 And I tend to be loud, and I also tend to talk really fast, so I'm sorry. The trade-off is you get to stare at my amazing sweater vest all day, so I'm really doubly excited about that one. Slide show. So my name is Angela O'Conia. I work for the Santa Clara City Library. And I am really excited to be here today, because when they said, you should come speak at Futures, I said, okay, what do you want me to talk about? And they're like, inappropriateness. And I said, yes, inappropriateness in librarians, please sign me up. What are we going to do? So I was like, okay, well, I guess I can talk to you today about gambling, about booze, about parties, and then I'm going to be really naughty and talk to you about how to do it in your library. So I was in this interview, and they asked me this question. They said, how do you reach out to the 20 to 30 demographic? Why do we interview? That's a terrible question. Unnamed library never asked that question in an interview, because it's such a big thing. I mean, we have this whole Futures thing about 20 to 30-year-olds, and you're going to spring that on me in an interview. What am I going to do? I was sweaty, wiping palms all over my body, and I was like, I know, let me think about it. And then I realized, you know what, I've actually, I've done that before. And so the story that I began to tell them is the same story that I'm going to tell you. It started with this grant. So before I was like this super fabulous, amazing librarian, I was a super fancy, really amazing grant coordinator for our library system. Then I had to run other people's grants, and I was taking this class from Patricia Wong at San Jose State, and it was about grant writing. So the first thing you do is you look at your community. What do you need? What do you need to, what's the community need? And I said, well, you know, we have a great jobs program, we have great kids programs, we're starting these STEM programs, and San Francisco has this like whole sustainability thing, and I was like, that's what we don't have. We're like really into making bread and making jam and doing all these really cool things, but there's no hub for it. So I said, you know, it'd be a really cool place to like make pickles? The library. And everyone was like, that's a great idea. We should make pickles at the library. You should get this grant. We should make pickles at the library. And I said, yes. And so what I wanted to do is I wanted to get dirty. So all these programs, I was like, we're not having someone come in and speak. You know what we're going to do? Put your hands in some dough and put your hands on a chicken. I want you to touch out some bees, very gently touch some bees. And I want you to like learn. And we have this problem, I think, as libraries is we're going to talk at you. I'm going to talk at you about things, and then you go home and maybe you'll do it. And I said, no, we are going to learn and we're going to get dirty. So it was super successful. People came, people came in their 20s. So I was like, I'm so awesome. And you know, we did this one program. I say that a lot. Please enjoy. We did this one program and it was one of the only ones where we were talking at you. And we were doing beer brewing. And I was like, OK, this is awesome. And my speaker was super flaky. You guys never had an issue with that, I'm sure. And our speaker was like, OK, you know, we didn't know if we were having it or not. He wouldn't respond to emails. Like three days before he's like, OK, it's going to be an eight hour event and I'm going to bring this brew kettle and we're going to brew beer and I was like, no, it'll be an hour because you didn't get back to us and you're just going to talk. And it wasn't brewing beer. It was a brew kettle requires fire. And they don't let me have fire because I've like broken some stuff and ruined some carpet and blown out every circuit in my library. So they're like, no, too short of a time frame. But what I realized we held this beer brewing course and half of the people who came were from this little website called Meetup. And I was like, anybody here in Meetup? Right? Yeah. And I was like, this is awesome. I'm going to go to Meetup and I'm going to start pimping library programs because this is the audience I want. And so I go on and I'm like, I'm a library. I'm awesome. And they're like, we don't want you here. I said, well, but I'm really great. I have free stuff. It's really cool to meet your demographics. They're like, no, this is people to people, not like library programs and then you poach our people. And I was like, but I want to poach your people. I have really great programs. And so it didn't work out. But I always kept in mind this idea of Meetup and the things that they could do. By the way, you'll notice this woman's shirt says, I drink coffee. I drink whiskey. On a scale of one to America, how free are you tonight? And would you like to come to a party? So I work at this branch. You've met my boss. She's a little crazy. Her name's Cheryl. And she said, we're going to have an 80s prom. And everyone's going to dress up. And we're going to be really excited. And I have all these Meetup groups. And I was like, Meetup, you don't say. And it's going to be a great time. It's going to be after hours. And we're like, yes. And they came back. And the Meetup group said, no, we don't want to come. You don't have booze. And we said, we'll get booze. Come, we'll get booze. And so we reached out to our friend's group. And we said, you have booze. Come. And they said, yes, we will come. And we will make money because we'll sell drinks for $5. And it's a donation. It goes to the library. And we said, yes. This is amazing. And we rocked out the night. We had 110 people that came. It was after hours. They were 20 to 30 years old. And I was like, we've succeeded. They were 21. They were all 21. I wasn't even 21. So we're riding this super high. We're like, we're awesome. And we sat in this planning meeting. We had started to theme things out. So August was like hot August arts. And September was cooking. And October came up. And I was like, October Fest. Yes. This is what my life has been building up to. This is the highlight of my day. We're going to do October Fest. And we're like, yes. And then we high-fived. And we were like really excited. We're like, we're going to do booze programs. And 20-year-olds will come. And we will take over the library world. And we said, yes. And I did this like, I'm going to go run over to my desk and start sending emails. Her desk is like two feet away. So it was a really short run. It's the most exercise I'd gotten that week. So I went to my desk. And I started typing this email. And I was like, who am I going to send this to? Who do I want to come? And I was like, you know what? I like drinking. I like drinking vodka. And I like drinking whiskey. And you know who sells some good stuff? St. George Spirits in Alameda. Yes. And I typed up this email. And I was really excited because I'm riding this high. And I said, dear St. George, my name is Angela. I'm a librarian. Please come to my library. P.S., bring booze. And I'm a teen librarian too. So I should mention that. And I went. And I sit in the teen room for two hours a day. And I sat. And I came back. And St. George responded, we would love to come to your library. L-O-V-E capital letters. And I was like, yes. And they were like, well, bring booze. Just talk to your nonprofit friends group. And it'll be like a thing in a fundraiser. And we'll give you money. And I was like, yes. And I did this dance. And I jicked my way into my boss's office. And I said, I am wonderful. St. George spirits is coming. And they're coming for free. And it's going to be great because we're going to do a tasting. And then we're going to do, I do this a lot, I said, we're going to do a cocktail hour afterwards. And it's going to be wonderful because 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds and 60-year-olds, everyone will enjoy this will be great. I said, please tell the friends, this is the day I want to do it. And she said, yes. I said, yes. And we high-fived again because we're really into high-fiving. And she came back to me the next day. And she said, I talked to the friends. And I was like, yes. And she said, they don't want to do it. And I said, no. I said, my dreams. All of the things, all of the things I wanted to do, all of the things I wanted to accomplish. And I said, why would they say such a thing? Friends groups are supportive. Friends groups are supportive. They want to help me. She said, no, they're really worried about liability. They don't want these small. They don't think they're going to generate enough income from it. And I was like, no, but they're supporting the library. And they came to prom. And they were really great. She's like, yeah, you're not going to convince them. The board has ruled against you. I was really sad. I was like, well, this is going to be very fun. And so I was writing this thing for futures, which was more embarrassing because I wrote the first part of futures when I was really excited. And then I was like, now I've got to go to futures and sit next to the friend's library lady who let her group do alcohol. And that wasn't a slip up. And I was like really sad because I was going to be this total failure talking at futures about how I didn't get alcohol to my alcohol related program. So then I'm like, wait, I just need a nonprofit group. They'll sign my ABC license. I'll trick some poor unsuspecting nonprofit group to come to the library. And so I went to our speech and debate teacher, speech and debate teacher. And I said, you have a nonprofit board. Please go to the mothers of your board and tell them that we should have alcohol at the library. This is a great idea. Surprisingly, they said no. And I was crushed again. This is just a story of my dreams falling apart. So at the same time we'd been working on this program, anybody read Roller Girl by Victoria Jameson? One person raised their hands. Good job, librarians. It's really awesome. It's a graphic novel. And we're going to have this program. We don't just do book talks. We do book talks with a twist. So it's about this girl who joins Roller Derby and it's really empowering. It's about a young girl. And I was like, you know what we should do? We should definitely bring our local Roller Girls. My boss and I were like, yeah, but we should also do a Roller Derby in the parking lot. And we were like, yes, we are awesome. We can't have alcohol, but we're awesome. So I was sitting there and I realized Silicon Valley Roller Girls is the nonprofit group. Silicon Valley Roller Girls are 20 to 30 year olds with tattoos that support young girls and empowering things, but have been turned down so long. So I shot this email to Documental. She signs all her emails mental. So it's like the best correspondence. My Roller Derby name is Book Life, in case you're interested. So I was like, dear mental, this is Book Life. You know, hey, here's this thing. I want to do this series of four alcohol related programs. St. George's Spirits. I want to do a whiskey tasting. I want to do a 1920s murder mystery bash after hours. I want to do a wine and paint night for our Dilt-Only Arts Ladies Club. It's like this much money. What do you think? I mean, you would keep all the money. And she responded and she said, yes. And I did the dance of 1,000 dances and I screamed at my desk. This nice man with his five. I acknowledge you, sir. And then I ignore you. I am telling a story of booze. So then I got really excited because I was like, yes. And this is the screen that I prepared where I was really sad. And I was like, where do we go? Because here's the thing about libraries. You know where 20 to 30 year olds don't want to go on a Friday night? They don't want to go to the library. And it's just a real sad truth of what we do. How do I get them to come to the library at a nighttime program, especially if they don't have kids? How do you get single, ready to mingle people to come? And how do you get them to think about the library as a place that isn't just books? Because that's what we struggle with and that's what we fight is this misconception that we're boring places. And that's not true. We're like this really great hub for the community where a place where people can go and they can hang out. And guess what? At my library, you can drink. So, the thing is my friends group wasn't super supportive. But you know who was my library director? And she's in the audience and I'm not kissing her butt. But she was super supportive. Of course, I always pitch these ideas. I go in with like a bottle of red wine and a cheese plate and I said, let's talk about a program. And surprisingly, she's always really amenable. And you know, my drug boss, Cheryl, was like, these are really great programs. This is what we need in the library. And so I had this really great support structure but I didn't have any way to make it happen. And it was through all these other partnerships that it happened. And there's this really big misconception. Alcohol is naughty. Now, if you've never drank before, maybe that's an opinion, but a lot of us drink and a lot of us don't wanna go out to a loud bar but maybe we do wanna hang out in a creative atmosphere and maybe we do wanna sip on a cocktail. So, even though that's okay for us personally, people don't want that at their libraries because it's naughty. And it's not, it's really exciting. So, the Silicon Valley Roller Girls were so excited to come. They were so excited that they've had more volunteers for this event than some of their other nonprofit events. So I think I have like 30 roller girls who are like, we're gonna help a lot. Don't worry about it. I was like, yes, at least you're coming. And they said, we're so excited to partner with you. These are actually the cocktail glasses they made for the St. George event. The Leaf is my library logo. Silicon Valley Roller Girls, they didn't, they said, hey, we're making glasses. We're gonna sell them at the event. So it all goes to the nonprofit. Do you want your logo on it? Duh. And I called some people up and I said, these glasses are awesome. And they said, but do we wanna be associated with alcohol? And I said, yes, these are amazing. And we have an art and wine festival this week. The city's logos slapped all over wine glasses. What's your problem? And so they were these enthusiastic partners. And I was like, this is great, we're really awesome. So it's kind of this idea that we can break out of this mold. That if you persevere hard enough, if you're really excited, if you decide that you're gonna stumble, I think the title of my program was like hipsters, hurdles, all that kind of stuff. If you wanna bring gambling. I started this year a fantasy football program. It's considered gambling, right? People aren't putting money down, but they're winning a prize, they're being competitive. Booze, alcohol programs, parties, 80s prom, murder mystery, all these sinful things. It's like, it's up to us as librarians to kind of break this mold and say, our libraries can be whatever we want because we think we're reaching a need. My program is next Tuesday, by the way, if you wanna come, it's next Tuesday, register on eventbrite.com. I have 76 people signed up. I have a meetup group with 35 people on it, and we haven't even media blitzed it yet. That was just word of mouth. So, look at these, look at hurdles. One, I'm really happy that I didn't have to give the worst presentation next to a super supportive friends group. But also, look at them and think about what you can do and think about this demographic in a brand new way. That's it.