OUR ONLINE CLASS:
Selling Your Library Without Selling Out!
Register by February 15 (Starts March 1st)

Fearless Future has partnered with Amigos Library Services to adapt our successful “Can Libraries be sold like soap?” workshop to the online environment. We have conducted this class, in person, at CARL, Palinet, AZLA, and Amigos. The online environment will not only allow for a longer time to absorb and apply the ideas of social marketing to your libraries, but you won’t have to spend your travel money!

Register Today!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2010

Media contact: Larry Godwin
Phone: 1-800-843-8482, ext. 2847
Email: godwin@amigos.org

Amigos Partners with Fearless Future to Offer Online Library Marketing Course

Dallas, TX – Amigos Library Services has partnered with Fearless Future, a design and marketing consulting firm with experience supporting libraries, to offer to offer Selling Your Library Without Selling Out! an online project-based marketing course for librarians.

Fearless Future instructors Mary Evangeliste and Yvonne Mery will guide attendees through the steps needed to create an effective marketing campaign. Class activities will be structured around the actual marketing needs of participants. In true workshop fashion, students will leave the course with a real marketing plan.
The course is scheduled for the Amigos online classroom the first four Mondays in March from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT.

Describing the course, Laura Kimberly, Amigos’ Associate Director and Continuing Education Services Manager said, “This is an excellent course to take within the walls of one’s library and at the same time have access to the ideas of other students and knowledgeable instructors who span the country. Online technology allows us to offer students ample time to learn, develop, and apply new skills, and do so without incurring undue expense. Our participants will quickly find that Mary and Yvonne bring abundant energy and solid experience into the classroom.”

About Fearless Future
Fearless Future is a full-service design and marketing consulting firm committed to collaborating with non-profits and organizations that work towards the public good. Services offered include graphic design, visual identity, web design, print design, marketing consultation, marketing materials, marketing plans, workshops, group facilitation, communication positioning, publication audits, grant writing, and copy writing/editing. Mary Evangeliste is the Director of User Services and Outreach at Gettysburg College and co-author of Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for the Overworked Librarian, published by ALA Editions. Yvonne Mery is an Assistant Librarian at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

About Amigos Library Services
For more than 30 years, Amigos Library Services, www.amigos.org, has helped its members obtain affordable services and share library resources and knowledge. With over 600 members, Amigos is the largest consortium of libraries and cultural heritage institutions in the southwestern United States. Through membership in Amigos, libraries collectively gain access to the latest innovations and services in the library community; pursue opportunities for continuing professional education; leverage their buying power; and preserve the region’s rich cultural heritage. This collaboration strengthens each member’s ability to serve and lead its community in the creative and effective use of information resources. ###

Mary will be presenting with her wonderful and supportive colleagues Maureen O’Brien Dermott (Dickinson College Library) and Katherine Furlong (Lafayette College Library) at the 1st ever Access Services Conference at Georgia Tech Global Learning Center, Atlanta, GA on 11/12/09 at 2:30–3:20 PM

Here is some info on their talk:

You are not alone: managing change in user/access services with compassion and commitment.

In this panel presentation three managers of Access Services share the triumphs, disappointments and the “down right uncomfortable” work of transforming a user/access services department. Changes in the user/access service areas are inevitable; systems change and improve, vendors change, production numbers increase or decrease and technology dictates changes in work flow. How can we learn from each other instead of feeling as if we are in this all alone? How can we strive to create respectful workplaces while also asking employees to change when they are comfortable with the current state of their unit? We will discuss how to conduct a gap analysis to identify areas that need improvement, system analysis to aid in the sometimes-contentious abandonment of legacy services, and the most important component of change leadership –how to communicate clearly and effectively with staff so that are informed, educated and feel that they are fundamental in the success of the transformation.

Mary is very interested in respectful and compassion management practices, you can read more about this in her chapter Guidelines for knowing and showing : from good to great bosses in Staff development strategies that work! : stories and strategies from new librarians

Sorry we have been away for so long!

But, we have great news, you can now order our book Bite-Sized Marketing; realistic solutions for the overworked librarian!

ALA Editions, the publishing imprint of the American Library Association (ALA), announces the release of “Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for the Overworked Librarian,” by Nancy Dowd, Mary Evangeliste, and Jonathan Silberman. This book shares simple and cost-effective approaches to effective library marketing in a format that reflects the way people read today. Filled with contemporary marketing ideas, the authors provide:

• How-tos of guerrilla marketing
• Cutting-edge digital marketing practices
• Benefits of traditional print media

Visually compelling and thoroughly practical, this book challenges librarians to market libraries in new and original ways.

Click here to purchase it from ALA.

Contact us and we can get you a $5 coupon.

Are you a Twilight fanatic? Do you keep up with лаптопTrue Blood? Well, you’re not alone! Millions are crazed over vampires (like Tyra Banks asking Robert Pattenson to bite her or my roommate with her Edward Cullen poster). These shows, books, movies all seem new, but the myths are old. The story of the vampire has been told again and again. When I was younger I went through a phase reading only vampire books like the In the Forests of the Night series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Each vampire is different whether they can go inside without being invited or can go in daylight on cloudy days. We love them all.

 As a way to entertain myself this Summer I’ve been watching the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The stories are great and always keep me on the edge of my seat. This series had been huge when it was on TV (1997-2003) and it continues to have a large following on DVD.  It’s funny to watch this older series about vampires with the dated clothing and pop culture references.

People may think that by following Twilight they are participating in a new phenomenon, but it’s actually been around for ages.

Stop what you are doing and watch this amazing video from Buck!

As part of Mountain Dew’s new logo launch, the brand team at Pepsi asked us to conceive, direct and produce a short animation exploring the evolution of the Dew Brand. We decided to take a walk through history (packed with historical taglines), starting with Dew’s country roots as a moonshine mixer and getting progressively more urban as we move to modern times. And all in 15 seconds!

[via Drawn!]

Commercials have always used music, in the background or instead of dialogue. Something I’ve noticed recently though is that more and more commercials use songs from more obscure artists, not just songs that are already in the popular mainstream. In 2008 Target had this commercial:

with two new roommates dancing and decorating to a song. Although the commercial was for the stuff, my friends and I bought the song. Millions of others must also have because Enur was the top dance seller on iTunes in 2008. This is great for musicians!

I am proud to announce that Musselman Library’s digital collection-GettDigital is featured on the front cover of C&RL news this month—raman amplifierJune.

This is part of concerted effort to highlight the GettDigital collections and we are thrilled to have this additional national platform to extend our reach.

Thanks to ACRL and specifically to David Free!

Thanks to my wonderful colleagues at Musselman Library for making marketing digital collections such an enjoyable task, Director of Special Collections and College Archivist–Karen Drickamer, Special Collections Assistant–Catherine Perry, and Cataloging/Metadata Librarian–Carolyn Sautter.

Check out all of the GettDigital Pages I am sure that you will find something of interest.

Remember Gettysburg is not just muskets and cannonballs.

Since Mary just posted an article about the fun WITF pledge drive, we thought we would try our hand at our own pledge drive.

Fearless Future started a team for the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure in DC on June 6th. We are asking for people to donate money to our team.

If you donate, you will be entered into a drawing to win 20 hours of design work/consultation from Fearless Future. We could redesign your logo, create a brochure, redo your business cards, walk you though a re-branding strategy all for FREE.

Any amount would qualify you to be entered, but remember this is for a good cause.

You can donate on our team page any time between now and June 6th. Follow the link below and click on the “Donate to this Team!” button.
http://www.info-komen.org/goto/FearlessFuture

If you can be in DC on the 6th, join our team, we would love to have you!

Thank you!!
Fearless Future

** UPDATE **
Team Fearless Future raised almost $1,000 for the Race for the Cure! Thank you to everyone who donated!!

We also picked a winner for the free 20 hrs of work from FF. Congratulations Amanda Werhane from University of Wisconsin-Madison Library!

Okay, no one LOVES the pledge times for public radio and television, but some are less painful than others. The last two from Central Pennsylvania WITF have been down right awesome.

Ever since I was a young adult in DC I have tried to support public radio because I listen to it every day!

In February, right before Valentine’s day, WITF created a campaign called “show the love.” The pledge drive matched up donations with a delivery of a dozen roses. The drive encouraged listeners to pledge money and to show their love to both WITF and to someone they love or admire. It was easy way to remember to send someone some affection and also support the radio! I sent flowers to my mom and she was soooooo happy!

Now WITF is in the middle of their “plant a tree” initiative and they are partnering with the PA Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to create the WITF Woodland that will plant a tree for each person who pledges to the station.

Both of these pledge drives work because they have ADDED VALUE. The added value comes from getting something very specific out of pledging, In Feb it was flowers for me to send to my mom and now it is a tree in my name.

When you ask people to give money to your organization make sure you are adding value by appealing to the your audience’s values!