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Mississippi Libraries Vol. 67, No. 4, Winter 2003 Page 120
In the Public Eye
Joining the Research Revolution: Flowood
Library’s Experience as a Pilot Site
By Jan Neal
Central Mississippi Regional
Library System
jneal@cmrls.lib.ms.us
In July 2002, the G. Chastaine Flynt
Memorial Library in Flowood was selected
as one of 50 pilot sites nationwide to
participate in the series, Research Revolution:
Science and the Shaping of Modern
Life, a film and discussion series offered
by National Video Resources (NVR) in
partnership with the American Library
Association (ALA). The National Science
Foundation also provided major funding.
SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY
The library first became aware of this
opportunity in May 2002 when our reference
librarian read about the series on the
American Library Association Public Programs
Office electronic discussion list.
The list makes information about ALA
public programs, projects and upcoming
events more immediately available to public
libraries. We felt the series would be a
wonderful programming opportunity for
the community we serve and immediately
began the application process.
The application, provided by National
Video Resources, (NVR) www.nvr.org,
required basic information about the
library, the program coordinator, a participating
local scholar, and local partners.
The following questions were part of the
application: Who are you What target
audience would you like to reach with
the series What experience has your
library had with public programming
Why would you like to be a site for the
project How do you plan to publicize
the series What community partners do
you plan to involve in the project
PARTICIPANTS AND PARTNERS
We named Flowood’s branch manager,
Jan Neal, as the program coordinator and
recruited a local Belhaven College professor,
Dr. Westley F. Busbee, as our scholar
participant. The Mississippi Library Commission,
Central Mississippi Regional
Library System, Friends of the Flowood
Library, and Crossroads Film Society of
Jackson, Mississippi, all agreed to partner
with us for this exciting event and wrote letters
of support for the application. Our partners
agreed to provide volunteer and funding
assistance, mailing lists, and overall general
support toward the success of the film
series should we be selected as a pilot site.
The library was notified by e-mail on
July 15th of our selection as one of 50
program pilot sites. Our coordinator and
scholar flew to Denver, Colorado, on
October 18, 2002, for a two-day seminar.
A minimal amount of record keeping
detailing project expenditures, statistics,
and participant and presenter evaluations
was required by NVR before, during,
and at the completion of the project.
AN EASY-TO-FOLLOW MODEL
The viewing and discussion series is an
easy-to-follow model and eliminates much
of the worry of public programming.
NVR provides complete training and
access to online support from national
project staff and from experienced colleagues
around the country. The training
seminar gives library coordinators and
scholars a chance to come together, share
ideas, and receive training from film and
programming experts. A look at the table
of contents of the NVR series program
manual provides a clue as to the quality
and extent of training: Planning the
Series, Guidelines for Scholars, Promotion,
Funders, Administrative Documents,
Program Guides: Overview, Guide to
Films, Sample Discussion Questions,
Resources, Promotional Documents: Fact
Sheet, Sample Press Release, Sample
Media Alert, Sample Public Service
Announcements, and Sample Letters to
Community Groups. Especially valuable
for scholar Dr. Busbee was the chance to
meet with other scholars to view the films
and observe as NVR representatives
demonstrated how to facilitate meaningful
discussion for each session. Librarian
coordinators also met in a group to learn
strategies for planning, publicizing, and
implementing sessions. Topics for sessions
on the seminar agenda include Presenting
the Series (Session by Session);
Demonstration Session; Attracting &
Building an Audience; Idea Exchange for
Leading Discussions; and Evaluating and
Reporting. Each session was extremely
well done. Both the scholar and the
librarian hostess left excited about the
series and well equipped for a successful
event from start to finish.
ABOUT NATIONAL VIDEO
RESOURCES (NVR)
NVR outlines and promotes all of their
current film series on their Web site,
www.nvr.org. The site explains that the
organization “offers libraries and other
nonprofits the chance to present to the
public the highest quality independent
films, videos and documentaries, along
with the scholar-led discussions, on major
events, leaders and technologies of the
20th century…NVR believes that independently
produced films, videos and documentaries
provide the public with lifelong
learning opportunities. NVR’s Viewing
and Discussion series offer libraries carefully
selected and professionally curated
collections of films and documentaries.