I know we have been on a little bit of a video kick here, but I saw these and wanted to share.
Credits:
Advertising Agency: Rethink, Vancouver, Canada
Creative Directors: Chris Staples, Ian Grais
Art Director: Chad Kabigting
Copywriter: Katie Ainsworth
Graphic Designer: Rory O’Sullivan
Producer: Ann Rubenstein
Account Services: Tricia Bradshaw
Client Supervisor: Bill Rice
Production Company: Holiday Films, Toronto
Director: Adam & Dave
Executive Producer: Josefina Nadurata
Producers: Josefina Nadurata, Chris Pavoni
Director of Photography: Jonny Cliff
Editorial: Melanie Snagg, Tonic Post, Vancouver
Music/Sound Design: Chris Hobbs, Koko Productions, Vancouver
Visual Effects: Tonic Post, Vancouver
A great day in Texas. Mary and I gave our presentation/workshop to the Amigos folks in Dallas this past week. The workshop, “Can Libraries be Sold Like Soap?,” was similar to our CARL presentation but we did make a few adjustments. What’s great about the way we have structured the workshop is that we can easily tailor it to fit any size group. We’ve worked with groups as small as ten and as large as fifty. We can also easily cut or add activities to accommodate for time constraints. One hour workshops work, but they’re not as effective as the three hour workshops we have given.
“Can Libraries Be Sold Like Soap?” is constantly evolving. At the core is our commitment to offering a workshop that is engaging, practical, entertaining, and of course, educational. Still, we are always updating it with analyses of new social marketing campaigns and new activities that really allow participants to come out of the workshop with the beginnings of a campaign. The folks at Amigos came out of the workshop with some great ideas including the “Take One for You and One for a Friend” school library campaign and the public library campaign “Steal Music for Free at Your Library.”
We got to meet some great folks from the area including Nancy Hill from UTEP and Betty Long from the New Mexico State Library. We hope to see these folks again and develop workshops aimed at their particular staff and needs. Only regret is that we had to leave so early. Mary to Chicago for another workshop and me back to Tucson for work and three-year old play.
Thanks to Eddy and Laura at Amigos for all the help behind the scenes. Presentation and travel went off without a hitch thanks to their support. And again thanks to our guru, Katya Andresen, for continued inspiration via her book and blog.
Can Libraries Be Sold like Soap?
When: Wednesday, May 7 - 1:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m. (Breakout Session)
Speakers: Mary Evangeliste Director of User Services & Outreach, Gettysburg College and Co-Founder, Fearless Future: Marketing for Things That Matter; Yvonne Mery, Assistant Librarian, Undergraduate Services Team, University of Arizona Library
Audience: Branding and Marketing
Traditionally, many librarians have had little faith in commercial marketing, perceiving it as unnecessary and claiming, in effect, that you can’t sell libraries like you sell soap. This session will present an alternative perspective on commercial marketing: social marketing and its applicability to libraries.
What are the most creative libraries doing to engage current and potential users of the library? Join us as we explore great new ideas for reaching and engaging users and look at some results of users’ involvement in shaping library services, programs, and spaces. This program will go beyond PR, to involving our various communities of users in shaping the libraries of the future. Panelists include an accomplished library social marketer and outreach librarian, a very successful public library director who has integrated her library with other public agencies, a leader in college student engagement programs, and a recent MLS graduate exploring new ideas. This teleconference is 90 minutes–Noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time
…well not really, but there is potential an e-reader could one day. Personally, I don’t think Amazon’s Kindle will be the device to bring us into the next century. I haven’t played with it, but have been combing the tech blogs reading reviews and watching videos because I’ve been waiting for a viable e-reader to come out and Sony’s clunky reader, wrapped in digital rights management, was nothing that interested me.
The Kindle seems like it is actually really cool, but I don’t think that the interface is there yet. The e-paper display is awesome (no eye strain, long battery life) but that is part of the problem, the refresh rate is so bad you can’t create complex interactions/interfaces with it. What is real inciting is free wireless data.
Personally I think the real test of whether of not this will become a revolutionary device will be if Amazon opens it up. If some enterprising individual (read hacker) figures out how to make it so I can share the free wireless connection with my laptop, this will become strapped to my hip for life, and who knows I might actually read a book on it.
It seems to me that people in libraries are obsessed with talking about the future of libraries. Being occupied by the future is kinda against my Buddhist beliefs, but that is another post altogether. Well I am here to tell you that we’ve got nothing to worry about!
I had the privilege of attending a conference put on by the students at the University of Arizona School of Information and Library Sciences and if the caliber and intellect of these students is an indication of the people moving into librarianship—I HAVE NO WORRIES!
This conference was way better than any ALA program I have ever attended. The subject matter was rich and the participants were enthusiastic.
Here is the link to the entire wonderful day: http://www.sir.arizona.edu/lso/symposium07/index.htm
There were so many wonderful programs that I wished that I could have been in two places at once…
Also there were many wonderful participants from the Knowledge River program at SIRLS (University of Arizona School of Information and Library Science)
If you do not know about the Knowledge River program please take a look here http://knowledgeriver.arizona.edu/
It is a program to encourage Hispanic and Native American students into the library profession.
I have been fortunate enough to supervise two Interns from the Knowledge River program and they were and are fabulous.
Like I said, the future is so bright I’ve got to wear shades!
Just recently I read a quote from Don Joyce (of Negativland) on Wired and it seemed suitable to libraries and marketing. Joyce says:
“Selectivity becomes of prime importance, whether it’s looking for content or trying to find what you’re looking for in a thousand pages of search results. As Duchamp and Warhol predicted before they ever saw a computer, there is an art and a message in the act of selection itself.”
Working in libraries over the years, I have noticed one thing come up over and over again: librarians do not understand the fine art of selection. Yes, they are well meaning. When an undergraduate comes to a class or to the reference desk librarians always try to tell the student everything.
Instead we need to retrain ourselves to only impart exactly the information that is needed.
In marketing this means that we have to choose our images with great care. This is one of the reasons that Jonathan and I want to rid the world of clip art.
Both Warhol and Duchamp were excellent at picking out something in everyday life and calling it art. Warhol’s most famous piece of art is the Campbell’s Soup Can and Duchamp’s is the Urinal—and before you can say “I can do better than that”–the truth is you didn’t!—And that is the thing about art and selection and I think that we should all embrace this idea: every image we use to promote our services and activities has weight, so choice carefully!
Every person should consider themselves an artist when choosing, because in our overly media saturated world the choice itself becomes a kind of art.
For the second year Mary has organized the “Amazing Library Race” at the University of Arizona. The race lead students through different “stations” where they find out information about different library services. With all kinds of local sponsorship and help from all over the library, the event was a HUGE success. Click here to head over to Rebecca Blakiston’s (steadfastlibrarian) blog post to get her break down of the event and see some pictures.
I’m posting the Annual Report that I designed for American University Library mostly for inspiration’s sake, but also because I think it turned out great.
Last year the report centered around this theme of a botanical field guide. For this year’s report, the highlights were maps from the library’s special collections. Since maps were the central focus, the report was designed around the core idea of a “Captain’s Log.” This idea allowed the addition of personal elements such as handwriting and handmade graphs, these personal touches helped to dispel the austere image that annual reports tend to portray.
One of the primary goals when designing this annual report was that it be a tactile experience. The cover was embossed with a leather texture on the spine and the four corners, and the paper is milled to feel like cloth. The ultimate goal was that this annual report feel authentic, and I think we succeeded.
Below, I’ve attached a PDF so you can look through the whole thing.
There have been some requests to post the powerpoint “Will it make my teeth whiter? Selling the library without selling out,” from ACRL Baltimore. Below you will find the presentation and the bibliography from the talk.
Oh and if anyone took pictures of this presentation would you please shoot me an e-mail? Mary and I were so scattered by then, we didn’t take any for posterity.
Mary and Jonathan at the 2006 Swap ‘n Shop in NOLA
If you would like to catch a glimpse of the splendor that is Mary Evangeliste, you can see her in action at ACRL; Mary is presenting not once, but twice at ACRL in Baltimore this year.
Library as Convener: Collaborations that Build Creative (Academic) Communities
Session Format: Workshop Track: Collaborations Theme: Rocking the Boat (innovations)
Friday, March 30
8:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Session Number/Code: W Room: Baltimore Convention Center – 338
Presenter(s):
Bess de Farber
Grants & Revenue Manager, University of Arizona Libraries
Mary Evangeliste
Training Coordinator-Information Commons, University of Arizona
Program Description: Learn the art of collaboration through structured facilitative methods that yield creative ideas you never would have dreamed of on your own. The workshop presents a simulation of processes on how to host a CoLAB Planning® session in your library.
Note: This workshop limited to 60 particpants in order to ensure active participation. Pre-registration will be available in February 2007.
Learning Objectives
Understand the concepts that drive outstanding collaborations
Plan how to present an innovative facilitative process to discover new collaborative relationships/projects in your own community
Utilize tools that ensure candidness, follow-through, and commitment to the project end-result
And
Will it make my teeth whiter? Selling the library without selling out
Session Format: Panel Session Track: The Environment for Libraries Theme: Lifelines (values)
Saturday, March 31
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Session Number/Code: PN Room: Baltimore Convention Center – 310
Presenter(s):
Julie O’Keeffe
Coordinator of Outreach Services, Marquette University
Erla Heyns Ph.D. Libr
Director, Cornell University
Mary Evangeliste
Training Coordinator-Information Commons, University of Arizona
Patricia Berge
Librarian, Marquette University
Program Description:
Academic libraries increasingly compete for the attention of patrons. Many librarians have begun to embrace marketing of libraries, however, many are still reluctant. How do we move from marketing as an add-on to making it integral to libraries?
Learning Objectives
Articulate assumptions and obstacles towards marketing
Describe methods to communicate our professional ethics, as outlined by ALA, through marketing
I’m posting the Annual Report that I designed for American University Library mostly for inspiration’s sake, but also because I think it turned out great. 
Mary and Jonathan at the 2006 Swap ‘n Shop in NOLA
