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Last fall, I talked to some Powers That Be in the CLPGH and ACLA organizations. They were excited about potentially expanding Steel City LUG’s footprint at local libraries, and put me in touch with the youth librarians at all of their branches. We got responses from maybe 4-6 who were interested in having us display and/or do events. I was careful not to promise anything, framing things with “we’ll see whether members can support specific events / displays”, but I think it’s a great opportunity for us.
We can worry about events on a branch by branch basis later as offers arise, but as far as displaying…
My grand idea was to do a display tied in with the Summer Reading theme (like we already usually do at Cranberry Library), but at several branches, and possibly with connecting threads (city-wide LEGO scavenger hunt!) It would’ve been awesomer last year with the heroes / superheroes theme, but it could still work this time (who says we can’t still hide Batman in a display about “ready, set, read!” or whatever the theme ends up being this summer?) We can do a printout for each display that says CAN YOU FIND: (Batman, Left Shark, Tiger Woman, BB-8, whoever), then says: VISIT THESE OTHER BRANCHES TO SEE DIFFERENT DISPLAYS AND FIND (Wyldstyle, Spider-Man, Hot Dog Guy, Rey, etc.)! Thereby encouraging families to get out to more libraries and explore the city, too!
So yeah. It’s about time to start planning if we’re gonna pursue this, so I need to know what level of interest yinz have in trying to pull something off. If it’s something that excites people, I’ll compile a list of 3-6 libraries who are open to it, and give the display dimensions available to us, and we can start planning in detail. If it doesn’t pique y’all’s interest, we’ll let it drop.
Let me know what you think!
I’ve sent an email to Rachel at the Cranberry Library about the Summer Reading display and theme. She is out until Monday but I should hear back from her then. Having displays in several libraries for the summer sounds awesome, so long as we can do quality displays for each.
Oh yeah, this idea is very much dependent upon the LUG getting excited and having some awesome stuff built – I’d rather keep just one display at Cranberry that’s fantastic than spread ourselves too thin. But I think we legitimately could support 3-4, like Micah said, and possibly more if we really got mobilized…
Holler when you hear back from Rachael!
Holler when you hear back from Rachael!
Absolutely! Some themes may be easier that others to pull off, but I am confident that our LUG can handle multiple summer displays. And as we have seen, not every library has a display case as big as (or with as unusual angles as) the Cranberry Library.
From Rachel: Hi Tim!!!!
We are absolutely interested! The theme is “On your mark, get set, read” which is essentially like exercise, sports, etc. Basically anything you guys do will be awesome though. 🙂
And yes we will prob definitely want you guys for Cranberry Days. Thanks for being awesome to the Cranberry Library!!!!!!!!!!
Rachel likes to use exclamation points. 😀 So the theme is “On your mark, get set, read”. Time to start generating ideas. Anyone up for building a track stadium and filling the stands with minifigs reading books?
Rachel likes to use exclamation points.
That’s because they’re so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡¡!!¡¡¡¡!!!¡¡¡!!!¡¡¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything is awesome!!!!!
So the theme is “On your mark, get set, read”.
I had been told “Ready, Set, Read!” but whatever.
Anyone up for building a track stadium and filling the stands with minifigs reading books?
For CranLib, that’d be an oddly shaped stadium…
And it’s a lot of books.
But yeah. I could dig into reading (get it?!?)
Any ideas on tying that in with other displays at other branches? I’ll mull that over…
Spiral racetrack up and down the display cabinet??
Update on the multi-library plan:
Lauren from Crafton (near Green Tree, West of the city) just e-mailed asking if we’re still on. The downside there is no locked display case – whatever we display would just be on top of one of the bookshelves. But she offered that we could use their LEGO to build (which of course poses its own problems – logistically and with having good parts to build something we’re happy with.) Or we can just be selective in what we build and display there (i.e. – no Mr. Gold.)
So, my current anticipated lineup for a city-wide summer display looks like this:
Cranberry – existing relationship, definitely we should still do this one!
– North of city (way North)
– locked case, but weird shaped, but we’re used to it by now
Crafton – recent contact initiated by them
– West of city
– no locked case, just shelf space (plenty of room, but less secure)
Robinson – contact last Fall
– West of city
– locked wall case, glass front, 66″ wide x 13″ deep x 46″ tall (4 moveable shelves, half as wide as the case)And these ones may not be up for Summer Reading, but are interested in displays:
Woods Run – my friend Lauren works there
– North Side (closer to Downtown than Avalon/Bellevue are)
– discussed display last year and she’s checking whether they can do this year
– top of shelf
Avalon – not interested in Summer Reading
– recent contact made about Star Wars display for April
– locked glass cases
– see thread for details
Northland – need to follow up, but contact was made last Fall
– North of city (North Hills off Perry Highway / Route 19)
– top of shelves, said we should keep it around the size of a 10gal fish tank (small means easier to commit without burnout, but obv. is limiting, too)
Bethel Park – previous relationship
– South of city
– locked case (@JoshHall prob has dimensions somewhere)
– would they want us to do a Summer Reading display?So yeah. If we do Cranberry + Crafton + Robinson + Bethel Park, we’d have North, South, West, and Central (kinda – Crafton isn’t Downtown or Oakland, but is close-ish) covered. Anyone have contacts out closer to Monroeville?
But she offered that we could use their LEGO to build (which of course poses its own problems – logistically and with having good parts to build something we’re happy with.)
That would present an interesting build challenge itself – create an awesome display using limited parts. I think we are up to the challenge.
@digivolution lives in Monroeville. Any contacts out that way?So how do you envision this acting out logistically? Each library gets a club member or two to build a display or do we try to coordinate 4+ group builds?
Once it was all said and done a grand tour would definitely be in store to all the libraries.
That would present an interesting build challenge itself – create an awesome display using limited parts. I think we are up to the challenge.
Perhaps. But do we schedule a day to build on-site, or secure their supply in advance and build elsewhere, or what…?
So how do you envision this acting out logistically? Each library gets a club member or two to build a display or do we try to coordinate 4+ group builds?
I could see this going either way. But I’m not committing to any libraries (besides Cranberry – I’m assuming we still have the manpower to get that one done!) until I get some positive feedback. Probably the easiest would be to assign interested members to a single display (and if someone’s ambitious enough to chip in on two displays, that’s ok…) I’d think having the same people building for several displays would be more tricky and confusing, but *could* work – would just take a keen effort to manage it!
What say ye?
We could schedule a one day “Build Event” where we show up, see what supply the Library has, create a plan, and knock it out.
If we are going to try to do multiple summer display, we probably need to have “teams” designated for each library. I’m in on Cranberry, since that is my “home” library.
I stopped by Woods Run yesterday and talked to Lauren – hm, this is a different Lauren – and scouted the area, and their shelf is in direct line of sight from the librarians’ desk, so it’d be reasonably well monitored, but still not entirely secure. (see attached photos – the tallest bookshelf is where they said they’d put it – the one with the plant on it – and you can see in the wider panorama that the desk is right there.)
I’d be reasonably comfortable leaving some of my own brick at Woods Run and/or Crafton if we went that route. Maybe not Mr. Gold, but regular stuff, sure. But I’m not going to push that unless others are also on board with leaving our personal collections in supervised but unsecured locations.
If we decide NOT to use our own brick at places where it’s not locked up, I can talk to Lauren from Crafton Library about using their brick and doing a Build Event – who’d be in on that?
Would there be interest in trying something similar at Woods Run? They have about 3 medium Sterilites’ worth of brick we could use… might be tough to come up with something great out of that, but maybe we could pull it off.
And yeah, teams make sense. But are we getting ahead of ourselves? I see interest from @timf, @hacim, @JoshHall, and @randomdan, plus myself – five builders could probably tackle Cranberry and one other branch (using our own brick), and maybe do one or two one-off build days on site with library brick…but I don’t want to commit us to that unless yinz are sure / we get more people saying they’re in.
Ah, yes, Woods Run. I used to do the annual library chess tournament there.
I’d put the libraries that have display cases at higher priority, but I’d feel conferrable leaving my stuff there if we did a display.Ah, yes, Woods Run. I used to do the annual library chess tournament there.
Did you win? I usually blew it in the semifinals or so of tourneys by getting bored / lazy. And occasionally just by getting outplayed. And one time because I was toying with someone instead of going for the kill and accidentally stalemated…
…always finish the job cleanly. Like Ned Stark taught us. There is no honor in prolonging the suffering.
I’d put the libraries that have display cases at higher priority,
Oh for sure. Just want to feel yinz guys out on the subject, and get more man/womanpower before we commit to any displays.
The woods Run tournament wasn’t very competitive, so I usually won that (or at least came in second), but I never won the championship with all the winners from the local libraries. There I was playing some kids with ratings of close to 1500, and I’m still not close to that level…
Yeah, I never played enough to really do much with my rating but I was definitely nowhere close to 1500.
Since we’re threadjacking… one of my grandiose MOC ideas that may never come to fruition comes from a passage in Michael Stackpole’s novel Talion:Revenant, in a scene where the main character and his mentor ride through a valley where ancient cities had held a chess match using giant statues for pieces to determine who controlled the valley… this was in my mind when I built my dark red Rook last year, and I think it could be a pretty cool build, if’n I ever had the time and resources to pull it off…
Woods Run may have a more secure (still not locked, but blockaded) space. Glass wall behind their fax machine – easy to see, but hard for grabby hands to reach. Confirmation of details pending.
OK folks. So far, I’ve only seen @hacim, @timf, @randomdan, and @JoshHall on this thread, and those haven’t been firm commitments to build… not even for Cranberry yet, really – our longest running partnership!
We still have time, but it’d be swell to hear from more members that you’re interested in building to support the summer reading display(s). I’m not going to make commitments to any library until we have at least 2-3 builders ready to tackle that particular display. I’d still say returning to Cranberry is priority #1, and after that, Woods Run (recent contact, fairly secure display area), Bethel Park (if they want us back – secure display area), and maybe Crafton / Robinson if we have the interest to do the builds.
I’ma tag some of the usual suspects, see if you want to weigh in… @laura @lunch36 @digivolution @legobear79 @greg @bacon1986 @iamrjthompson @dacvak @solscud007 @acilsakura @bengood921 @zaximillian @finntegotash etc. (tag people I missed!)
No pressure, really. But I’d like to confirm whether people are at least considering this idea, or whether it’s just not going to happen (don’t want to string libraries along if we won’t be able to deliver – better to just say “sorry, we can’t support it at this time” than to let them down last minute…) So thanks in advance for letting me know if you’re in/out/maybe interested in building for one or more of these potential display locations!
not even for Cranberry yet, really
I’m in and willing to lead the Cranberry summer build (there was another thread on that, I thought). I’m willing to consider assisting with other Library builds depending upon the final display designs and time availability.
I’m in and willing to lead the Cranberry summer build (there was another thread on that, I thought). I’m willing to consider assisting with other Library builds depending upon the final display designs and time availability.
I looked and couldn’t find a separate thread for Cranberry summer display – did you start it? I’m sure we can support Cranberry and there’s still plenty of time to coordinate, I just haven’t seen many specific comments besides you, Tim.
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