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Volunteers, sponsors and a ribbon-cutting planned for Larkspur library's book brigade and facility move
Summary
Board members and volunteers outlined plans for a Book Brigade to move library materials to the new facility, discussed route and safety coordination with police and fire, volunteer recruitment tools (SignupGenius), timing options, and a Commons Foundation ribbon-cutting to coincide with the move.
Larkspur's advisory board used part of its Dec. 8 meeting to finalize plans for a volunteer "Book Brigade" and the library's transition to a new facility, discussing logistics, volunteers, route safety and a possible ribbon-cutting coordinated with the Commons Foundation.
Public commenter Chris Linhard, representing the Rose Lane community, opened the discussion and provided an update on the volunteer planning and prior meeting work. Organizers described a working assumption of roughly 50 minutes to pass approximately 1,000 books (staff later noted variation in the estimate and alternative calculations producing a 750-volunteer estimate), and emphasized flexibility: "we started with a thousand books ... it might adjust a little bit," one organizer said.
The group identified recruitment tools and promotional channels: a board member reported Sean Sullivan suggested using Signup Genius to handle volunteer sign-ups and waivers and to collect photos; staff also mentioned local Marin promotion channels for community outreach. Organizers intend to approach local restaurants and merchants for sponsorship (food, T-shirts) and plan to alert local TV and newspapers after the new year.
Route and safety were central planning topics. Organizers said the event will likely be a Saturday morning (around 9 a.m.) and that staff would coordinate the exact route and safety logistics with the police chief, fire department and city manager. Age guidance discussed included parental accompaniment for young children and a rule of no dogs.
The Commons Foundation was reported to be willing to host pre-event festivities and photography before the ribbon cutting; the board discussed combining the ribbon cutting with the Book Brigade finale so volunteers or guests would be led into the new facility after the ribbon is cut.
Logistics items to be resolved before the event included where the books would be staged if the new building was not yet ready to receive them, shelving mapping for the new layout (staff will use the moving consultant's floor plan to place collections), how returns will be handled during the closure, and whether the book drop would remain open (staff said the book drop will remain open and will be cleared by one staff member).
Next steps: organizers will refine the route and timings, finalize volunteer recruitment tools and sponsor outreach, and report progress at the January meeting. The board set a tentative next meeting date of Jan. 6 (noting some calendar ambiguities) and agreed to continue planning in January.
