2015 VIRTUAL CONFERENCE SPEAKERS & PRESENTATION SYNOPSES

This year's conference offers a smorgasbord of ideas, practical tips, and strategies for getting your library's message out and connecting with institutions and organizations in the communities you serve. Read on to learn more about the presenters and their strategies for how you can better showcase and mobilize support for your library's essential programs and services.

10:00 AM EDT | NANCY DOWD

Leveraging Libraries with the Power of Focus and Attraction

Libraries in the U.S. are an 11 billion dollar business that provide people with free products, convenient locations, and amazing service. So why are we still the best kept secret in America? Nancy Dowd will kick off the virtual conference with a presentation that will remind us that our future successes are based on knowing who we are as an institution, re-igniting our passion for our true value, and motivating us to leverage our communities’ desires into the library success story.

Nancy Dowd is the co-author of ALA’s bestselling book, Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for Overworked Librarians, a Library Journal contributor, and has spoken around the U.S. and Canada. She is chair of ALA’s Public Awareness Committee and received the John Cotton Dana Award for her work as Director of Marketing for the New Jersey State Library. She is currently a member of the strategic management team of NoveList where she leads the development of a new Readers’ Advisory marketing product, LibraryAware. Nancy blogs at http://themwordblog.blogspot.com/.

11:00 AM EDT | LAURA SOLOMON

Online Content Marketing & Strategy: Getting Started, Making It Better

If your library has been promoting itself online (blogs, social media, etc.), chances are it has seen very mixed results. Think it's time to make your library's online efforts more effective? You're probably right however the majority of libraries don't have an online content marketing plan and it shows. The next logical step is defining a content strategy. Find out what people really want online, how to further content reach, and how to re-purpose your content for different platforms. Get valuable tips that can help you create and better distribute content to attract and engage your library's audience. Discover how to move beyond just advertising and promotion (which people usually ignore), and start getting a better handle on what your library should put effort into and how to make that effort count!

Laura Solomon [MCIW, MLS] is the Library Services Manager for the Ohio Public Library Information Network and the former Web Applications Manager for the Cleveland Public Library. She has been involved with Web development and design for over fifteen years, in both public libraries and as an independent consultant. She is a 2010 Library Journal Mover & Shaker. She’s written two books about social media, specifically for libraries, and is currently working on a book on content marketing for ALA. As a former children’s librarian, she enjoys bringing the “fun of technology” to audiences and in giving libraries the tools they need to better serve the virtual customer.

12:00 PM EDT | BARBARA BLAKE

Community Outreach: Find a Partner, Pitch the Project

Libraries have been considered a desirable element of a vibrant community and over the years this hasn’t changed much. What has changed?—the perception of the library as an attractive feature versus a vital component of a community. Partnering with organizations and businesses can transform the role of libraries in the communities they serve. Learn about the benefits of partnering with other groups in your community, how to select a potential partner, and how to pitch your project.

For the past five years, Barbara Blake has been the Outreach Coordinator for the University of North Texas Rural Library Initiative, PEARL (Promoting and Enhancing the Advancement of Rural Libraries). She holds a MSLIS from the University of North Texas, and a MA in American History from the University of Central Arkansas. Over the years, Barbara served as a public library director and as an administrator of a contemporary art museum. She also worked for the National Library of Medicine’s South Central Regional Library Program where she coordinated the resource sharing activities of over 200 medical and hospital libraries within a five state region. Learn more about Barbara from her PEARL project blog at: https://pearl.unt.edu/blog/barbara-blake.

12:30 PM EDT | LUNCH & LEARN PRE-RECORDED PANEL DISCUSSION

This recording will be made available to all registered attendees immediately following the conference.

1:00 PM EDT | NICOLE MADDOCK & RACHEL SANDIESON

Pump up your Promotions! New Ideas for Academic Library Marketing

Tired library displays? No marketing budget? Find out how to breathe new life into your academic library promotion and communication strategy by looking at examples of both engaging print displays and creative methods for marketing through social media. We will discuss techniques for promoting library space, resources and events for different user groups. Join us as we look at new, fun, and free online tools to help pump up your promotions!

Nicole Maddock is the Manager of the Resource Support Services Department at The D.B. Weldon Library at Western University in Ontario, Canada. Previously, she was the Chair of marketing for the Allyn and Betty Taylor Library, also at Western.

Rachel Sandieson is a senior library assistant in the Resource Support Services Department at the Allyn and Betty Taylor Library at Western University in Ontario, Canada. Previously, she worked at the Music Library at Western and was the Chair of the Outreach, Marketing and Web committee for the 2014 Workshop for Instruction in Library Use (WILU) Conference.

2:00 PM EDT | LOU GRECO

School Library Advocacy You Too Can Accomplish

This presentation highlights successful advocacy strategies implemented in the St. Johns County School District for school libraries over the course of ten years. A significant proportion of the strategies are transferable to various types of libraries. The discussion will also share advocacy resources that can assist in the development of an advocacy plan for your library.

Lou Greco retired as the Director for Instructional Technology and Media Services for the St. Johns County School District in St. Augustine, Florida in 2013 after serving in that position for 19 years. Not satisfied with retirement, he returned to school libraries and opened a brand new K-8 public school library in August 2014. In his 37th year in public education in the state of Florida, he remains a strong advocate of using research and statistical information to improve school libraries and has spoken widely at conferences and school districts on the topic. He was a 1994 Florida Teacher of the Year finalist from Region II while serving as the school library media specialist for the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind and has served on the American Association for School Libraries as Region V Director. He has been president of FAME (Florida Association for Media in Education), FASM (Florida Association of Supervisors of Media) and FADIMA (Florida Association for District Instructional Materials Administrators and has been on the FAME Board of Directors. Lou blogs at http://grecol2.edu.glogster.com/poalibrary.

3:00 PM EDT | JOHN CHRASTKA

The Librarian as Candidate: Activating Activists for Funding and Election Day Outcomes

Are you looking for new ways to engage and activate advocates for your library? We will explore a range of innovative options to energize, focus, and improve your library advocacy efforts while learning how to put proven techniques that political campaigns use to reach voters to work. Come and learn how librarians who see themselves in a new, more politically savvy way recognize that they are “the candidate”. You’ll learn about tips and tools to market yourself to all your constituents - and not just users - that will help reframe your work in the eyes of the public and funders in a new way.

John Chrastka is executive director of EveryLibrary, the first nationwide political action committee for libraries. Since 2013, EveryLibrary has helped 25 library communities with ballot measures for funding, operations, and buildings, winning 19 and securing over $46 million in funding on Election Days. A long-time library trustee, supporter and advocate, Mr. Chrastka is a member and former president of the Board of Trustees for the Berwyn (IL) Public Library (2006 – present) and is a former president of the Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System (RAILS), a multi-type library system. He is also a 2014 Library Journal Mover & Shaker.

About EveryLibrary: EveryLibrary is the first national political action committee for libraries. It is dedicated to helping local library communities plan and win ballot measures like bonds, levies, and other referendum that renew or extend library funding. More about their work can be found at www.everylibrary.org.