Beautiful Library Calendars

Do you need a great gift for a colleague, library lover, or bibliophile? One of the best I've come across is the Renaissance Library Calendar from ISIM in Stockholm. The group is set up to take orders from the US or Europe.

The calendar contains 12 of the most beautiful and famous old libraries in the world. With the 2010 edition we celebrate the 10th year with this unique calendar. The front cover of the 2010 edition of the calendar shows the Vyssi Brod Abbey Library, Theological Hall (1750), in Vyssi Brod, Czech Republic.

I have ordered these before and they are really quite beautiful. Price depends partly on quantity ordered, and runs from $13.95 US for one to $12.00 US each for 50. (Then add shipping, which is specified on the site.) When I bought them they arrived in perfect condition.

The organization that produces these products goes by ISIM: Information Strategy & Information Management. "We are an information strategy and information management consultancy, and a small publishing company, based in Sollentuna, a suburb of Stockholm, in Sweden."

ISIM also sells library posters and greeting cards. It will sell in bulk so you can use the products for fundraising, and when you do this you can even customize the calendars with your logo and more. Check it out today!

Need Stock Photos? Try These Sites

Many librarians need stock photos for their brochures, websites, posters, etc. I recently did a little research and created a list of various sites that provide stock images, and you can find it here, on the Resources section of my website, Libraries Are Essential.

Some of the sites offer free photos but many require subscriptions. Still, those organizations let you choose from various levels of subscriptions, from just a few photos a year to thousands. My list includes a few details about each site to help you choose which ones to click on. Also included is a link to one other blog post about stock sites and one extensive article of 25 sites.

Plenty of places for you to try out! You may even find a better deal than you have now.

ALA Puts Library Promo on Cereal Boxes

ALA just released this news yesterday:

The American Library Association (ALA) is working with Safeway Inc., on a roll-out of the first two of five Safeway-brand cereal boxes with back-panel content about libraries and librarians. The boxes will launch this October and will be available at Safeway’s 1,500 stores across the nation.

“We want to thank Safeway for presenting us with a unique opportunity,” said ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. “The cereal boxes will bring information about some of the exciting ways to enjoy libraries – and about the value of libraries -- straight into people’s homes.”

The first boxes to feature the library-related content are Toasted Oats and Honey Nut Toasted Oats. There will be a staggered launch for the rest of the panels.

The panels focus on five content areas:

1. Get rich @ your library lists free resources available at libraries and encourages readers to add up how much they save by using the library’s resources.

2. Learn for a lifetime @ your library features the ways that school and public libraries encourage lifelong learning.

3. Great mysteries answered @ your library contains fun facts about libraries, including the number of questions answered weekly by reference librarians at our nation’s academic and public libraries.

4. Discover the world @ your library positions a library card as a passport to the world.

5. Discover your family tree @ your library encourages readers to go to the library to research their family tree.

All feature the @ your library® brand of ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries and links to resources available at www.ilovelibraries.org, ALA’s advocacy and public awareness Web site for the public. The first panels focus on genealogy and international libraries.

Visit ilovelibraries.org/safeway to preview the back panels and learn more.

Click here to find which Safeway stores are near you.

AL Direct

I have to share because I am sooooo exited about the book I wrote with my friends, Mary Evangeliste and Jonathan Silberman.  The latest AL Direct highlighted it and I just got my advanced copy.  It has some really great tips by some of the best in the business and it's that kind of book that you'll really enjoy reading. Mary is an academic librarian and Jonathan is a designer and of course, I'm out of the public sector so it's a nice mix. I've heard so many academics say they have unique marketing challenges but I think having both academic and public strategies in the same book will benefit everyone. Depending on where you're coming from, there might be some controversial points of view too. I shared it with an executive director of a non-profit and she wanted a copy! 

Pepsi challenge WOM

From WOMMA ....

At PepsiCo, they have committed to achieving business and financial success while leaving a positive imprint on society - delivering what they call Performance with Purpose. If you are a nonprofit or company and think you've got a worthy case study, then take the challenge. Tell us how you used word of mouth marketing to help a worthy cause in the area of Human or Environmental Sustainability.

The key criteria for winning an award are:
1. A clearly identified business problem
2. A well articulated insight into the problem
3. A creative solution taking with a caused-based initiative
4. Results that relate back to these business problems:

-	Human Sustainability: Teach consumers about positive nutrition, fitness, wellness and/or healthy lifestyle behaviors and choices; make the healthy choice an easier choice to make.
-	Environmental Sustainability: Conserve our natural resources; encourage recycling, operate in a way that minimizes our environmental footprint with the goal of reaching a net-neutral impact.

We're accepting submissions through October 30, 2009.
The chosen case study will have the opportunity to present their case study during the WOMMA Summit 2009 in Las Vegas November 18-20 during the WOMMY Awards luncheon. PepsiCo is sponsoring the winners registration to the conference with one complimentary registration.

2010 IFLA International Marketing Award

Have you conducted an outstanding marketing campaign? Why not consider applying for the 2010 IFLA International Marketing Award? The winner will receive airfare, lodging and registration for the World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly in Sweden in August 2010, as well as a cash award of USD 1,000 which must be used to further the marketing efforts of the recognized organization. Full details here.

Nancy's new book is published!

My new book, Bite-Sized Marketing; realistic solutions for the overworked librarian, has been published by ALA Editions.

I wrote it with Mary Evangeliste, and Jonathan Silberman and I am so proud of it. We wanted to create a marketing book that made sense of the new media, web 2.0 tools, Word of Mouth techniques and other marketing trends but we know how busy you are, so this book is not meant to be read cover to cover, instead it should be picked up and read in “bite-sized” pieces to get you on your way.


Chapters Include:

• Word-of-Mouth Marketing
• How to Market Electronic Resources
• Public Relations 101
• Outreach
• The New Marketing Tools
• Design
• Branding
• Marketing Best Practices

We think you'll be glad we wrote it for you!

Crazy Good Videos

We just celebrated the winning videos for the State Library's "Tell Us Your Story" contest here in NJ and what an event it was!

A little background... we've spent the past year working with librarians to help them create strategic stories to use for advocacy. We used the key messages outlined in the OCLC report and conducted lots of workshops throughout the year. As the stories were collected we used them to create media releases, commercials, PSAs, promotional boards and booklets shared with elected officials. One part of the campaign was a contest encouraging libraries to create a digital story depicting how their libraries are transforming the lives of their customers. Read details of the campaign and prizes here.

We went all out for the award ceremony with live singers, great awards and lot's of stories. But what were most impressed with were the stories by our libraries. The amazing judges for the contest were Kathy Dempsey, Susan Conlon, Amy Kearns,  Erik Boekesteijn and myself. Erik even filmed a special video congratulating the winners. Hat's off  to the following libraries  for their outstanding participation in the competition:

1st Place - Cape May County Library for their video “Get Your Game On at your Library”

2nd Place - West Deptford Public Library for their video “Hector Zapian”

3rd Place –Cranbury Public Library for their video “Finding Love at the Library”

3rd Place - Ocean County Library for their video “Ocean County Library’s Sparks BFF”

3rd Place - South Orange Public Library for their video “South Orange Photo Story”

Honorable Mention – Mount Laurel Library for their video “Bret’s Story”

Honorable Mention - West Orange Library for their video “Bright Ideas.”

Dreaming About the Future of Libraries

Dreaming about the future... isn't this something we all do? What will our personal lives be like in the future? Our families? Our libraries?
If you're like me, then you think about the future of libraries a lot -- maybe a little too much. The possibilities are vast. But we need to do more than dream about them -- we need to think hard, study, and then act to create the future of libraries.

**photo of Michael Stephens and Kathryn Greenhill at Library Camp2009, Uploaded to Flickr on October 3, 2009 by rosehortonau, borrowed from Kathryn's blog**

There is a lot of blog & conference chatter out there about this topic. But at the moment I want to point you to a particular post that I liked. It's on Kathryn Greenhill's blog Librarians Matter. If you don't know of Kathryn or her work (she's an Aussie), it's well worth checking out. I had the pleasure of meeting her this past spring and shortly afterward, speaking at a conference with her in Delft.

At any rate, this post, called "Community Dreaming at Library Camp Perth 2009" is full of food for thought. But my personal favorite section is titled "What do we need to stop doing so we can do other things in the future? What to drop." I point to this one on The M Word because, whenever I talk about true marketing and all the work it involves, the message I get back is "we don't have time for that. we're too busy already." My answer is usually, "well then, drop some of the unimportant things you do, because marketing is essential."

So what might librarians drop to make time for more important work? That was something that the folks at Library Camp Perth talked about, and what's in this post. Suggestions include "bean counting" and "recataloging." I can add things like "shelving" (at the risk of sounding snarky -- let the non-MLS folks, student workers, & volunteers do that!), "endless committee meetings" (where little is accomplished), and "filling display cases." Seriously, if you want to have collections and activities that really appeal to your users (and potential users), if you want to convince important people of your value, if you want to keep your funding, then marketing is essential. Is recataloging or shelving as important? Think about it...

What else would you like to give up so you'd have more time for marketing??? Let's discuss!!

Free Marketing Toolkit from ProQuest

You know how your library has scads of amazing information in all sorts of great databases... but the average person doesn't know about them, understand them, or use them? Well, database vendor ProQuest is sending help! It's created a new toolkit to help you to publicize all the info goodness that's in the ProQuest Historical Newspapers collection.

Here's the news, direct from ProQuest:

ProQuest has launched a free library marketing toolkit designed specifically to help librarians create awareness about and usage of their ProQuest Historical Newspapers collection, other historical resources, and the library itself. The Historical Newspapers Marketing Toolkit includes ideas for reaching out to the user community — from the local genealogy society members to student groups on campus — and driving them to the rich resources available at the library.

“Many users start and end online research sessions with the open web,” said Lynda James-Gilboe, senior vice president of marketing and customer care for ProQuest. “Our goal is to help librarians draw users to a better starting point for relevant, reliable, and vetted information: the library, and its carefully selected e-resources.”

The Historical Newspapers Marketing Toolkit combines a wealth of "how-to" advice and print and digital marketing tools that are easy to customize. Among the program's components are:
* A white paper for ideas on how to use online historical resources to promote the library.
* Tips for using blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to promote online historical newspapers and the library.
* Customizable ProQuest Historical Newspapers™ poster
* A guide to searching ProQuest Historical Newspapers
* Descriptions of the types of content within ProQuest Historical Newspapers and examples of types of research possible within each.
* Sample Searches that demonstrate the research potential of your ProQuest Historical Newspapers collection.
* “Plain language” descriptions of ProQuest Historical Databases.
* A flier of “Five Fascinating Things to Do with Historical Newspapers”
* “Free Subscription” flier for Retroview — an entertaining quarterly e-newsletter that explores history as captured in the pages of historical newspapers.

The Historical Newspapers Marketing Toolkit is part of ProQuest's larger mission to understand the core tenets of librarianship, standing shoulder to shoulder with libraries in support of their goals. ProQuest is committed to investing in library education, honoring great educators with awards and sponsorships, supporting schools with free resources, and sharing its marketing expertise and research with libraries.

NOTE THIS (emphasis mine): The Historical Newspapers Marketing Toolkit is the seventh in a series of marketing kits from ProQuest, which include kits tailored for public, academic, corporate, K-12, and military academic and military base libraries.
The toolkit is available for free download

HERE

.

Although the company itself will obviously benefit from having more people use its databases (therefore keeping them off the list of dbs that get cut from the budgets), ProQuest is still doing busy librarians a favor by showing them how to increase database usage. It's a lesson that can be carried over to other under-used online resources as well. Thanks, ProQuest!!

Is Outreach "UnDead"? Just in Time for Halloween...

I'd like to point you all to a thought-provoking post over at In the Library With the Lead Pipe blog. Emily Ford started a good discussion on the word and idea of "outreach" and titled it "Outreach is (un)Dead."

A tiny piece from the post:

Kill your notion of outreach. We should demolish the body of outreach, but keep outreach activities alive. We should disallow outreach a separate body, but fold its spirit into our daily work and activities, for it is this spirit of work that is the very kernel of what makes a library.

To understand, you need to read the whole post. And the 20-some comments add a lot to it. What's your definition of "outreach" and "marketing"? Do they happen in a coordinated, useful fashion in your organization? Go contribute to the discussion!

Deadline Extended for Apps for National Library Week Grants: Now Due Nov. 6

This news comes directly from ALA:

The deadline for the Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week grant has been extended to Friday, November 6, 2009.

U.S. libraries of all types are invited to apply for a $3,000 grant that will be awarded to the best public awareness campaign that promotes the theme “Communities thrive @ your library” during National Library Week (April 11-17, 2010).

The 2010 grant application form and the guidelines can be accessed from the Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week Web site.

All proposals must use the “Communities thrive @ your library” theme, which incorporates The Campaign for America's Libraries’ @ your library brand, on promotional and publicity material supporting National Library Week activities. Guidelines for using the brand are available on the campaign Web site under the “download logos” section.

The grant is sponsored by Scholastic Library Publishing, a division of Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company and is administered by the Public Awareness Committee of the American Library Association (ALA).

ACRL Wants to Review the Literature on the Value of Academic Libraries

This news comes directly from the Association of College and Research Libraries:

ACRL is seeking proposals from experienced researchers for the development and delivery of a comprehensive review of the quantitative and qualitative literature, methodologies and best practices currently in place for demonstrating the value of academic libraries. The request for proposals is available on the ACRL Web site . Responses are due by 4:30 p.m. CST on Nov. 2, 2009.

The current economic climate and the increased emphasis on assessment and outcomes have forced academic departments’ higher education administrators to make tough decisions regarding the funding of programs and units at their institutions. The relevance of libraries is under question. Now, more than ever, there is a need for libraries to demonstrate their value in clear, measurable ways to leaders in higher education, information technology, funding agencies and campus decision makers in order to secure adequate funding for their operations.

The primary objective of the comprehensive review is to provide ACRL leaders with a clearer understanding of what research already exists and where gaps occur in research about the performance of academic libraries. Additionally, this review will provide ACRL members with tools and strategies to demonstrate the value of academic libraries to their institutional leadership.

Direct questions to Mary Ellen K. Davis, ACRL executive director, at mdavis@ala.org or (312) 280-3248, or to Kara Malenfant, ACRL scholarly communications/government relations specialist, at kmalenfant@ala.org or (312) 280-2510.