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 Reading: Bridge to a Wider World logo
Tuesdays With Morrie

 Final Report

May 2003

This report was written and submitted to the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation as one of its grant requirements.

PROGRAM INFORMATION
1. Please list project accomplishments to date.
Reading: Bridge to a Wider World
was begun in Duluth, Minnesota, early in 2002. The Duluth Public Library (DPL) coordinates the program. Because of the city's commitment to reading and literacy and the Duluth Public Library's role in advocating the importance of lifelong learning from birth, a community-wide reading program was a natural choice for Duluth. The following books have been selected for the area reading program:
2002 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2003 - Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The committee began meeting June 4, 2002 to plan the 2003 reading program. The following members served on the 2003 committee:

Beth Kelly, Chair - Duluth Public Library Director and Arrowhead Reading Council Representative
Gabrielle Allen - Glensheen Historic Estates
Becky Ardren - Reading and English Language Arts Specialist, ISD 709; Arrowhead Reading Council Representative
Barbara Durst - Adult Learning Center, ISD 709 and Arrowhead Reading Council Representative
Carol Kelley - Friends of the DPL, Duluth Library Foundation Board Representative and Arrowhead Reading Council Representative
Essie Ledyard - Adult Learning Center, ISD 709
Judy O'Day - DPL Librarian
Judy Sheriff - DPL Youth Services Manager and Arrowhead Reading Council Representative
Carrie Sutherland - J. W. Beecroft Books
Anita Zager - Northern Lights Books and Gifts
Wendy Wennberg - DPL Public Information Coordinator and Project Coordinator

 

PLANNING AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
The committee considered the following books for the 2003 program: Of Mice and Men, Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Red Badge of Courage. After two meetings, the decision was made to select Tuesdays with Morrie for the following reasons: available in paperback, wonderful movie that won an Emmy, easy but provocative read, great potential, popular acceptance, best seller, a Long Beach (CA) community read selection. All members of the committee were asked to read the book before announcing the selection.

A press release was sent out in August announcing the 2003 book selection.

Wendy Wennberg contacted author Mitch Albom, who agreed to travel to Duluth on Saturday, April 12, 2003 for a public program beginning at 9:00 a.m. at a cost of $7,500. She then began working on grant applications to the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation and the Minnesota Humanities Commission to fund the author's visit to Duluth.

 

RESOURCE GUIDE DEVELOPMENT
A 17-page Resource Guide for Tuesdays with Morrie was developed by a team of librarians and committee members to allow readers to lead discussions on their own, in their home, neighborhood or workplace.

The committee reviewed the components of the Resource Guide and divided up duties as follows. The deadline for submitting information to be printed in the Resource Guide was set at December 1, 2002.

The deadline for printing the Resource Guide was set at February 1, 2003.

 

Printed Materials
The Arrowhead Library System Print Shop printed 4,000 copies of the Resource Guide, compared to 2,500 last year. The Resource Guides were delivered by February 6, 2003 (compared to March 15, 2002) and distributed as follows:

The remaining Resource Guides were distributed at the Duluth Public Library, the West Duluth Branch Library, the Mount Royal Branch Library and area libraries. The Library, bookstores and schools developed bookmarks and posters for use, and program fliers were developed for Library use.

 

MARKETING
W. Wennberg met with Holly Gruber, Duluth News Tribune, to ask for her help in developing a feature story some time before April 2003. Holly agreed to have reporter Candace Renalls develop a feature story that ran in the US section of the Duluth News Tribune on Sunday, March 23, 2003. The Duluth News Tribune and the Duluth Budgeteer also ran weekly program announcements.

Posters were made for display at the Library - "Are You Reading Tuesdays with Morrie?" A few buttons were also made and Library staff wore them. Although plans were to print bookmarks, the grant funds for that did not materialize. Next year, bookmarks should be included in other grant requests. The committee may want to consider buying newspaper ads in the future and building those costs into grant applications as well.

Press releases, phone calls, and meetings with the media were conducted from February through April 2003.

DULUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY WEB SITE
Nancy Eaton, Sr. Library Technician, is responsible for the web site. She added the entire Resource Guide to the web site.

 

ORDERING TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE BOOKS AND MATERIALS
Reference Librarian Judy O'Day ordered books and materials to prepare for the anticipated demand. Main Library, Mount Royal and West Duluth each had 2 hardcover editions of Tuesdays with Morrie. Judy ordered paperback copies as follows: Main - 28, Mount Royal - 28 and West Duluth - 23.

Adult Services Librarian Renee Zurn ordered the following materials: Books on Tape - 3 for Main, 1 for Mount Royal and 1 for West Duluth; Videos - 1 for Main and 1 for Mount Royal Branch Library; Books on Disk - 3 for Main.

Youth Services ordered the following related materials for kids under grade 8: 3 copies of Just Grandma and Me, 3 copies of Just Grandpa and Me, 3 copies of Can You Do This, Old Badger?, 4 copies of The Piano and 1 copy of A Single Shard. (Several existing copies of these titles were already on the shelves including: The Cay, Walk Two Moons and Hope was Here.)

 

TIMELINE

June 4, 2002


July 16, 2002
Tuesdays with Morrie
was selected.

August 2002


September 2002


October 22, 2002
The committee finalized programming plans.

November 2002

 

December 2002
The Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation approved a grant for the 2003 Reading: Bridge to a Wider World program in part. Instead of the requested $5,000 grant, a grant of $2,000 was awarded due to a high level of competition for limited funds in the grant round.


January 2003


February 2003


March 2003


April 2003

 

May 2003

 

 

2. List any changes in project plans that occurred since you received Community Foundation support.
Program suggestions and ideas were discussed at several meetings and the following programs were scheduled at the Duluth Public Library and other locations. The attendance at each event is in parentheses.

 

Other programs throughout the area were:

Because the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation grant was only partially approved, and the Minnesota Humanities Commission funds were frozen, Library staff submitted several additional funding requests. As funds were approved, the programs above were added to the 2003 schedule.

 

3. How has your project made a difference?
Evaluations submitted by program attendees were positive and heartwarming. Examples are:

 

4. Define the geographical area served.
The Arrowhead Library System contacted area libraries to invite them to get on board this year, specifically to schedule complementary programs and submit program information to be included in the 2003 Resource Guide, thereby broadening the geographic participation in Northern Minnesota.

In addition to Duluth, the following communities participated in the area reading project this year: Gilbert, Mountain Iron, Silver Bay, Virginia, and Superior, Wisconsin.

How many persons were served?
Program Attendance
697 people attended 26 public programs. The program featuring author Mitch Albom drew the largest audience of over 300 people. The 2003 attendance statistics are above the 2002 program. Last year, 586 people attended 25 public programs with the largest audience at 63 people.

The statistics above reflect only the official list of programs. There were many discussions that occurred in neighborhoods, homes, in schools and universities, at book club meetings and churches.

What specific target populations were reached?
High school students and the elderly were the populations targeted and the predominate groups who participated in this year's reading project. Approximately 60 students in the Duluth School system read Tuesdays with Morrie.

 

5. If your grant was approved subject to specific conditions, what progress was made in meeting the conditions?
The grant met the following conditions:

 

6. How have you evaluated your success? Did the project meet its goals and objectives?
Evaluation forms were included in the Resource Guide and also were passed out at each event. The answers to the questions in the evaluation form helps the committee determine if the project met its goals and objectives and how to proceed in the future. After reviewing the evaluations, the committee has determined that the 2003 program was indeed a success and met the goal and objectives. Following are the questions:

 

MEASURING SUCCESS
Over two months, Duluthians and area residents read and discussed Tuesdays with Morrie.

More area libraries participated in the program this year than last year. In 2002 the Superior Public Library participated and this year 6 additional libraries in the area participated. The comments from other libraries were tremendous, as seen by the following examples:

Based on circulation figures, bookstore sales, high program attendance, media coverage and positive feedback from evaluations and other participating libraries, the 2003 program was a success.

Library Circulation and Book Store Sales
Barnes & Noble in Duluth reported that Tuesdays with Morrie was on the top 25 list consistently throughout the month of April and into May as well.

The Duluth Public Library estimates that 119 items, including books, videocassettes and sound recordings owned by the Library, circulated 310 times, for an average of 2.6 circulations for each item. The breakdown of circulation figures (January - April 2002) were developed by Jan Simmons, DPL Technical Services Manager:

Books
Main Adult Non-Fiction - 46 copies circulated 123
Mount Royal Branch Adult Non-Fiction - 34 copies circulated 130 times
West Duluth Branch Adult Non-Fiction - 27 copies circulated 57 times

Books for Kids and Families
Just Grandma and Me
Main - 4 copies circulated 11 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 2 copies circulated 8 times.
West Duluth Branch - 2 copies circulated 4 times.

Just Grandpa and Me
Main - 3 copies circulated 5 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 2 copies circulated 7 times.
West Duluth Branch - 2 copies circulated 6 times.

Can You Do This, Old Badger?
Main - 2 copies circulated 5 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 2 copies circulated 7 times.
West Duluth Branch - 1 copy circulated once.

The Piano
Main - 3 copies circulated 8 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 1 copy circulated once.
West Duluth Branch - 1 copy, no circulation.

A Single Shard
Main - 3 copies circulated 7 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 2 copies circulated 5 times.
West Duluth Branch - 1 copy circulated 3 times.

The Cay
Main - 4 copies circulated 10 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 2 copies circulated 2 times.
West Duluth Branch Library - 1 copy, no circulation.

Walk Two Moons
Main - 4 copies circulated 9 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 1 copy circulated 2 times.
West Duluth Branch Library - 1 copy circulated 1 time.

Hope Was Here
Main - 2 copies circulated 7 times.
Mount Royal Branch - 1 copy circulated 2 times.
West Duluth Branch Library - 1 copy, no circulation.

Videocassettes
Main - 1 copy circulated 12 times
West Duluth Branch - 1 copy circulated 10 times

Sound Recordings - Books on Tape and Disk
Main - 3 BOTs circulated 5 times and 3 BODs circulated 10 times
Mount Royal Branch - 2 BOTs circulated 5 times
West Duluth Branch - 2 BOTs circulated 4 times
*Circulation for some sound recordings was from date of addition to collection, which was after Jan1. 2003.

 

Program Attendance
697 people attended 26 public programs. The program featuring author Mitch Albom drew the largest audience of over 300 people. The 2003 attendance statistics are above the 2002 program. Last year, 586 people attended 25 public programs with the largest audience at 63 people.

 

THE FUTURE OF THE PROJECT
The timeframe will remain the same with programs in April 2004. Information on Reading: Bridge to a Wider World selections will remain on the Library web site.

 

Submitted by: Wendy Wennberg, Public Information Coordinator
Duluth Public Library - Reading: Bridge to a Wider World Program Coordinator

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project | Mayor Doty's message | letter from Mitch Albom | Mitch Albom | discussion questions | related booklists | additional resources | web resources | for younger readers | events | acknowledgements | community feedback

 

5/21/07
Duluth Public Library, 520 W. Superior St., Duluth, MN 55802

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