Christmas is a little early for NSW Public Libraries this year with special pull-up @your library banners being delivered to every library service as part of our state-wide campaign.
These banners mirror the art work of the monthly campaigns and can be used on a variety of occasions. What's more, like all presents they're free so enjoy.
No sooner had I posted the @ your library 2009 Calendar than we had a change! As Law week is being celebrated in March this year we've pulled law@your library from May. We won't schedule it as a March campaign but we would suggest that you use your law posters to promote law week.
I've also had a couple of emails from libraries asking if they can have certain quantities of items or not receive things. The distribution process is quite cumbersome and we'd prefer not to have to fiddle too much. However if you have more (or less) than you need talk to libraries in your vicinity and see if you can reach some sort of agreement.
December is blokes@your library (is that because Santa is a boy?) and we're in the last stages of organising the campaign.
The photo shoot has been done (as usual featuring family and "friends" - @ your library stretches the concept of shoestring!)we think you'll love it; the media releases are written; the overview in place and the "ideas" are in train (ie they've been delegated to a member of the Committee who volunteered last November, not sure how enthusiastic she is now :-))If you'd like to help out why not send some creative notions to share with your colleagues on how we can engage blokes. Just hit the comment button below.
For those of you who like to forward plan we've just finalised the 2009 @ your library calendar. It will be up on the site in the next couple of days but to give you the heads up start thinking:
January – Holiday Fun February – Connect (Technology) March – Diversity April – Holiday Fun & Senstaional Seniors May – Law and Smartest Card June – Statistics July – Holiday Fun & Escape August – Treasures September – Life-long Learning October – Holiday Fun & Food November – On the Move December – Behind the Scenes.
Those of you have been part of the @ your library campaign from the start will recognise all of these as "re-runs". We anticipate that @ your library will finish at the end of 2009 and in developing the calendar we've looked at the stocks of posters and bookmarks we have in store and made our decisions based on that.
Each library will receive one single mail out for the whole year with "top up" materials from all of the campaigns we've run from 2005 to date to supplement those you may have in your possession.
If you want to use some of the campaign headings that aren't on the 2009 Calendar using what you already have you are encouraged to do so.
So out with the butchers' paper and start planning!
Australian library and Information Week will be held 19-25 May and ALIA have some suggestions of things you might want to consider:
Did you know that Australia's public libraries lend over 174 million items each year? That's a lot of loans and represents millions of visits to libraries, and thousands of library workers. We have updated this year's Library FAQ with statistics such as these. Use these statistics in your press releases or local promotions. Visit http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/liw/library.faq.2008.pdf on the LIW website for more information.
Planning to take some photos during LIW? We've put up a few hints about how to make your photos media friendly. Check out the LIW website under Media Resources. And we would love to have some of your fabulous photos for our inCite wrap up in July (just send them to me).
If you are struggling for inspiration for the perfect LIW activity of event, we have plenty of 'Great Ideas' for sectors of the library industry on the LIW website. Read through the best ideas from lasts year's LIW competition from participants across Australia or download the inCite LIW 'wrap-ups' from previous years. To find out more go to: http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/liw/great.ideas.html
5Kamara Schlegel Events Manager Australian Library and Information Association PO Box 6335 Kingston ACT 2604 p 02 6215 8214 f 02 6282 2249
e kamara.schlegel@alia.org.au www.alia.org.au
Check out the @ your library site for our latest campaign, Health. It is the living embodiment of the old adage "an apple a day"!
There are some good ideas on the site thanks to the Health Information Service at the State Library of NSW but I'm sure you'll come up with additional concepts.
Enjoy and don't forget to look after yourself!
Thanks for all your comments about the Sensational Seniors product. We had a lot of fun working on this photo shoot. Like most of our campaigns one of our big issues is finding a suitable model. Over a drink one day I'll relate how our designer, Kira, approached a particularly attractive young man behind the counter in Sanity using the "do you want to be a model?" line. We never did hear back from him and she's still to forgive me for making her do it ... but I digress.
We mentally looked around for a sensational senior who was not too old (cross out staff's parents) and was prepared to be a little bit silly. No surprise then that we were unanimous in our decision to ask our friend, Jenny Medd, Librarian at Kinross-Wolaroi school here in Orange until her recent retirement. She arrived looking gorgeous in one of her own outfits only to be given the special Vinnies makeover. We offered to let her keep the hat and glasses but she declined - they're now in our dress up box.
We'd love to know what you're doing for Seniors this month. Now that we're all doing the Learning 2.0 thing it will be good practice for you to post comments!
We've got some great ideas for Smartest Card but you really need to check out these sites from Lexington Public Library in the US. You'll never look at your library card in the same light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fICrVTZmWo&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFnZLFz3DiY&feature=related
We have had a rather big hiccup in the distribution of the smartest card @ your library campaign .... won't go into details but it is the result of a number of components not aligning! You won't receive your mail out until late next week
As a result "we" have made an executive decision and decided to alter the @ your library calendar so that Smartest Card is now February/March and Sensational Seniors has been bumped to April (which does coincide with Seniors Week) Sensational seniors will also arrive next week. All this does mean some minor changes to the calendar - the updated version is below.
Please accept my apologies for any problems this may have caused. I know you're all canny enough to make local adjustments to suit your circumstances.
The new Calendar will be up on the site soon.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call me on 02 63938126.
Jan (who is breathing deeply!)
First of February (pinch and a punch) which means it's only 13 more big sleeps until Library Lovers Day.
While we were the first state to go live with this special event we've now handed it over to ALIA and they're doing a wonderful job of keeping the luuuv alive. You can go to the LLD site from the link on our home page (the site was down a little earlier today but keep trying, it is there :-)). I know that ALIA have run out of heart shaped stickers to buy but you can print off your own from the site.
Meanwhile here in the Central West I have been convinced that we need to buy a jigsaw so we can cut hearts out of MDF - seems like an excuse for a Bunnings trip by the male members of staff to me but hey, I'm sure it will come in useful.
Have a great weekend and maybe sample a heart shaped chocolate or two in preparation.
Cheers
Jan
