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2007 ACRL Best Practices in Marketing Award Winners
Eastern Illinois University (EIU) and Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) have won the ACRL Best Practices in Marketing @ your library Award. The awards were presented at the ACRL 13th National Conference, “Sailing into the Future – Charting Our Destiny,” in Baltimore, during the keynote luncheon on Friday, March 30, 2007.
Sponsored by the ACRL Marketing Academic and Research Libraries (MARL) Committee and funded by Springer, the award recognizes academic/research libraries that demonstrate an outstanding best practices marketing program. Each winning institution received a $2,000 award.
Eastern Illinois University, Booth Library:
“Committee members were impressed by the EIU Library's initiative,” said MARL chair Frank D’Andraia, dean and director of Libraries at the University at Albany, State University of New York. “They clearly demonstrated how campus and community partnerships can work together to produce a creative and positive marketing plan. The plan successfully positioned the library in the minds of many constituencies, while at the same time capturing the attention of students, scholars and area citizens.”
Booth Library staff created a unique program to promote the library as a cultural center, as well as a place. The EUI marketing plan capitalized on a traveling exhibit opportunity offered by the ALA’s Public Programs Office. The plan promoted the library's goals and produced a suite of best practices, tools and strategies that may be easily exported to or adapted by other academic libraries.
Booth Library engaged a variety of stakeholders to invest in the initiative and to assist in crafting and delivering its message to on and off campus communities. More than a dozen public and private agencies assisted in developing strategies to shape the message, as well as build awareness and interest. Among the results of this program was the fact that more than 80,000 people were exposed to the successful best practices initiative during the program life span. Also, the marketing plan insured that over 40 scholars and almost 100 students from campus and area public schools were either presenters or participants.
“Booth Library is honored to be recognized by our colleagues from ACRL,” said Allen Lanham, dean of Library Services. “It is truly a team effort when local initiatives sprout from the dedicated work of our national associations, thrive due to local conditions created by caring librarians, and ultimately create a more solid base of support for libraries of all types across America. We all gain when ALA and ACRL are obvious partners @ your library.”
Winston-Salem State University, C. G. O'Kelly Library:
“The WSSU Library marketing plan effectively re-positioned the libraries in the eyes of university administrators and campus users,” said D’Andraia. “The project addressed basic user challenges faced by many academic libraries today and the solutions developed by WSSU were a prime example of how an academic library may successfully tackle changing use patterns, while at the same time promoting the positive role of the library in the education process. Their marketing plan made the library a valued operation.”
The WSSU Library initiative was designed to reverse declining user tends by developing a comprehensive marketing plan that would be embraced by users, while repositioning the perception of the library in the minds of the campus community. With a modest investment of resources, the librarians of C. G. O'Kelly Library met with significant success in reversing downward service trends. The outcomes that WSSU achieved included an increase in instructional session attendance, a rise in gate counts, an expansion of student use of reserves, more reference questions asked and an increase in collection use. The WSSU marketing plan demonstrates that it is possible to create a plan that has a tangible and measurable impact.
“I am extremely excited and delighted that the ‘O'K dream team’ is being nationally recognized for their work,” said Mae L. Rodney, director of Library Services at the C. G. O'Kelly Library. “It is a true joy to have such talented and personable individuals on the O'Kelly Library staff. We have tried to create an environment where creativity is nurtured and celebrated. This national recognition will encourage other small environments, like Winston-Salem State University, to shoot for the stars.”
April 2003 marked the official launch of ACRL's Academic and Research Library Campaign, part of ALA’s Campaign for America's Libraries, to create awareness and understanding of the value of academic and research libraries and librarians in the 21st century.
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