As a child, Jamie Hemingway wandered acres of backyard and admired the lush scenery of her home in North Carolina. When she wasn’t exploring the outdoors, she was at the library.
“I still have memories of my school library, and asking my parents to take me to the public library where we lived near Winston-Salem,” she remembered. “Libraries have been a constant in my life. I went from checking out my favorite creepy books in North Carolina to walking to the library from my house in Bakersfield, California as a teen, and later, seeking out the library as a quiet refuge in college.”
It’s no wonder she ended up working in a library. While working towards a bachelor’s degree from the University of Reno, Nevada, Jamie started her career with the Washoe County Library System.
“When it comes to working in the book industry, with a last name like Hemingway, you either write them, or you do the work to get them into readers’ hands,” exclaimed Jamie. “I’ve done a little bit of everything. I started out as a part-time shelver, then became a Youth Services Library Assistant. I was quite satisfied with that job for many years and had a great time doing hundreds of story times with my trusty monkey puppet.”
“One of the things I have really enjoyed about my time with Washoe County Library is the ability to transfer into different jobs at different library locations. The options for variety really allow you to re-invigorate a long-term career. In 20 years, I’ve worked at three different libraries and held three different positions. In 2016 I made the conscious decision to pivot my resume towards library marketing and joined our Marketing and Communications team. My ultimate goal was to get where I am today!”
Jamie does much of the same work as many of my readers: producing flyers, sending emails, and working on social media posts. Unfortunately, she’s also had to become skilled at handling backlash.
Her library held its first Drag Story Hour in 2019. Jamie recruited the performers and acted as emcee.
“I bought a rainbow suit, brought along my monkey puppet for moral support, and had the distinct privilege of introducing our fabulous drag performers, Aspen Meadows and Ginger Devine,” explained Jamie. “That year we had 800 people walk through our library doors. We also had hundreds of supporters outside who came just to cheer us on.”
Washoe County Library held several more Drag Story Hour events. The last happened in 2022. When plans were made earlier this year for another event, the library faced opposition from a small but vocal sector of their community. A group of self-described “Nevada patriots” led by the Washoe County Republican Party chairman sent a mass email urging people to come to a county commission meeting. His goal: to urge commissioners to put an end to Drag Story Hour.
The group was not successful. However, Jamie and her coworkers knew they needed to address the misinformation. So, they decided to create a video featuring one of the drag performers out of costume, choosing books for storytime.
“The idea for the video series came about through conversations between our Youth Services and Library Events team, Library Administration, the local LGBTQIA+ nonprofit community space called Our Center, and our drag performer, Ginger Devine, AKA Christopher Daniels,” explained Jamie. “We all felt it was important to show our patrons who Ginger/Christopher was out of costume. De-mystifying our friend Ginger seemed like the best route to potentially flipping the script. At the very least, we hoped our patrons would see the great and normal person that Christopher is all the time—whether they are dressed in their workweek clothes or decked out in a fabulous costume.”
“We worked with Christopher to develop a general goal for the series and then let them come up with a draft of a script. Christopher has worked as an actor, improviser, theater director, and entertainer for many years, so we knew we were in capable hands with the script content.”
Jamie’s team was well-prepared for video production, something they got very good at during the pandemic. It took two days to shoot the video and two days to edit it.
“We divided the series into segments based on Christopher’s tips for storytellers, and we included a video about how they get ready for Drag Story Hour,” recalled Jamie. “Chris is an engaging performer and knows how to keep a theater audience entertained, so we wanted to share some of their tips for families who might want to make storytelling at home even more fun and theatrical.”
Here are the tips for storytellers from Christopher:
- Tip 1: Character Development
- Tip 2: Tempo and Tone
- Tip 3: Asking Questions
- Tip 4: Keeping it Fresh.
- Tip 5: Audience Participation
Washoe County Library shared the videos on Facebook and Instagram and promoted the series in our weekly newsletter. (That’s where I first spotted it!) The feedback was positive.
“The video of Chris getting ready for Drag Story Hour by visiting staff members at different libraries was especially funny and heartwarming,” said Jamie. “People got to learn more about Christopher and see them as a person who lives in their community (and loves the library!), and that was one of our main goals.”
The library plans to include video promotion for the event in its marketing plan for 2024 and beyond. The library’s director, Jeff Scott, also talks about the Drag Story Hours on a local news segment.
“It’s a great way to build excitement and get the word out,” advised Jamie. “And we love giving our community a behind-the-scenes look by showing people what the event is about–promoting literacy for all kinds of unique kids and families while sharing great picture books about kindness, self-acceptance, and self-esteem.”
Jamie is also working on the launch of a new grant-funded Bookmobile,
“We use parade appearances as an additional marketing and outreach tool, so next up on our list is to debut the Bookmobile at the Sparks Hometowne Christmas Parade,” said Jamie. “It’s one of our favorite parades and it really gets us out there in the community. People love seeing a librarian dressed up as a snowman pushing a book cart down the parade route! I highly recommend parade participation for libraries. It’s a fun way to build goodwill and remind people that they’ve got a great library system and some seriously fun librarians in the area.”
For any library systems looking to add a Drag Story Hour program to their roster, Jamie has some advice.
“A great starting point is the Drag Story Hour 501(c)(3) nonprofit,” counseled Jamie. “They provided us with some great tools for how to improve our program and it was a big reminder that no one should have to go it alone.”
“Interested libraries might even discover that a Drag Story Hour chapter exists in their community, or for that matter, doesn’t yet exist. It’s a great time to get involved and get active. It might not always seem like things are changing for the better, but I like to look at the big picture. Twenty years ago, we never would have hosted Drag Story Hour. But it’s here now, and it’s not going away.”
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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 
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