Coming to a computer near you- online videos promoting books

Library marketing; promoting books; trends; Vidlits

The NY Times ran an article today about how some large book publishers are running the equivalent of movie trailers on the web to attract new audiences to their books. Random House, Workman Publishing, Scholastic and other publishers are running videos on sites catering to readers as well as general-interest sites such as Yahoo and YouTube to promote their books. The price is right and the medium (internet advertising or web content) is right.

According to the article,

"No one at Bantam can be sure how much the videos contribute to overall sales. But Random House is ready to do it again: Daisy Kline, its marketing director for children's books, has just signed up for a similar program, the Teen Book Video Awards. The Book Standard is currently sending galleys for three books, Great and Terrible Beauty; The Book Thief and How I Live Now, to film schools."

It all makes sense, of course, but the question is how can libraries get onboard with this trend? Are any libraries linking to these videos yet?

Speaking of promoting books, have you checked out VidLits Yet? Author and innovator, Liz Dubelman created these creative and fun Flash pieces. They are really great and may inspire you to think ofsimilar similiar format tosomemote soem services at your library. [Sorry if you have dial- up it won't play]. YA Librarians will enjoy Meg Cabot's Vidlit - there are lots more!

Teens from the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County created readinger eading video promoting
their summer reading program. Has anyone else moved ahead in this area yet?

Marketing Treasures is back on the press

Subjects: library marketing: marketing treasures;
Chris Olson is back with her Marketing Treasures newsletter. Great for everyone- beginners will learn and those who have a bit of ink behind the ears will be reminded of things they wished they hadn't forgotten. Enjoy! Sign up here.

Looking for a free video to market your library services?

Library marketing; diversity in libraries;

The Impromptu Librarian shares a new resource for librarians looking to reach out to English, Spanish, and Sudanese-Nuer speaking communities:

"Making a doctor's appointment, visiting a doctor or finding current health information can be confusing for children and adults unfamiliar with the U.S. health care system. The UNMC McGoogan Library of Medicine wants to help with its recently produced "Following the Clues: A Visit to the Doctor and the Library," a 12 minute video narrated in English, Spanish and Sudanese-Nuer that shows viewers how to navigate the health care system and find health information at the library. "

All the Buzz

library marketing. The Power of Personal Persuasion Toolkit; ALA

The buzz has begun... blogs posting links like crazy.... The Law Librarian Blog ....FYI ....CELIA'S ... Library Marketing.... KLA Academic Librairans .... and even WISBLAWG ... are all talkng about it, and you should too! **Flash*** Yup... the BabyBoomer Librarian and Steve Abrams are talking about it too.... and you still haven't gone to the site? :-)

The Association of College and Research Libraries toolkit entitled The Power of Personal Persuasion has been released on PDF has some very important information for anyone looking to persuade other.... and of course you are!

BTW... this posting uses principle number 5- Principle of Consensus. Check it out and consider yourself buzzed.

Looking to reach your business community?

library marketing; promoting services for businesses; online newsletters for libraries

The other day I came across a terrific online newsletter promoting library services for businesses written by Joan Divor, Business Services Librarian Burlington County Library System. It was good enough to get me to click right to the website which was equally exciting! So many libraries are offering great services and collections for specific communities such businesses, but have a tough time reaching the target audience. Joan has done a very good marketing job. She uses her outreach events, library programs, reference desk interaction, presentations to businesses to build a mailing list for her newsletter and then follows through -building the website around her customers needs and interests, sending the newsletter, using contacts to expand her outreach. It is what we like to call, the perfect marketing cycle because it continually propels forward. She started back in 2002 and now has quite a mailing list. Joan told me:

"The newsletter goes to somewhere between 300 and 400 addresses, largely obtained through attendance at expos, personal contact at the reference desk, my library programs, and presentations to business groups outside the library. I started it in late 2002. I get compliments from readers periodically -- and very few unsubscribes! I am thinking about morphing it into a blog at some point, and I've got some new ideas on content expansion in support of this. In addition, I am hoping to be able to change my web site to a wiki, once we have the in-house technology to support that.

Lately, some of the many "seeds" I've been planting in marketing to the business community are seeming to sprout. I've been getting contacted by business people and county government folks to meet with them, or speak at functions, based directly on my outreach or through someone who heard me speak and told someone else. That feels good, because marketing requires lots of various types of efforts, and its important to me to be able to see what bears results. "

I love it that she just keeps the ideas flowing! If you have a neat newsletter you send out why not email me and we can share on the M Word. ndowd@njstatelib.org

Pictures from ALA in New Orleans

ALA Conference: New Orleans
Did you see the pictures from ALA yet? This one was from a great window display. There are more on my Flickr page:

My pictures are back!

I have been having such a difficult time publishing pictures to my blog and it turns out to have been a wrong setting.... It is fixed now- yeah! In celebration, I am posting a picture of Copenhagen's Library- one of my favorite cities.

89 Tips to writing great press releases

Library Marketing; Writing Press Releases

I just came across a great resource for writing press releases. Candi at Lib Talk pointed her readers to Joan Stewart's (The Publicity Hound) blog and website for a free email course on writing press releases. All you have to do is sign up and for the next 89 days she'll email you:

" One lesson on how to write or distribute a press
release that anyone who is interested in your topic, including the media, will read. This is the real meat of the tutorial and the part most people struggle with--even professional PR people.. "

The whole website is great, I loved the section on, Nonprofit Publicity Tips Online and Offline. Take a few minutes to head over! For those of you in New Jersey who are just starting off writing press releases I am scheduling three more classes through the RLC's. If you are interested email me and I'll try to hook you up with a class in your region.

A new blog is born!

SJRLC has just brought a new blog online- SJRLC Connections! They say it was inspired by last week's workshop with Michael Stephens and will aim to keep South Jersey libraries up-to-date on all relevant activities, news, trends and ideas. This is sure to be a great addition to our blog community!

Neat front page for a library website

Outreach for libraries; library marketing; library web sites
I am working on my next post about outreach events but thought I'd share this website I came upon. Take a look at Indiana’s http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/. Simple and easy to click to see what they are promoting... I clicked a few times and I'm not even from Indiana! Have you a neat front page you want other's to look at? Comment or forward an email to me and I'll create a link! ndowd@njstatelib.org