Pop-up Plaza Programming at the Denver Public Library

Claire Heilman
School of Information Science, Dominican University
LIS 707: Leadership, Marketing, and Strategic Communication
Melissa Bernasek
December 14, 2022
Description of Idea
The Denver Public Library (DPL) has five core values that act as guiding principles for
the work of the library to be rooted in. Amongst the five is the value of Strengthening
Connection. Currently, this value is echoed within the library’s 2022 Action Plan in strategic
objective 1.2, which aims to “expand the library’s reach and boost public awareness of what the
library has to offer”, and through the Action Plan’s call for hiring new Outreach Specialists. Part
of the role of the Outreach Specialist is to “respond to the needs of priority populations”. As
stated in the 2022 Action Plan, DPL is committed to continuing to focus its resources on priority
populations, which include but are not limited to immigrants, refugees, and digitally isolated
persons. Although all of this is stated within the Action Plan, the means by which these
objectives will be accomplished are not. With all of this in mind, I propose an expansion of two
preexisting programs that DPL offers in order to focus the strategic efforts of outreach and public
awareness to include immigrants and refugees within the Denver community through creation of
a Pop-up Plaza program.

Currently DPL offers what is known as the Plaza Program at multiple branch locations.
This program is geared towards immigrants and refugees and works to be an inclusive space for
people to gather within the library to practice languages, prepare for citizenship, and build
connections with other members of the community. According to the 2022 Action Plan
immigrants more often live at or below the poverty line and “15% of Denver’s population
identifies as foreign born”. Additionally, according to DPL’s 2021 Annual Report, of the 23 in-
person Plaza Programs held there were 161 attendees. What all of this suggests is that a
significant portion of the immigrant population does not attend these in-person programs. While
the reason for lack of attendance can only be speculated, due to the fact that many immigrants
live at or below the poverty line suggests that they may not have access to come into the physical
spaces where Plaza Programming is held due to budget constraints related to transportation and
time or simply due to a lack of knowledge of such events offered. Although there are Plaza
Programs available online, based off 2021 attendance rates, the question of if the immigrant
population has access to technological resources that allow them to attend programs in a virtual
environment must be raised.

Another preexisting service that DPL provides is outreach services through use of a
Bookmobile. However, currently, the Bookmobile only provides circulation related services to
seniors and schools. Through expanding on the concept of the Bookmobile and the Plaza
Programs, a Pop-up Plaza would benefit a fairly significant portion of Denver’s population. This
program would require that library staff set up temporary satellite locations in neighborhoods
that are known to house immigrant populations and bring technology such as hotspots and
laptops, circulation materials in multiple languages, and foldable tables and chairs to provide a
space for people to gather. In providing a Pop-up Plaza, DPL makes its presence known within
neighborhoods that may not have adequate access to the library’s physical space and connects
the community with preexisting resources. Essentially, all the benefits of the Plaza Program
would be made available outside of the library’s physical space to allow the opportunity for more
people to access the library’s resources and to be made aware of services available to them.
Project Plan
Goals
Goal 1: Establish and maintain biweekly Pop-up Plaza programs within the 2023 calendar
year; reaching 5 different immigrant populations by the end of April 2023.
Goal 2: Increase circulation of key language materials (books, movies, etc., in preferred
languages) by 10% by October 2023.
Goal 3: Increase in-person and virtual Plaza Program attendance by 25% by the end of
the 2023 calendar year.

Team Members Needed: 2-3 adult services staff members in attendance at each pop-up (ideally,
one who is comfortable driving the Bookmobile), 1 project lead (an adult services librarian), and
1 employee from the marketing department

Stakeholders: The primary stakeholders are people who identify as being an immigrant, and the
secondary stakeholders include financial supporters of the library, schools, the Denver Office of
Immigrant & Refugee Affairs, and the library’s board.

Outcomes:
• Establish connection directly with immigrant communities throughout Denver
• Make the library’s presence known to neighborhoods that have larger immigrant
populations
• Provide access to technology, books, and other resources to immigrant populations
outside of the library’s physical space
• Generate awareness of additional library resources specifically for immigrants
• Increase attendance at preexisting Plaza Programs
• Increase patronage of immigrant populations at DPL
Budget (annual)
Type Items Needed Annual Budget
Staff 2-3 adult services staff members 0.00-- Already allotted within
1 project lead (Outreach their salary, no additional
Specialist/ Librarian) staff to be hired at this time
Transportation related costs Gas and overall maintenance of 1,000.00
vehicle
Marketing promotional materials (digital 200.00 (cost is associated to
and print) resource flyers made the printing of flyers/
in multiple languages, banners banners)
to hang from Bookmobile,
Technology Hotspots, laptops, and iPads 2,000 (for purchasing
additional, if needed)
Misc. Costs associated with 700.00 (as needed)
permission/ permits to park the
Bookmobile, foldable tables &
chairs, light refreshments, pens,
paper, etc.
Assessment Plan
Each goal set forth for the Pop-up Plaza Program will be assessed in multiple waves. To
reach the first goal of having the program up and running and complete outreach to 5 different
immigrant communities by the end of April 2023 requires that the initial set up of the project
takes place between January-February 2023. This phase of goal 1 will be assessed by completion
of the following tasks completed by the project lead and reported on the project’s Gantt chart:
purchasing items as needed such as technology, portable tables & chairs, miscellaneous office
supplies; connecting with the Bookmobile team to set dates that the vehicle can be utilized; and
reaching out to local businesses, community centers, or other organizations of the like to ask for
permission to set up the Pop-up Plaza in their parking lots or inside their buildings. The second
part of goal 1 is to maintain Pop-up Plaza events throughout the calendar year. This will be
assessed by successfully conducting the events biweekly and marking the dates of the events on
the project’s calendar. Furthermore, after each event, attending staff members will fill out a
review form that asks them to reflect on what worked well, what didn’t, and what was missing so
that the project lead can review the feedback and make the necessary changes to the events
moving forward. For example, if the ratio of technology available to attendees is off, the project
lead will utilize this information to ensure that a few more pieces of technology are available for
use at the next event either through purchasing more or utilizing what’s available from the
library’s stock.

Goal 2 will be assessed by a mid-timeframe review to occur in July 2023. The project
lead will team up with the circulation department (as needed) to run a report on the circulation
statistics pertaining to key language materials. If the circulation reports do not show a ~5%
increase when compared to 2022 year-end statistics, the project lead, with the help of team
members, will develop informal survey questions to ask attendees what types of materials they
find themselves drawn to, and if they have a preferred language for the items to be in. Based on
the informal survey responses, changes to materials brought to the events in key languages will
be made. After the necessary changes are made, the report will be conducted again at the
beginning of September 2023 to track progress of the successfulness of the changes. A final
report will be made at the end of October 2023, to see if Goal 2 was accomplished.

Assessment of goal 3 requires that leaders of the in-person and virtual Plaza Programs
will ensure that attendance is taken at each event and compare current attendance rates with
statistics from the 2022 year-end report. The first review will occur in August 2023
(hypothetically, this is the halfway marker of the accomplishment of reaching 5 communities by
the end of April 2023). From the results of the analysis done in August, the team will reassess the
success of the Pop-up events in getting more people to attend the preexisting Plaza
Programming. This assessment will include looking at attendance rates of the pop-ups and
feedback from staff members provided through goal 1’s review forms and an action plan will be
drawn to ensure that marketing of preexisting Plaza Programs is occurring and that barriers for
attendance are understood. The final analysis of attendance rates for goal 3 will occur at the end
of December 2023. After which the team will report an analysis of the entirety of the Plaza Pop-
ups success, or lack thereof, of obtaining the goals previously described to the heads of
programming and outreach. After which a decision will be made to determine if the Pop-up Plaza
program will continue, and ways in which it can be enhanced to best connect with the immigrant
population in Denver moving forward.
 References
“Action Plan” (2022). Denver Public Library
https://www.denverlibrary.org/sites/dplorg/files/2022/03/2022-action-plan.pdf
“Annual Report” (2021). Denver Public Library
https://www.denverlibrary.org/sites/dplorg/files/2022/07/annual-report-2021.pdf