Archive for September, 2008

Discover the Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Monday, September 29th, 2008

November 13 & 14, 2008

Word-of-mouth marketing is the best and most powerful way for you to get your message to potential customers. Customer relations is important, but having a clear, concise and consistent message to share with your customers is even better. Create a buzz and get people talking!

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium offers “Discover the Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing,” two interactive workshops that will reveal what makes word-of-mouth marketing so important and will walk you through the steps of developing a plan to implement in your library.

In the first workshop, we will learn about the wonders of word-of-mouth marketing. In the second workshop, our skilled trainer will help you plan your own marketing project, and then in the months to come, we will help your library implement it. If you only want to learn about word-of-mouth marketing, just attend day one.  If you want to develop your own plan and have us help you along the way, attend both sessions (and be sure to register for both).

DAY ONE (November 13)
On day one, we will:

  • Learn what word-of-mouth marketing is and why it’s important for your library
  • Learn how to get people talking about your library
  • Discover how to turn customers into “champions” for your library

Click here to sign up for Day One of this workshop.

DAY TWO (November 14)
On day two, we will:

  • Help you plan a marketing communication project and then over the following months we will help you implement it
  • Establish communication goals and develop creative key messages
  • Build a marketing communication plan that all staff members will be involved in implementing
  • Discuss follow-up evaluation methods

After you develop your marketing communication plan during the workshop, TBLC will work with you over the following months to help implement it.

Click here to sign up for Day Two of this workshop.

About the instructor
Peggy Barber was formerly associate executive director for communication for the American Library Association (ALA), where she managed and implemented marketing and communication programs. She established the ALA Public Information Office, Public Programs Office and the ALA Graphics program, including the widely known “Celebrity Read” poster series. She helped to launch the universal library logo that appears on streets and roads across the country. She also coauthored Getting Your Grant: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians.

Barber received the Lippincott Award for distinguished service to the library profession in 1999, and was honored as Alumni of the Year in 2001 by the Rutgers University School of Library and Information Science, where she earned her master’s degree in library science. She served as coordinator for the Orange County Cooperative Library System and as a reference librarian for the Bay Area Reference Center, San Francisco Public Library before joining ALA.

Information Institute Launches Public Library Community Hurricane Preparedness & Recovery Project

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

The following information is courtesy of SOLINET’s Check it out blog.

*****

Background:  Florida State University’s Information Use Management & Policy Institute has been awarded a grant to assist communities to better prepare for and recover from hurricanes by better utilizing public libraries. Note the emphasis on how can a public library help their community rather than how can the library restore itself.  See a project summary, LibraryJournal.com article or radio interview for further information.  A key part of the project is to identify public libraries that have helped their communities to better prepare for and recover from hurricanes, and document the roles the libraries played so that other libraries may learn from their experience.

How You Can Help

Initially the project team is looking for three types of information:

Are you experienced? Do you and your public library have experience assisting your community prepare for and recover from a hurricane?  If so, send an e-mail to Project Manager, Joe Ryan <jzryan@earthlink.net>, with the following information: public library contact information [public library name, website url (if the library has), postal address, phone, fax, contact name <e-mail>, job title, phone (if different than library’s)] and a brief description of the role(s) your public library played when helping your community prepare for and recover from a hurricane.  Note: a project team member may contact you for further information.

Experienced library roles that help communities prepare and recover: Can you describe a key role your public library played assisting your community prepare for and recover from a hurricane so that another library could emulate your good work?  If so, send an e-mail to Project Manager, Joe Ryan <jzryan@earthlink.net>, with the following information: role descriptor, paragraph description of the role, what is involved (a step-by-step, chronological, checklist of key tasks to be accomplished), key contacts and resources (including any materials you may have developed, see below), advice, other (anything we forgot to ask you to include) and for additional help (include your contact information­ only if you are willing to be contacted by other libraries). Include your contact information [your name, <e-mail>, job title, phone, public library name, website url (if the library has), postal address, phone, fax] in case we need to contact you.  The project team is trying to identify the range of roles public libraries have played and provide enough information on each role so that other public libraries might play similar roles.

Hurricane preparation & recovery materials: Can you send the project team any materials (or links to them) your public library developed or found useful when assisting your community prepare for and recover from a hurricane?  The materials might include: plans, checklists, policies, procedures, forms, standards, guidelines, recommendations, descriptions, newspaper articles, and best practices.  If so, send an e-mail to Project Manager, Joe Ryan <jzryan@earthlink.net> with material in electronic format or send paper material to Joe Ryan, FSU Information Institute, 142 Collegiate Loop, P.O. Box 3062100, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2100.  Be sure that the material’s author and library name appears on each document.

TBLC 2008 Annual Meeting

Friday, September 5th, 2008

SAVE THE DATE!
Friday, November 7, 2008
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Crowne Plaza
10221 Princess Palm Ave.
Tampa, FL 33610

We are thrilled to announce that Michael Stephens, Ph.D., will be the keynote speaker at this year’s annual meeting, the theme of which is “Libraries are not made; they grow.”

Michael writes Tame the Web, a blog about libraries, technology and people, and how they intersect. He also collaborates with Michael Casey on The Transparent Library, a monthly Library Journal column about how to bring the concepts of Library 2.0 into the library. Michael is assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Ill.

More details coming soon. Visit our Annual Meeting page for updates.

Consumer Reports Available on Florida Electronic Library

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Gale is extremely pleased to announce that their partnership with Consumers Union of the United States, Inc. has been revised to continue to offer Consumer Reports titles in full-text – but now with no embargo. Through this newly revised license agreement, users will no longer have to wait 90 days to read current issues of Consumer Reports titles through InfoTrac, our renowned periodical program.

Consumers Union (CU) is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization, whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers. Consumers Union publishes Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports on Health, Consumer Reports Money Adviser, ShopSmart Magazine, and Consumer Reports Annual Buying Guide.

Consumer Reports titles can be found in the following acclaimed Gale resources: General OneFile, Academic OneFile, Popular Magazines, Health Reference Center Academic, Business & Company Resource Center and the Student Resource Center products, among others. Full-text for current issues became available without embargo for current InfoTrac subscribers in August.

Access to Consumer Reports is available through the Florida Electronic Library – just click on the image in the Popular Magazines & Journals section.