” They just sat in the tent, behind their table full of swag, and waited for someone to come up to them. No one was saying “hello” to people when they got anywhere near the booth, and no one looked excited to be there. ”

Is this how they act at the reference desk in the library? Was this a volunteer activity for staff or were they required to man the booth? Not everyone is cut out for this kind of public interaction. It requires a lot more effort than just sitting behind a desk and waiting for people to walk up. Also, it doesn’t sound like the people assigned to work the booth had much direction about their job that day. I would have let people know in advance that they had to wear a library-branded shirt and that their job was to talk to people. Absent direction, some people will pack the path of least resistance and least effort.

Andy, I love your idea about the fun facts to pull people in to your booth! i’m going to steal that the next time AskUsNow! has a table/booth somewhere. :-)
And you’re totally right- we need to do all we can to shift the image. I really hate when people talk about libraries *only* in the book context. some books is okay, but when the conversation is *all* about books, i do a lot of mental facepalms. (and of course, join in the convo to help reframe it when i can)

The way you describe your table setup sounds like the way the reference desk at my branch appears to me. It’s standing height, it has displays of flyers and handouts on one side (which add to the height), and it is a wood stain reminisce of most teacher desks in detention. It’s not exactly the picture of approachable, especially with younger patrons or parents with their children. It’s a fortress of a desk.

When I was at an Chamber of Commerce expo representing the county, the way we had the booth set up did pretty well for drawing people in. It had one table, set up along the side of the booth. So, in order for people to see everything on our table, they had to enter the booth. This put us in the position that Paco (at the NJLA keynote) described as “hip to hip” with people. Of course, we really cheated for a draw to the booth: we brought our Wii. So, I would stand out in front of the booth, Wii remote in hand, say Hello to everyone who went by, and offered people a chance to bowl for a free t-shirt. So, after showing them how to bowl a frame or two, I would end with “Do you know about the business resources we have at the library?” and mention a few databases by name. If they wanted to know more, I would hand them off to our business librarian Joan (who holds a knowledge of business resources that approaches omnipotence) who would delve into the nitty gritty. Then, with Wii remote in hand again, I would step out and look for more people.

As the economy has shifted to a service industry, so has the library. It was a lot easier to market the library before this dawn of new technology: if you wanted to borrow a book, you went to the library. If you wanted to buy a book, you went to the bookstore. Now, we offer so much more, that paradigm of marketing is outdated.

I will be minding the table at the town’s street fair this year. I’m looking forward to it, but I have yet to think of a good hook to bring people over for a deeper conversation. I’m thinking about finding out a handful of odd facts to share with people, so I can hook them in with a “So, you wanna know where I learned that?”

If anything, this is more fun things for Pres4Lib!

put the swag at the back of the booth (only works if you have really good swag)
give out cupcakes
have lots of balloons or something else people can see from far away
project website/vr service at back of the booth
hold the books and hawk them like you are a depression-era newspaper boy (i did this promoting ‘oregon reads’)

but yeah, talk to people. it’s not something that most of us expect to do.