-sociation who found this speaker

Presenter: Local artist who exhibits nationallyand who was in a current show called AbandonedRural America

Technology:WebEx Video Conferencing, light-

ing, microphone and speakers

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: The artist’s love for the rurallandscape began when he grew up on a sheepfarm in Pennsylvania. As an adult, seeing aban-doned and deteriorating farm houses and barnspulled on his heartstrings. For years now, he’sbeen recording this vanishing history with eggtempera and oil paintings as well as drawings andphotographs. He showed slides of many of theseworks.

““It’s like the farmers and their families left theirspirits behind,”“ he commented in his story ofAbandoned Rural America, which includes plentyof images from Georgia. He also showed an audi-ence of Athens Art Association members someartworks of Lisa Whaler, Don Jolley, John Dyer,and Blake Smith on the same theme.

What To Do With Your Dog in Athens

Origin: A dog trainer offered to do this program

Presenter: The presenter and several other dogtrainers were filmed doing sports with their dogs,and the videos were shown during the program.The trainer is a lifelong student of dogs, studyingtheir behavior, biology, and how to train them.’She’s very active in the Oconee River KennelClub.

Technology:WebEx Video Conferencing, micro-phone and speaker, video camera, editing soft-ware

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

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Program Summary: Dogs do a lot of work forhumans, but now that they are companions andlive in our homes, dogs’ work has become sportsfor dogs and humans to enjoy together, explainedthe presenter. Obedience, tracking, herding, flyball, lure coursing, and agility were among thetopics she addressed in her talk on dog sports.Using video to illustrate seven sports, she urgeddog owners to “get out there and have fun withyour dog.”

Create a Book for Sharing YourFamily Tree

Origin: Many suggestions were for programs ongenealogy. A community member who was also agraphic designer showed us the book he madeabout his family history and volunteered to do aprogram. Since another family member had donemost of the research, he wanted someone topresent with him about getting started in geneal-ogy research.

Presenters: A graphic designer who volunteeredto show how he organized genealogy research tocreate a book for a family reunion

Technology: WebEx video Conferencing, light-ing, microphone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online Archive

Program Summary: A research and genealogylibrarian advised to begin simply with what youand other family members can remember aboutyour family history. “Remember that everyone hasa unique story to tell and there are skeletons inevery closet.” She suggested not ignoring the

“skeletons” but simply to think of them as part ofyour family’s story.

“When you’ve gathered this unique part of yourfamily’s story, the library can help you find birth,death, and marriage certificates, newspaper sto-ries, and a wealth of other information.”

“Once you’ve gathered your information, you’llwant to find a way to present it to other familymembers in an interesting format that won’t endup on a shelf unread,” explained a graphic de-signer. “I started on second base,” he explained,“because my father was an amateur genealogistand had collected most of the information al-ready. But it was all in a stack of documents andpapers,” so Burns put that information in a bookpeople would enjoy reading. He used an upcom-ing family reunion as his goal for finishing.

Burns gave ideas for organizing and editing thelarge volume of information and photos one typi-cally collects, and reviewed software that helpsget information into prose form. The next step, headvised, is editing and collecting photos to helptell the story. People who are not graphic design-ers will appreciate his step by step instructions.

Athens, Georgia, Revisited

Origin: Project personnel and advisory boardwanted to create a program people could attendin conjunction with the exhibition at the LyndonHouse called Discovering History: Decorative Artsand Genealogy from the Ware and Lyndon FamilyEra. There had been significant research done forthe exhibition, and they wondered if someonecould create a short play using the research as abasis.

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Presenter: An amateur actress involved in thelocal community theater group who also lovedlocal history

Technology: Video camera and a professionalcinema company that agreed to work mostly forthe experience

Ways to Participate: Venue, Archive

Program Summary: In the film premier AthensRevisited it seemed that Dr. Edward Ware and Dr.Edward Lyndon visited the house they once occu-pied on 293 Hoyt Street (the current location ofthe Lyndon House Arts Center). Two actors gaveconvincing portrayals of Ware and Lyndon whileanother actor bridged the gap between “backthen” and now in his role as the interviewer. Thisclever film was full of historical facts, explaininghow Athens handled Prohibition, how it was astruggle to raise taxes for a fire truck, and otherproblems that we can relate to today. Photosshowing the old Opera House and other treasuresof our city in the mid- to late 1800’s made the filma most enjoyable history lesson. The author’shumor kept the film from being dry.

After the audience saw the film, the presenter,who was also the author, told about how the re-search was done and how her idea changed fromwriting a play to creating a short film. This film isone of the jewels of the IMLS project. It has beenshown a number of times to local groups and tourgroups, and because if its accuracy and enter-tainment value it can be shown for years to come.

Thanks for the Memories: Library Patrons Recall Their Favorite Library Memories

Origin: Partners wanted to feature the history ofthe library through the eyes of its patrons in cele-bration of its 100th year.

Presenters: Film was shown at the 100th daycelebration. On seven separate days, library pa-trons from all walks of life, both invited and “dropins,” told a favorite library memory.

Technology: video camera and editing software

Ways to Participate: Venue and archive

Program Summary: About 40 library patronsrecorded their favorite library memories and howthe library has been helpful in their lives. In thisgroup was a librarian who had been the head li-brarian in Athens’ segregated library. Project per-sonnel went to the nursing home for thatinterview. The film required much editing, but theoverall piece presents an appreciative communitythat can speak for libraries everywhere.

Reaching Higher: Aviation Art

Origin: Project personnel and partners wanted tohave a program on the theme of aviation to coor-dinate with the upcoming yearly event, AthensAviation: Then, Now, Next. Serendipitously, anartist went to the Lyndon House curator of Exhibi-tions to propose a show of his aviation photo-graphs. Project personnel asked him to do aprogram showing his photographs.

Presenter: A commercial photographer special-izing in Aviation Photography

Technology:WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

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Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: Artful photos touched onaviation history from Tuskegee Airmen and earlyDelta DC-3 passenger aircraft to modern light-weight planes. The photographer gave even themost casual appreciator of aviation a good doseof enthusiasm. He helped his audience see air-craft, vintage to modern, with an artist’s eye forshape, line, form, texture, and pattern, while not-ing the significance of each plane he photo-graphs. He gave the audience a glimpse into lifeat competitive airshows and also introduced usto Patty Wagstaff, three-time national aerobaticchampion in a row, and other famous contempo-rary aviators.

Starting a New Chapter

Origin: Patrons expressed an interest in the his-tory of the library and the new uses for the libraryas the two-year construction and renovation proj-ect of the Athens Clarke County Library came to aclose.

Presenters: ARLS director, and three other li-brarians at the ACC library

Technology: WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: “Buildings change, faceschange, but libraries remain much the same,”began the Director of the Athens Regional LibrarySystem. Certainly the library has changed signifi-cantly from its beginning in 1913 with one room,500 books, and 200 readers. But the new library

today still works to match people with the infor-mation they need just as the early libraries did—the people and the times have changed! Thelibrarians presented the history of the library anda virtual tour of new library spaces and some ofthe expensive equipment residents of Athens-Clarke County can use for free. They also high-lighted current and future programs and remindedpeople that the new library is a place whereeveryone belongs and can learn and exchangeideas.

Understanding Boomers: A Psycho-Social Dynamic Overview

Origin: Our IMLS provided funds for Matt Thorn-hill to speak to a group of librarians from acrossthe state and museum professionals in the region.Project partners opened the speech to local busi-nesses and the public.

Presenter: Matt Thornhill, nationally recognizedmarketing expert and co-author of the ground-breaking book, “Boomer Consumer”

Technology: Video camera and editing software

Ways to Participate: Venue, archive

Program Summary: Thornhill described char-acteristics of the Baby Boom population, a 20-year span beginning in 1946, post-World War II.They are different from the previous generationbecause they came of age at a different time, andwere imprinted with the Civil Rights Movement,television, the Vietnam War, women’s liberation,drug culture, etc. They are likely to be the changeagent making growing older a positive stage oflife filled with vitality. Our over-65 population is

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going to double between now and 2030, and peo-ple are living longer, so this group will continue tohave a major impact on society.

He had ideas for making libraries and museumsmore relevant to this part of the community. Headvised delivering experiences by including, notsegregating, this generation’s interest in programsfor the general public. “Nobody thinks of them-selves as Boomers,” he warned. “Think of your li-braries and museums as resources for your wholelife.”

The Making of The Tangible Pastof Athens, Georgia

Origin: A casual conversation with an advisoryboard member ended up in an outstanding pro-gram partnership with the University of Georgia’sspecial collections library and highlighted the re-search a group of community members did inpreparation for a book to be published in the nearfuture.

Presenters: Three local historians and a univer-sity archivist emeritus of the UGA Special Collec-tions Libraries

Technology:WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: “Athens has been movinghouses since before the Civil War,” explainedCharlotte Thomas Marshall in Wednesday’s pro-gram at the Richard Russell Special CollectionsLibrary auditorium to an audience of about 150,and 11 who watched online. Her soon-to-be-re-

leased book The Tangible History of Athens, witheleven other Athenian authors, started out as re-search for an article on moved houses in Athensand ended up a 300-page, well illustrated and re-searched book.

Over 200 images from the book were sequentiallydisplayed above the heads of four of these au-thor-historians as they talked about the houses,parts of houses, the people who lived in them,and Athens’ history.

The historians urged others to put their stories onpaper, using documents and photos they have intheir possession or can find at the Hargrett RareBook and Manuscript Library or the Athens Li-brary’s Heritage Room. “There are still manybooks to come out of the Hargrett,” and theAthens Heritage Room, noted the archivist.“This kind of thing happens all over the U.S.,” ex-plained one historian, explaining that this bookcould serve as a prototype for other communities.

Telling Your Story Workshop

Origin: The popularity of storytelling is growing inour community and a local monthly storytellinginitiative called “Rabbit Box” is rapidly gainingparticipants. Seeking to provide a different kind ofexperience for the IMLS project, a storytellingworkshop was offered with a Rabbit Box founderand story-teller as facilitator. The project offeredonline participation as well as in person.

Presenters: Experienced story teller andteacher and 8 adult students (class was limited to8; the project had 24 on the waiting list).

Technology: microphone with speaker

Ways to Participate: Attend the series of 4 two-hour classes. The class was also offered as anonline option; one person, who was spending thesummer out of town, initially signed up to take itonline, but withdrew before the class started.

Program Summary: The instructor outlined thebasic elements of a good story and instructedstudents to think of a personal experience to cre-ate a story around. For the first class she invitedan experienced story-teller to provide a good ex-ample. Homework was to get started on a story.In the next two classes students practiced their

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stories on each other, with both students andteachers making suggestions. The last class wasa performance, with an audience of invited gueststo provide experience of telling a story as well asproviding a comfortable setting. The program wasvery successful.

Heart and Mind: The Nature andValue of an Academic Approach tothe Study of Religion

Origin: Advisory board member was interested ina program that would address the value of reli-gion and the commonalities of faith beliefs. An-other advisory board member recommended thepresenter.

Presenter: A professor and head of the Depart-ment of Religion at the University of Georgia

Technology: WebEx video conferencing, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: Many students of religionsay that the academic study of religion makes adifference in how they see others because beingexposed to what others believe builds under-standing in why people believe the way they do.Students also say it helps them define their ownbeliefs, said the professor of religion and head ofthe Department of Religion at UGA.

The professor described what the Department ofReligion offers. He explained it is a broad and di-verse department.

“We take an academic and global approach to re-

ligion around the world. There are several profes-sors each focusing on a different part of theworld, including Native American Religion andAfrican Traditional Religion.”

“There are historical, textual or scriptural, socio-logical, theological, and philosophical ap-proaches, each looking at religion from a differentperspective.”

Drawing a distinction between academic, devo-tional, and theological ways of studying religion,he said each has its own role to play. Academicstudy challenges one to think critically. Devotionalstudy educates people to practice religion, andtheological study brings the two together.

Growing Up in Athens, GA

Origin: Advisory board member who enjoys localhistory and the Facebook page Growing Up inAthens GA contacted the FaceBook page care-takers.

Presenters: Three lifelong friends who, after theyretired, became the caretakers of the Facebookpage Growing Up in Athens, GA, which has over10,000 fans

Technology:WebEx video conferencing, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, online, archive

Program Summary: Three friends brought theirpopular Facebook page Growing Up in AthensGeorgia to life before a large audience. The slidelecture, featuring over 130 of the most popularphotos on the site, drew over 90 people to theevent, some from Atlanta and other places around

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north Georgia. The site has been operationalsince 2010 and has over 11,000 followers. Itstarted as a way for old friends to exchange pho-tos and stories of Athens in the 50’s and 60’s, butit struck a chord with a much wider audience andbegan to grow exponentially. The three friends,while not the originators of the page, are the cur-rent caretakers, and there has been talk of an offi-cial archive and cross-referencing of the photos ina more permanent way.

The JFK Assassination Fifty YearsLater: What We Know Now

Origin:With the 50th anniversary of the JFK as-sassination approaching, partners and advisoryboard members wanted to have a program re-membering that day. The event left such an im-print that everyone in the meeting couldremember the day well. To go along with the pro-gram, it was suggested to create a “man on thestreet” video where people could record theirmemories of the day Kennedy was shot.

Presenter: A University of Georgia professoremeritus from the school of law who had made anavocation of following the Warren Commissionfindings and other reports that were published theyears after the assassination.

Technology: Video camera, microphone andspeaker, editing software

Ways to Participate: Venue, archive

Program Summary: The presenter explained toan engrossed audience that many important find-ings of the Warren Commission could not be sub-stantiated from the perspective of what we know

now. Speaking at the Athens Clarke County Li-brary on the eve of the 50th anniversary of thedeath of President John F. Kennedy, the Univer-sity of Georgia Law School Professor Emeritusexplained that many Congressional investigationsand scholars, including Georgia’s own Richard B.Russell, expressed serious doubts that the CIAcould be trusted to provide the truth. He notedevidence that Lee Harvey Oswald very likely didnot act alone. Further, it is now known that JackRuby, who murdered Oswald in the basement ofthe Dallas police station, was assisted to gainentry and had known ties to the criminal world.Wilkes admitted there were plenty of “kooks” whoput forward absurd conspiracy theories that mightdiscredit even the rational investigations andthinking that would challenge the Warren Report.He noted many intriguing circumstances, includ-ing that the two top CIA agents were on vacationthat day, and a less experienced agent was on hisfirst motorcade ride that day.

Holiday Wreath-Making Workshop

Origin: Advisory board and project personnelwanted to have a program where people createdsomething with their own hands. The pre-holidayseason seemed to be a timely opportunity, andone partner had resources and talent readily avail-able.

Presenters: Two artists who also were the as-sistant curator of exhibitions and curator of edu-cation at the Lyndon House Arts Center, a partnerin the project

Technology: Video camera, editing software

Ways to Participate: Venue, archive

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Program Summary: Instructions on how to dec-orate several different kinds of wreaths: livegreens, vine straw, and artificial greens were pre-sented. Then participants were encouraged tocreate a wreath with a personal theme. One per-son made a wreath decorated with toy trucks forhis friends in the public works department. A fewRed Hat Club ladies made wreaths in club colors,red and purple. Others brought ornaments anddried garden treasures from home. Instructionsand supplies for a basic wreath, made with freshgreens, grapevine, or artificial greens, arerecorded in the archive and posted on the web-site.

Celebrating MLK Day with Heart and Art

Origin: Project personnel wanted to highlight ourcommunity’s history and current practices forMLK Day. Athens Georgia was one of the firstcommunities to adopt “Make it a Day On, Not aDay Off,” and through many partners has madesignificant contributions to its citizens. LyndonHouse Arts Center always hosts a celebrationwith family activities and an exhibition.

Presenters: The curator for the Martin LutherKing exhibition, the organizer of Athens’ Make it aDay On, Not a Day Off, and the founder of thatevent in Athens

Technology: WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary:The three presentersteamed up to create an interesting program about

the way the Athens area celebrates MLK Day. Forseveral years the curator brought visual art andperformances to Lyndon House Arts Center, aspart of MLK programming held the Sunday beforethe holiday. The current organizer explained howshe helps people find the best project for their in-terests and talents. The original organizer in theearly years described some amazing accomplish-ments made on this day.

Gallery Tour: The Third Act, Contemplating Aging

Origin: An exhibition on aging was one idea thatthe advisory board listed as a possibility, but be-cause there was only one event per year, it nevercame to fruition. So when another Athens gallerycurated a similar show, we partnered with themfor this Community Snapshot.

Presenters: The Curator of the Exhibition and aUniversity of Georgia faculty member from the Institute of Gerontology

Technology:WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: The curator helped an audi-ence examine art that addressed many issues ofaging. Photographs addressed how people slowlyleave when they have dementia. Photographs of asculpture, a big hole in the ground lined withrocks and made accessible by a ladder, helpedthe grieving artist work through the pain of losingher mother. Self portraits of an elderly person’sface drawn over a period of 80 days showed themany feelings of an elderly person and sought to

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validate the many voices inside a person at anyage. A crocheted fiber art piece in the shape ofhuman skeleton parts addressed osteoporosis.Other issues such as the end of life and fitnessand health were also expressed in art forms.

The gerontologist augmented the discussion withinformation on how society, especially in the stateof Georgia, was helping elders, and observed thatthe Boomer generation was helping society havea more complete understanding of what it is liketo grow old. She applauded the show, saying,“There is so much more richness to aging thanthe usual programs for the elderly on health care.”

Making Plans: Social Security andMedicaid

Origin: Advisory board members expressed con-fusion about when to apply for social security andthe pros and cons of waiting. Another personasked if he could give a program about shieldingfinancial assets from Medicaid if one has to gointo a nursing home. Project personnel pairedthese two topics.

Presenters: A representative from the Social Se-curity Administration and an attorney

Technology:WebEx Video Conference, micro-phone and speaker

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: The ins and out of Social Se-curity were thoroughly explained to an audienceof people contemplating retirement. Addressingthe financial side of living if a personal becomesdisabled was of interest to this group as well,

judging from the many questions from the audi-ence.

Good Nutrition Pays High Dividends

Origin: Nutritionist contacted project personnel;advisory board had been interested in that topic

Presenter: A certified nutritionist who does indi-vidual nutrition counseling with the Veterans’ Ad-ministration

Technology: Livestream, a webcasting platform,using two computers, video camera, microphoneand speakers

Ways to Participate: Venue, Online, Archive

Program Summary: After describing a very longlist of physical and psychological changes thatnaturally occur in the body as it ages, from loss ofmuscle mass to depression, the nutritionist saidencouragingly, “Don’t think it’s all doom andgloom. There are ways around all this.”

He described a healthy diet consisting of a varietyof fresh foods with plenty of color. Cereal andwater are also key ingredients. Certain medica-tions, sensory loss, and isolation, were some fac-tors he discussed that tend to negatively affect aperson’s ability to achieve good nutrition.

But what one intervention gives the biggest returnon a person’s investment in good health? In avery entertaining and informative video, heshowed how at least 30 minutes a day of exercisecould be the best investment.

Livestream technology was used for the first time

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in this project. Project personnel hired a profes-sional video company to help navigate, with theunderstanding that they would teach project per-sonnel. The end-user experience was very muchimproved over a WebEx video conference, andthe recording for the archive looks better. How-ever, the technology at this point is still too chal-lenging for project personnel.

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Appendix 3: Special Events and ExhibitionsEvent #1. The Mystique of the Automobile: A Festival of Cars,Art, and Fashion

Origin: A loyal patronof the Lyndon HouseArts Center is also a carcollector who proposedhaving an antique carshow invitational atLyndon House. Thepartners thought itwould be a goodBoomer event. Partnersalso thought of extend-ing the event to includeart and fashion. Theyhad access to an ex-tensive vintage fashioncollection from anotherpatron, and had experience finding models andstaging fashion shows as wearable art.

Organizing the event: The head of the commit-tee was the patron who proposed the event. Hebrought on board three other collectors and a col-lege student to assist with public relations andtake minutes of the meeting. A graphic artist, whois also a motorcycle collector, developed graphicsand a website and Facebook presence. Programstaff from the library and Lyndon House was alsoon the committee. Except for staff, all committeemembers were volunteers who love antique auto-mobiles.

The committee met monthly for nine months, thenbi-weekly before the event. The committee chairpersonalized the experience for committee mem-ber by occasionally inviting members to meet athis home and serving refreshments. The commit-tee chair also generously paid for a small partythe night before the event because many of theexhibiting car collectors came from out of town.

Lyndon House provided the space and kitchen fa-cilities.

The event consisted of the following elements:100 vintage cars all selected and invited for theirtype, age, and condition to ensure a wide varietyof quality automobiles. These were exhibited onthe lawn at Lyndon House Arts Center.

A fashion show pairing cars and clothing from thesame era. There was such a variety of cars thatthe fashions and models were first selected, and

then the cars were paired with the year of thefashion. Only women were models. The men werenot dressed in costumes. A patron of the artscenter who had a business renting out vintagefashions supplied the vintage clothing free ofcharge. She allowed Lyndon House Staff to pickout whatever fashions and accessories theyneeded. The fashion show was staged so that se-lected cars would drive up to the stage (actuallythe driveway in front of the Arts Center) and amodel wearing clothing from the era of the carwould get out and model her clothes for the audi-ence. A script for each outfit was written and twovolunteers narrated the fashion show. One re-hearsal was required. Three volunteers who un-derstood makeup for the different eras appliedmakeup for the models. Bleachers were loanedfrom the county’s leisure services department forthe audience. A local dry cleaner donated a drycleaning service for the fashions after they wereworn.

A catalog featuring photos and information about

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many of the vintage cars, the schedule of events,the models, the exhibitions, the committee mem-bers’ profiles, the IMLS grant, the Lyndon House,the sponsoring car club,s and other individuals,businesses, and organizations who sponsored theevent. Committee members wrote copy for thecatalog, and the project hired a designer. Designand printing were part of the event’s expenses.Posters were printed to give to the volunteers. Agraphic artist who donated his time designed theposter.

Two workshops to create trophies out of dis-carded car and motorcycle parts. Committeemembers gathered parts and one committeemember was a welder. The public was invited tothese workshops. One art student living in Italy atthe time saw the notice and created a sculpturefrom Italian car parts. He shipped the trophy tothe Lyndon House.

A children’s activity to create an imaginative car.Each child was given a kit with a car body madeof wood, four wheels, and axels to attach to pre-drilled holes in the chassis. (Lyndon House wood-working volunteers and staff created the kit.) Lotsof spare wood pieces, pipe cleaners, and othersupplies on hand in the arts center were available.Children attached parts with wood glue and dec-orated the cars with markers. Staff made a “park-ing lot” with numbered spaces where patronscould leave their cars to let the glue dry.

The Athens Clarke County Library also organized

books about cars for children to browse and twocar related children’s movies, which ran sequen-tially during the festival. The films were shown inthe Community Room in the Lyndon House ArtsCenter. Parents were invited to stay, but two adultvolunteers were in the room in case parentsdropped off their children.

The project’s co-director organized MusicThrough the Eras. There were four music groups:A University of Georgia choral group singing

music of the 1950s and1960s; an 18-piecelocal band playingmusic of the 1920s,’30s, and ’40s; a fourpiece group of threeguitarists and a singerperforming music of the’60s and ’70s; and apiano and singer duoperforming Broadwayhits from all the eras.The musicians per-formed in successionthroughout the event onan outdoor stage so themusic permeated the

exhibition space. All the musicians and groupswere from the Athens area.

Evaluation: A few volunteers were needed todispense and collect the Participant FeedbackForms. Those who filled out forms were invited toenter a drawing for several free carwash certifi-cates. The certificates were donated by a sup-porting car wash business. A professionalevaluator compiled the information and reportedthat the event was an extraordinary success andmet the objectives.

The different exhibitions developed from the plan-ning process and continued after the event.

A local youth association sold concessions.

The event was very successful, with about 3,000attending, including volunteers.

Project staff hired a local video company to cre-ate a recap video that was enjoyed hundreds oftimes.

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Event #2: Athens Rockin’ RootsRevisited

The event highlighted Athens’ famous music her-itage from the 1960s and early 1970s, which pro-vided fertile ground for three famous musicgroups that put Athens on the map for nearly allmusic lovers: REM, the B-52’s, and WidespreadPanic.

Origin: The grant proposal suggested we havemembers of REM, the B-52’s and WidespreadPanic be a part of a music event. This was notpossible, but a very good event emerged in whichmany local musicians, some still actively perform-ing, participated. An active library patron, who isalso the organizer of music events in a neighbor-ing town, volunteered to help us because heknew so many of the musicians.

Organizing the event: A committee of two mu-sicians, the library patron mentioned above, anadvisory board member, and project personnelwas formed. They met monthly for about sixmonths to plan for promotion and logistics. Alocal music venue partnered and volunteered itsspace. Since the music venue has a capacity ofonly 300, and our previous event was attended byso many more, the committee decided to givetickets away at the Lyndon House Arts Center, theLibrary, and a location in nearby Winterville. A vol-unteer designed an elegant logo for posters, fly-ers, the website, tickets, and advertising. Anotherperson was hired to create a poster illustration.The committee also organized a memorabilia dis-play of posters, record albums, publicationsabout the music scene (that are no longer pub-lished), and other artifacts from that era. Variouslocal musicians loaned them.

The event consisted of the following elements:

The event opened with a musical performance bya widely known gospel group in our communitycommemorating musicians from that era who haddied. The group was also in existence in the1960s, and an advisory board member was oneof the founding members.

The event featured a panel discussion by musi-cians who played in Athens at that time. Fourmale musicians talked about the music venues,

the types of music popular in Athens, GA, and theinfluences in the community that made it a fertileground. The committee made an attempt to find afemale musician to participate but was not suc-cessful. There were females in the music scene atthe time, but not nearly as many as males.Several musicians loaned memorabilia for a dis-play during the event. Guests had the opportunityto browse before the event and during intermis-sion. In the collection were an out-of-print localweekly publication dedicated entirely to music inAthens, some record album covers, a hat andother pieces of clothing that are now vintage butwere worn regularly by some performers, andposters that were often stapled to wooden utilitypoles to advertise band performances.

A performance of one of the bands from that era,which brought back musicians who are no longeractive. The lead musician interlaced music withstories of past performances and musicians andgroups who influenced the band.

A performance of another local band, not fromthat era, but popular with a wide range of audi-ences provided dance music at the close of theevent.

Fold-over program listing the schedule of events.Posters and a guitar pick specially designed withthe logo were given as thank-you gifts to thecommittee and participating musicians.

Evaluation. Feedback survey forms were given toattendees when they arrived. Those who com-pleted and returned them were promised a spe-cially designed guitar pick. The rate of return wasbetter than the event #1, but still not high. Theprofessional evaluator created a report that signi-fied that everyone enjoyed the event and it metthe objectives of the project. About 280 attended.

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Event #3: Athens Aviation: Then,Now, Next

Many of Athens’ citizens are unaware of theircommunity’s unique and prominent history in thefield of aviation. This event highlighted its aviationhistoryand presented some of the airport’s currentuse and future plans. Partnering with the Athens-Clarke County Municipal Airport gave the com-munity a chance to see the operations of airport.The airport has limited commercial activity; mostpeople use Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Interna-tional Airport, yet the small community airport isvital to the economic growth of Athens. Otherpartners in this event included the ExperimentalAircraft Association, the Civil Air Patrol, andGrady Thrasher, Jr.

The event focused onour community’s promi-nent place in early avia-tion history through oneof the nation’s earliestaviators and inventor ofaircraft, Ben Epps, andthe Thrasher Brothers,who became famousacross the U.S. afterWorld War II for theiraeronautic acrobaticstunts. Current non-commercial aviation ac-tivity, such as the CivilAir Patrol and the Experimental Aircraft Associa-tion, were also featured. Because the airport isslated for renovations in the near future, the air-port manager gave a presentation on the future ofaviation in Athens. The event was two-part: a visitto the airport and the screening of the movie “TheWorld’s Smallest Airport: The True Story of theTrasher Brothers’ Aerial Circus at the AthensClarke County Library. The event was free andopen to the public but with limits, unfortunately, to200 at a time, because of airport restrictions. Be-cause of the attendance limits, patrons wereasked to get a free ticket at the Library or LyndonHouse, either for morning or afternoon at the air-port, with the movie being shown at either time.The event consisted of the following elements:Docent tours of lobby where Ben Epps’s history ison display. The docents were all descendants of

Ben Epps. The three-storey lobby had a replica ofone of Epps’s earliest aircraft as well as photosand wall text recounting Epps’s inventions andaccomplishments. Pat Epps, a very prominentaviator and youngest son of Ben Epps, gave atalk to several audiences as they gathered in thelobby.

Display of aircraft by the Experimental AircraftAssociation. The day started out with heavy rain,but the minute the sun came out, so did about adozen small aircraft built by members of the EAA.Participants could look at the planes up close andask the pilots questions. Tour of the airport. Several Civil Air Patrol mem-bers were stationed throughout the small airportto guide attendees and answer questions.

Tour of the Control Tower. Small groups were al-lowed to climb up to the control tower and talkwith the operators and see the fabulous view ofthe airport and surrounding area.

Fire Rescue Center tour and an explanation ofthe “ARFF1” Fire Truck.

Family activities for all ages. The youngest onesreceived customized coloring books about BenEpps airport, older children made and learnedabout windsocks, and all children put togetherand flew small balsa wood airplanes supplied bythe airport.

Film: World’s Smallest Airport: The True Story ofthe Thrasher Brothers’ Aerial Circus, 1945−1950at the Athens Clarke County Library. Two show-

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ings so people could attend the event at bothvenues. Grady Thrasher, the producer, gave an in-troduction.

A gift of an aviation pin customized with the eventname was given to volunteers and offered to at-tendees who handed in their feedback forms.Distinguishing graphics. A logo, color scheme,and specific font were used on posters, flyers,website, tickets, and all communications. Theposter included a portrait of Ben Epps.

Evaluation: Feedback surveys were given out inthe lobby and to the movie attendees. The wings,which were promised to those who filled out sur-veys, were very popular, and many older childrenfilled out forms to get one. A professional evalua-tor collected the data and reported that the eventwas very successful and met the objectives. Sur-

prisingly, many peopledid not attend bothparts of the event, butthe attendance wasabout 400 at either, orboth, parts. The stormymorning weather mayhave contributed tothat.

Lunches and beverageswere provided to volun-teers through donationsfrom local merchants.A 5.5” x 8.5” four-pagefold-over program incolor for the day of theevent donated byGrady Thrasher, a com-mittee member andpresenter of the movie.

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Special ExhibitionsThere was no single procedure for creating exhi-bitions. The curator of exhibitions at LyndonHouse Arts Center was skilled in listening to theaudience and developing exhibitions, with thehelp of some in that audience, to meet the inter-ests and educational needs of that group. Manyexhibitions were designed to coordinate withevents or activities to enrich the participant expe-rience.

In the first exhibition, this process led to three ex-hibitions related to the first-year event Mystiqueof the Automobile: A Festival of Cars, Art, andFashion. All three were held in the galleries ofLyndon House Arts Center. The exhibitions wereavailable for eight weeks. The event was attendedby about 3,000 people, and there were hundredsof additional drop-in visitors for the run of the ex-hibitions

Automotive Fine Art: Richard Blanchard, Jack Juratovic, andCharles Joseph Maher

This was an exhibition of paintings featuring theautomobile in a variety of situations.

Origin: Enthusiastically suggested by membersof the car clubs involved with planning our carshow, these artists are members of the “Automo-tive Fine Arts Society,” a national organization ofartists who portray various aspects of the auto-mobile in their fine art. I spent much time re-searching the variousartists and communi-cating back and forthwith selected artistsfrom across the countryto secure their partici-pation in this long-dis-tance exhibition.

Content: This exhibi-tion featured over 35works, including paint-ings, drawings, andprints. Receivingshipped works fromMichigan, unpacking,

repacking, and returning the artworks was out ofthe ordinary for LHAC. .

Outside In: Selections from theGeorge Bugg Collection

Origin: The curator contacted Mr. Bugg, a localcollector, upon learning about his extensive col-lection of automobiles and automotive memora-bilia. He allowed the curator to visit his garageand select items for the exhibition. He also deliv-ered requested items to the arts center.

Content: The curator challenged the audience tothink about automobiles as art and design whenshe decided to include Bugg’s Nash Metropolitan,which he drove, to much delight, up the frontsteps and through the front doors into the gallery.It caused considerable gnashing of teeth amonggovernment maintenance staff. Other items in theexhibit were a series of vintage license platesfrom states across the nationand model cars rep-resenting some of the most popular brands.Bugg’s enthusiasm for collecting cars and relatedartifacts, and his generosity in lending his collec-tion, made this exhibition possible. He was awealth of information and eventually told his storyfor one of the Community Snapshot presentationsfor our project.

Two Wheels Through Time

Origin: An event steering committee memberwas also a collector of vintage bicycles and mo-torcycles, and also knew others who were. He

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loaned his collection of bicycles and motorbikesfor the exhibition and arranged for the loan ofother motorcycles.

Content: This exhibition featured ten motorcy-cles dating from the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s,’90s, and 2000s, including one previously ownedby Steve McQueen and a Russian military sidecarmotorcycle. Also featured were bicycles from themid-twentieth century, including a tandem bicy-cle.

Second-Year Exhibition: Discover-ing History: Decorative Arts andGenealogy from the Ware and Lyn-don Family Era

Origin: The proj-ect’s year-two exhi-bition was plannedbecause the targetaudience ex-pressed great inter-est in genealogyand local historythrough attendanceand feedback onCommunity Snap-shots. Part of Lyn-don House ArtsCenter is a well-re-stored historichouse museum.The resources of avery active individu-

als on the Ware-Lyndon Historic House AdvisoryCommittee and the library’s Heritage Room madethis exhibition ideal.

Content: The exhibition showed the genealogyof both early occupants, Dr. Edward Ware and Dr.Edward Lyndon, in a wall-mounted display in agallery adjacent to the historic house. A HeritageRoom librarian from the Athens Clarke County Li-brary assisted with the research. On display in thegallery were also collections of decorative arts,crystal, silver, porcelain, jewelry, and other itemsfrom each era of each family in the center of eachhalf of the gallery. A book about the historichouse from its earliest days to the present waswritten by carefully chosen community memberswho had a particular knowledge about each eraof the building’s history. The Arts Center hosted a

book-signing partywhen the books werepublished. In the placeof an opening eventwas the premierscreening of a film by alocal playwright who re-searched, wrote, andproduced the originalshort film, Athens Re-visited, about Dr. Wareand Dr. Lyndon and thecommunity of Athensduring the time they oc-cupied the house dur-ing the mid- to late1800s. This film, whichraised awareness of thelife of the times, waspresented to the com-munity as a CommunitySnapshot while the ex-hibition was running.The audience was in-vited to view the exhibi-tion after the film. Thefilm was shown severaltimes to groups whocame to see this exhibi-tion, tour the historichouse, and view exhibi-tions in other galleriesat Lyndon House.

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Third-Year Exhibition: RichieHavens: Recent Works

Origin: This exhibit occurred serendipitously.Richie Havens, a long-time supporter of LyndonHouse Arts Center, was a well-known musicianwho rose to fame during the 1969 WoodstockMusic Festival. After he died, his estate loaned acollection of original digital media prints compris-ing his most recent visual art work, which had notyet been exhibited.

Content: The legendary musician Havens wasalso a visual artist. Because Havens was acelebrity that most Boomers would know about,the project supported the exhibition, in coopera-tion with the Lyndon House Arts Foundation. TheIMLS grant provided funding for a full-color cata-log. The catalog included images of the exhibitedwork, a short history of Haven’s life, and his spe-cial connection to the Athens community. At theopening reception, a musician connected toHaven’s performance career, Walter Parks, cameto Athens from NYC, gave a special performance,and entertained the audience. Food for the recep-tion was donated by the Lyndon House ArtsFoundation.

Fourth-Year Exhibition: Roy G. Biv 8.2.

To be described in the final version of the BestPractices Manual

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Appendix 4: SampleFeedback Forms

Evaluation (Poll Questions)Webcast Experience (Online Audience)Are you a Baby Boomer (born between 1946 and1964)? yes no

Is this the first time you have used webcast technology? yes no

How did you hear about the Community Snapshots/ webcast program? website emailnewspaper radio word of mouthcontact by project personnel other

How interested were you in the topic presented inthis webcast? Very interested Somewhat interested Not very interested

How comfortable were you with using the web-cast technology? Very comfortable Somewhatcomfortable Somewhat uncomfortableVery uncomfortable

How would you rate the instructions for loggingonto the webcast program? Very good AveragePoor No answer

How would you rate the instructions for using thevarious online webcast features? Very goodAverage Poor No answer

How would you rate the quality of theaudio/sound during the webcast program?Very good Average Poor No answer

How would you rate the quality of the video/visuals during the webcast program? Very goodAverage Poor No answer

Would you like to participate in future webcasts?yes no maybe

Please explain any problems you may have expe-rienced during your participation.

What topics would you like to see in future web-casts?

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