As part of the My Library Is… campaign, RAILS and AISLE are teaming up to offer up to ten $1,000 grants to help school libraries promote their value. My Library Is... Grants for School Libraries are designed to help libraries tell their stories in a more coordinated and impactful way.
RAILS and AISLE are inviting creative approaches that emphasize some aspect of marketing, promotion, storytelling, and/or advocacy. Examples could include (but not are limited to):
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At the 2020 ILA Annual Conference, I had the privilege of co-presenting a program, Effective Library Marketing Campaigns, with two colleagues, Burgundy Hill from Quincy Public Library and Ann Reeves from Eureka Public Library District. Our presentation focused on how libraries can promote themselves through stronger coordination of communication channels, better brand building, and campaign planning tools that are easily available through the My Library Is... website. Here's a description:
Your core users love you, but what about non-users? What efforts is your library taking to...
The Lincolnwood Public Library Junior Justice League, a community service club for 3rd-8th graders, works throughout the school year to highlight kids’ voices and interests to provide activism and agency. They choose the causes and projects to focus on - ranging from supporting animals in shelters to civic engagement. Their interests have driven the program’s events and projects; if you create a similar group at your library, start by asking your kids & teens what they care about and want to do! It is important for adults to have the opportunity to listen to young people and hear about...
RAILS Member Engagement Manager Dan Bostrom speaks with Sasha Vasilic, the Public Relations and Marketing Supervisor, Niles-Maine District Library about the Best. Deal. Ever. campaign. This campaign won the Niles-Maine District Library a John Cotton Dana Award from the American Library Association for excellence in library public relations and strategic communication.
When Illinois’s Stay at Home order went into effect on March 21, 2020 and public libraries were required to close their buildings, something happened. At RAILS we started to see a noticeable shift in user behavior on the eRead Illinois Axis 360 e-content platform. The number of holds being placed on items skyrocketed. The type of materials people were checking out shifted from the most popular best-sellers to more modern classics. And usage as a whole was way, way up.
We wondered - is this happening elsewhere? Are other e-content consortia seeing similar changes? And if so, how does...
In 2019, the Matteson Area Public Library District organized its first comic-con event, MAPLD FanFest, in April. Initially, we weren’t sure how our community would receive the idea of a FanFest. We hoped for at least 300 attendees but were pleasantly surprised that we had close to 1,000.
With the success of this program in mind, we started to plan what changes or additions we wanted to make for the 2020 event. We were excited and ready to make it bigger than the last, until everything came to a screeching halt on March 13th, the day our library doors closed due to the pandemic. ...
RAILS Member Engagement Manager Dan Bostrom speaks with Dr. Mary Moen from the School Librarians of Rhode Island about Overdue: The Value of School Librarians. The School Librarians of Rhode Island produced this short documentary style advocacy film to show the value of school librarians. Please be sure to watch the video (linked above) and check out the resources they've provided such as a discussion guide and advocacy letter.
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In 1959, a housing developer began work on new, upscale homes in Deerfield, with a difference--the development would be racially integrated. Many residents immediately opposed the development. In the weeks that followed, residents passed a park referendum to condemn the developer’s land. The crisis became a national story, attracting the attention of Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, Eleanor Roosevelt, and years of protest. The land has remained parks. In the years since, many residents were unaware of this important struggle for civil rights in their community.
The Deerfield...
Are you interested in library advocacy and outreach? Want to help RAILS libraries tell their story and make the case for increased support/funding? Apply to be a My Library Is.. Advisory Group member!
RAILS is seeking seven volunteers to help publicize the campaign and make people more aware of resources on the My Library Is... website. Volunteers will be asked to help create new resources and write regular blog posts. To apply, please fill out this interest form by Friday, September 25, 2020 (deadline extended).
Colona District Public Library’s Youth Services assistant, Bailey Hager, had a very busy spring and summer. Bailey began a Virtual Story Time in March which will continue indefinitely. She purposefully chose books to match crafts she was demonstrating using items easily found in a home. She used different voices to act out the parts of various characters in the books. Bailey majored in theater and art in college so I think this was more fun than work!
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bailey Hager developed her own summer reading program for Colona Public Library, Summer of Exploration...
The My Library Is ... campaign
is a project of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System.