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.

If you are going to be at the ALA Annual Conference in DC this year, Mary and I will have a booth at the Swap & Shop where we will be raffling off a chance to have Fearless Future redesign the marketing material of your choice (logo, brochure, business cards, etc.) for free!

Head on down to the Washington Convention Center Special Events Area, behind Aisle 600 on the exhibit floor between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 24 to enter.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Every time Jonathan and I hand out our business cards, a chuckle invariably follows, and we couldn’t be happier.

We think it is one of the best complements we could ever receive.

Derik A. Badman’s drawing of Mary

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.

Derik Badman did a nice write up (and drawing) on the ACRL blog “live from the scene” regarding the presentation.
http://www.learningtimes.net/acrlblog/237/marketing-the-library/

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
• Analyze the costs and benefits of marketing

Make sure you read the July/August issue of College & Research Libraries News – Mary Evangeliste (1/2 or Fearless Future) wrote a terrific article about our experience winning the Best Practices in Marketing Academic & Research Libraries in 2005. Her article (attached below) summarizes our experience at ARCL as well as information about the 2007 Best Practices award.

Congratulations Mary; what an awesome article!