Campaign Kick Off a Big Success

Last week was the statewide Smartest Card Campaign kick off - what a success. The Randolph County Public Library hosted the event and organized an "open mike", featuring our campaign spokesperson, Cathy Smith Bowers, and several local poets. What an excellent partnership between the library and its' community. Cathy entertained the audience with stories about her childhood which gave insight into her poem that she shared, entitled "Namesake." Members from the local writers network shared their work and local resident Phil Shore closed the evening with a reading of his poem about the library card. You can view Phil's reading at

http://www.youtube.com/user/statelibrarync


Also check out some great pictures of the event http://www.flickr.com/photos/asheborolibrary/sets/72157624915422124/show/

In addition we had a webinar to share great ideas on promoting your smartest card campaign. The webinar is now archived you can listen at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2010-08-24.1120.M.025E2EF02EE18FEBA59A57DA84E1DF.vcr&sid=voffice



Put your thinking hats on - Poetry Month is in April - think about agencies you can partner with and programs you can provide to your public.

Library Card Sign Up - North Carolina's Statewide Campaign

North Carolina is gearing up once again for library card sign up. Salute to all of our public libraries for their participation in our statewide campaign. As in previous years we have a state spokesperson - Cathy Smith Bowers - North Carolina's poet laureate. Cathy has recorded a podcast, and we've created a spokesperson poster and news release. Our kick off will be on September 8th at the Randolph Public library at an "open mike" night.
Check out all the resources we have available.
Download the poster or podcast
Or if you'd like to read about great ideas that our libraries have done in previous years check out the marketing toolkit section -"strategies p.4".

Advocacy in Many Formats

Advocacy is always a hot topic for libraries. As the virtual world evolves there are so many ways we can expand our reach and education. Recently the New York Public Library had a video produced by Improv Everywhere as part of the library's "Don't close the book on libraries." What a fun way to spread the word.

http://

I've recently been working on some advocacy issues and often refer to PLA's toolkit - Libraries Prosper with Passion, Purpose and Persuasion! If you haven't had the opportunity to use this toolkit - it's great. You might want to check it out - available for purchase from ALA.

We talked - They Listened

I just returned from ALA Rally Day in DC and what an exhilarating experience! I rode the bus with about 30 other folks from NC - including trustees, friends members, and other library staff, including our State Librarian Mary Boone - pictured here. Appointments were made prior to our arrival with our NC elected officials and we spent Tuesday afternoon travelling the halls of the senate and house. Along with a group of other librarians, friends and trustees I met with four elected officials. Each one spent personal time with us and was clearly engaged and interested in our library world. Bob Etheridge particularly appreciated our handouts and mentioned the importance of having "numbers to back up our stories." A great tool for that is the new updated wallet-sized, folded brochures called Quotable Facts About America's Libraries.

One quotable fact I found fascinating: " Amercans go to school, public and academic libraries nearly 3 times more than they go to the movies." So check it out and get some quotable facts today to share with friends, trustees and staff. Encourage everyone to choose their favorite and share it often.

A Gold Mine - WebJunction NC

If you haven't take the time to explore WebJunction NC you're missing out on a real gold mine. I'm amazed at all the great marketing information - discussions, presentations, and courses. There's presentations on understanding marketing, branding, using 2.0 tools for marketing, and many more. The course list is comprehensive, including marketing plans, campaign planning, email marketing and new technology marketing.

So you ask how do I gain access. It's easy. As a North Carolina library staff member you can join WebJunction NC. Make sure you affiliate with NC - that gives you free access to courses. Go to webjunction.org and join - don't wait.

How Libraries Stack UP

Yesterday was "Hats off to Libraries" Day here in Raleigh. Many of our public library directors, friends, and trustees donned wonderful, colorful hats and visited with their legislators to encourage them to maintain state aid. One handout which impressed many legislators was the recently ALA published report - How Libraries Stack Up. I've attached the link so that you can adopt it for your community and share with your funders.
http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/214109usf_how_libraries_stack_up.pdf

Telling Your Story

During these challenging times we hear how important it is to tell our story. We've been working on this for quite some time - using the advocacy toolkit by PLA; holding workshops and developing key stories. Recently one of our consultants compiled some key stats for our public libraries and used those stats to capture some interesting thoughts. I wanted to share some of them with you and encourage you to think of ways you could do this for your library.



North Carolinians visited public libraries 44 million times last year, which is equivalent to filling the Dean Dome 2,023 times, the RBC Center 2,231 times, or Carter Finley Stadium 733 times.



There were almost 5 times as many visitors to North Carolina's public libraries (44.1 million) than visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (9.2 million --the most visited national park in the coutnry.)



Fifteen times more people attended library programs than the record attendance at an ACC Men's Basketball Tournament.



So what community comparisons can you make in regards to your library services?