I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to share this…

In 1983 the American Library Association pulled together 8 graphic designers and illustrators from around the US to create a collection of camera-ready art for libraries to use in their PR materials – cutting edge stuff at the time, and a great resource for any library.

Alas, 23 years is a long time when technology is involved and times have definitely changed. That said, there are some hilariously oblique and strange images.

I am impressed that, even in 1983, ALA was aware that libraries need to “sell” themselves in order to compete, but it makes me wonder why, after all these years, most libraries/librarians are still struggling with this idea.

I’ve attached two versions of the binder for your consumption – one for screen view that is 4.5 mb, and one for print that is a whopping 44 mb.

Annual reports are notoriously hard to compile, but are they worth the outcome?

This year is the second year American University Library has chosen to dive in and make a public annual report. The first year was a trying task juggling the politics and the pain. The second year went a little more smoothly, but was still a huge nightmare (more politics and different pain).

Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth right?
You would think so, but with the right annual report and the right audience, it can be a beautiful thing.

The motivation for producing an annual report is to communicate the core values and worth of the organization to the public. Another great reason is fundraising- annual reports, especially “trophy annual reports” are great fodder for making the institution look grand and worthy of donations.

The design for this annual report was inspired by a botanic field guide, incorporating images from AU Library’s special collections. The style was chosen to fit in with the nature theme that all of AU Library’s administrative level brochures carry.

I’ve attached the PDF of the annual report to this post for review.

In Fearless Future’s attempt to remove the scourge that is clipart from the face of the earth, here is a list of stock photography sites and other alternatives:

Cheap sites:

• http://www.istockphoto.com/
  Great quality, most images are $1 - $5 but can go up as high as $40 for huge images.
• http://www.bigstockphoto.com/
  Images range from $1.40 -$2.50 each for all of them.

Expensive sites:

• http://www.veer.com/
  Impeccable quality, but pricey. Images range from $130 - $420 each or discs of multiple images in a set for $500.
• http://www.corbis.com/
  If you can’t find it on Veer you can find it on Corbis, prices are practically identical.
• http://www.photos.com/en/
  One of many stock photo subscription sites (basically you pay them a fee and they provide you with unlimited access to their collection). The subscriptions range from 1 month ($140) to a year ($600), this would be a great option if you use enough images to make it worth it.

Alternate options:

This is where is gets fun. These are free and/or alternate options to typical stock photos.

• http://creativecommons.org/
  Creative Commons is an alternative to copyright. On their site, they have a searchable repository of different types of digital works that are licensed under that would allow you to use them almost always for free (if you don’t use them on commercial projects and you say who created them)
• http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/
  With the advanced search on this site you can search the popular photo community flickr for images that are published under Creative Commons. If you find a picture/artist you like, send them an e-mail and see if you can use their work for your project.
• http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
  Library of Congress’ Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. LOC has digitized a ton of their prints and offered them up online for the taking - the majority of them are out of copyright.
• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
  The American Memory Project is just like the Prints & Photographs but focuses on the “American Experience.”

Feel free to add to the list at the AcademicPR Forum under “Marketing and PR”

I was browsing through BibliOdyssey, a repository for strange and beautiful images from books, and it reminded me that I have only a slight idea of what treasures exist in the archives of my institution.

Your archives are a treasure-trove of images and/or inspiration for use in your marketing materials. I’ve used materials from archives for everything from annual reports to event invitations.

I encourage you to throw on those white gloves, and start digging around your archives for materials. And I offer this tip, you can photograph some of the more fragile pieces rather than scanning them and still get very usable images.