There was an opportunity to create a venue for regionally/nationally known authors to speak to our community about unique topics, meet with festival attendees, provide literary programs and workshops and focus attention on libraries, books, and the literary arts in Fort Collins. A collaboration among public and academic libraries, the city, and local businesses could engage the community in unexpected ways while helping the library district reach new audiences.

We served as the lead producer of the "Book Fest" as an independent community-wide program, collaborating with the City of Fort Collins, Colorado State University, nonprofit and for-profit businesses to create the area’s first large book festival. By aligning our annual festival themes around the city’s Economic Development Clusters, we drew the business and entrepreneurial community into the library community to support books and authors, as well as cultural, social and economic priorities.

The "FoCo Book Fest" was successful in providing a platform for libraries, business and nonprofit entities to engage the community in celebration of our local creative industries while drawing attention to the significance of libraries. Additionally, the event succeeded in supporting key library district initiatives outlined in our Strategic Plan including building community engagement, attracting target audiences, establishing partnerships and branding the library district as a center for continuous learning.