Skokie Yearbook Project
Skokie Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
We created Skokie Yearbook Project (SYP) to capture a year in the life of Skokie and to connect community members through play and exploration. We encouraged all ages and abilities to get playful through experiential activities and to connect with others and with the library. Events occurred in the library and in the community across a full year. SYP supported Skokie residents to tell the story of who we are and how we live in community with one another. In Phase 1, patrons reflected on who they are individually with activities such as creating stamped self-portraits, like a yearbook portrait. In Phase 2, participants explored who they are with family and friends, where we come from, and how we connect with others through shared interests, like yearbook photos of students in clubs. In Phase 3, we explored the Skokie community as a whole and our interconnections, like a full class photo. Activities supported community members to learn more about Skokie to further a sense of belonging.
Challenge/Opportunity
In 2023, the Surgeon General declared loneliness and isolation an epidemic. In response, one of our strategic goals is to cultivate connectedness and belonging. One way we're addressing this is through facilitation of play and exploration for community members to build trust and develop relationships. The Skokie Yearbook Project offered accessible and engaging playful exploratory opportunities in both the community and library for community members to connect. To help create these opportunities, we commissioned furniture designed to invite patrons of all ages and abilities to sit with one another while engaging in activities. Our year-long project had three phases with different focus areas to provide multiple avenues for the community to participate in exploration. We created a physical yearbook and exhibited community members' contributions, further extending a sense of belonging and connection: everyone who participated in the project contributed to telling the community's story.
Key Elements of Innovation
Skokie Yearbook Project (SYP) was a yearlong experiential initiative resulting in a printed yearbook. Project leads developed playful, hands-on activities for three project phases, involving staff from every library department, creating facilitation guides, and training staff and teen volunteers to lead activities. The length of SYP gave participants myriad opportunities to engage with the project, the library, and one another in different settings and in different ways, affording our very diverse community multiple opportunities to congregate, contribute, and connect on level ground as a full community rather than along group-identifying lines. Each phase produced community-made creative artifacts, from self-portraits (Phase 1) and zines with personal stories about friends and family (Phase 2), to a collection of Skokie stories and wishes for the future (Phase 3). We developed SYP branding to establish residents' familiarity with the initiative in the library and at community events.
Achieved Outcomes
We engaged our community at over 100 pop-up programs, events, and community visits, including at senior living facilities, early childhood centers, parks, and schools, connecting with thousands of community members throughout the year. We collected over 1,000 portraits, zines, and sticky-note reflections and hosted an interactive exhibit featuring examples of the community artwork along with a digital photo exhibit of patron participants. We strengthened our partnership with the Skokie Heritage Museum, contributing to each other's work, and our teen volunteers meaningfully contributed to the project throughout. We observed residents making new connections; families, friends, and strangers enjoying creating together; and patrons coming away with new skills and interests. The yearbook provides a sustaining community connection with the library not only for our current residents, but for the future Skokie community, who will find a copy of the yearbook in the 2050 Skokie Time Capsule.
Supporting Materials:
- Instagram post: skokielibrary
"Thank you all for sharing so much of yourselves with us during our Skokie Yearbook Project! We can't wait to show you all what's next."
