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Below are 13 favorite projects – with very different flavors! They use surprisingly varied mechanics — such as moving through the neighborhood versus staying in place, and solving puzzles versus the use of audio to augment reality (AR/XR). Each comes with a “recipe” to make your own, photographs and project details.

#1. Interactive Story Garden with Three Birds

PREVIEW: Text with one of three birds in a sculpture just outside the library: Ezra, Avo, and Scout are perched at the entrance to a story garden. Three unique personalities were developed for each of the birds by library staff. One was written by students from a local school; a second gives a tour of the grounds; a third gives some of the library’s powerful history – and features photographs texted directly to the participant’s phone. A local illustrator drew the three friendly birds.

#2. Ghost of the Caboose

PREVIEW: Community members were able to participate in a spooky story led by a friendly ghost about a famous historical caboose in the center of town. The library launched this activity in time for Halloween and have since continued to expand on the project by adding narrative flourishes.

#3. Bike Tour of Branch History

PREVIEW: A bike tour of newly named branches (group tour with leader, or self-guided) with a circuit map takes riders through seven DC neighborhood libraries. Each location had a specialty flier for check-in, goodies to take home, and most importantly the historic images and context to explain how the branch or space had been recently renamed or named in honor of a DC historic figure or resident.  Solo riders could also go on their own at any time or join later.

#4. Downtown Storywalk on Architectural Shapes

PREVIEW: Participants walk around their community to take photographs of shapes they spot. The shapes theme came from a book to teach different shapes to young kids, which they were encouraged to read at each stop of the activity. Participants had the option to participate in the activity as part of another StoryWalk the library was hosting. The virtual activity was integrated with 4 stops on the StoryWalk and involved taking pictures of shapes in their surroundings and answering trivia questions.

#5. Black Feminist Exhibit — Augmented Voice Tour

PREVIEW: An audio walking tour through the “Black Feminist” exhibit created in collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum for the MLK branch of the D.C. Public Library. This physical installation is augmented by the voice of D.C. community leader Katea Stitt who provides her insights and stories of the history “beyond” the exhibit, guiding participants with images and text.

#6. Circulation Desk Storytelling Box

PREVIEW: This box was created to be an FAQ style of interaction for people seeking common information at the circulation desk, perhaps to be used when there may not be a librarian immediately available to answer a common question. The blue is eye-catching and the box feels almost like a stage for the screen. We were drawn in, and found ourselves asking, “What can you do here?” In other words, the object itself was a hook for our attention. Inside is a repurposed laptop with touchscreen capabilities. Buttons on the screen allow patrons to explore branching stories (e.g., choose-your-own-adventure), or to select their interests. The physical structure is mostly cardboard with about $15 worth of wallpaper, and signage printed in the library. (Hurrah for cardboard prototyping!) The narrative is controlled with ordinary Google Slides using a little fancy hot-linking. The whole thing is positioned next to the front desk at the branch library.

#7. Then and Now Around Grand Ledge

PREVIEW: A tour around Grand Ledge, Michigan beginning at the public library that uses the statue of a cat, named Webster, as the tour guide to follow around town. The project launch was publicized on the library’s website and activated by QR codes with prompts that speak directly to the feline tour guide. The library drew from a large archive of historic photos to text everyone that continued their dialogue with Webster throughout the tour to points of interest around town. 

#8. Main Street Historical Scavenger Hunt

PREVIEW: A scavenger hunt that ties in some history of the small Kentucky town to five businesses and points of interest near Main Street in Taylorsville, KY. Each location of the scavenger hunt was chosen through collaboration with library staff who asked participating locations to display a sign that prompted the text-based scavenger hunt. A puppet from the library, Dogwood the Cat, is featured as the host of the scavenger hunt on each sign and is the personality for the text message interactions. At each location along the hunt, a keyword must be unscrambled in order to get the clue for the next location in the sequence. The narrative includes a playful “Magic 8 Ball” component developed by library staff that injects some unexpected outcomes to this playful activity that brings people onto the streets of this small historic town.

#9. Bookmobile Quest – Chat with the Bookmobile

PREVIEW: The Bookmobile’s files have gotten scrambled and she needs your help to sort them out; answer questions to help the Bookmobile get functioning again. This playful text based puzzle created by library staff prompts participants with custom signage to engage with this important resource of the Arrowhead Library System.

#10. Brookings Historical Texting Tour

PREVIEW: A tour of historical downtown Brookings led by a caricature of town founder Wilmot Brookings, pioneer & Provisional Governor of the Dakota Territory, Brookings’ namesake and the logo of Wooden Legs Brewing Company’s. The project helped to bring to light stories associated with historic points of interest, architectural curiosities, and local trivia through a text and image guided tour through the home of South Dakota State University. Despite being the town’s namesake very few residents of Brookings, including the creators of this project, knew the story behind the wooden-legged town founder but the local brewery did have some knowledge of this character and developed a brand around the historic figure. The process not only helped illuminate previously obscured local history, but strengthened local ties with library staff through their collaboration with the popular brewery in using their cartoon logo of Wilmot Brookings throughout the tour as a mascot.

#11. Bellows Falls in Time

PREVIEW: A guided multimedia tour through the village of Bellows Falls led by a mysterious character who knows the charming history and stories behind the landmarks of the village.

Many community partners are involved in this project including: Rockingham for Progress, Bellows Falls Downtown Development Association, Greater Falls Chamber of Commerce, Town of Rockingham Development Office, Bellows Falls Rotary, Falls Area Community Television, Wild Goose Players, Bellows Falls Historical Society, and individual community leaders.

#12. The Casa Peralta Tiles

PREVIEW: A bilingual audio scavenger hunt exploring the grounds outside the library by the historic Casa Peralta, a unique local architectural gem known for custom tiles depicting the story of Don Quixote. The tour is led by a locally produced voiceover of Don Quixote, who narrates from a phone call to participants as they explore the property. While hearing accounts of select custom tiles from the character himself participants are exposed to this underappreciated local jewel and the story of Don Quixote which was such an important inspiration to the original owner of Casa Peralta and a wonderful tie-in to this California town. 

#13. Hanging Out with Bernice

PREVIEW: A walking tour through a small rural Wisconsin town, guided by the fictional conversations of a very real early 20th century resident, Bernice Buck. Bernice’s persona for the walking tour was developed by library staff as a precocious “roaring twenties” flapper, and after loose dialogue was written by the staff ChatGPT was employed to rewrite this dialogue in the voice of the period. Bernice’s family history provides a series of twists and turns that provide a compelling narrative throughout the tour, which is accompanied by a rich set of personal photos from the Buck family. The narrative is centered around this influential local family, whose rich history provides opportunities to illuminate historic gems and oddities specific to Winchester, such as a unique photograph of Al Capone taken in town as well as the former gangsters connection to local baseball.