Public Relations and Marketing Committee

Public Relations & Marketing Committee
Meeting Minutes – February 2, 2009
Library East Conference Room, 2-3:00 p.m.
Members Present: Aimee Barrett, Val Davis, ‘Nita Ferree, Barbara Hood, Natalie Lane, James Liversidge, Carol McAuliffe, Richard Saltzburg, and Jay Wiese

• Budget
1.) Mobile Instruction Display to replace the unwieldy cart that we have been using. The committee voted to ask Missy Shoop to work with Barbara to research the best tabletop display for future use.

2.) Poster Holders for the Common Reading Program. Val and Barbara will meet with John Ingram to discuss this year’s budget and ways to use the remaining funds. See end of Minutes for results of that meeting.

• Dissertations Brochure and Preview Workbook
Natalie said that there are many Interlibrary loan (ILL) requests submitted for titles (particularly dissertations and theses) that UF owns. She suggested a brochure outlining library services (emphasizing ILL procedures) aimed primarily at graduate students and their mentors. Barb said that it would be a low-cost project because the printing would be in-house. `Nita and Nat will check to see if there are others interested in working on it.

Barbara Hood brought a copy of the UF Libraries’ page in the Freshman Preview Workbook that needs to be updated. Several suggestions were made for changes.

• Discretionary Fund Requests
Laurie Taylor requested $150 to sponsor a contest for the best use of images available through the UF Digital Collections (UFDC). The winning design could be used to illustrate note or post cards and sold at the bookstore. Committee members weren’t sure of what the $150 was going to be used for since the note cards and postcards can be produced in-house. They voted to grant the request only if the money is to be used for food during an exhibition, kick-off party, or the like.

• Brief Budget Review
The committee looked at the 2008-09 budget to determine what was spent and for what. At our next meeting we will identify 10% budget cuts for the next fiscal year

• Marston Remodeling Update (Carol McAuliffe)
The reference desk will be relocated to the first floor in GIS. Carol was encouraged to request PR&M discretionary funds to hold an open house in the spring.

• Our Very Own Celebrity
Jim Liversidge was included as one of Gainesville’s 20 Most Interesting in the January 2009 issue of INsite Magazine (http://www.insitegainesville.com/). See page 45 for the article, “Jim Liversidge: Preserver of Pop Culture’s Past.”
Lookin’ good, Jim!

Note: The meeting between John, Barbara and Val took place on Feb. 9th. As reported by Valerie via email:
“First, John encouraged us to go ahead and purchase the mobile instruction set-up since next year funds will be slim. Barbara is doing some research and we may have a few models ready by the next meeting, or the one after.

“We discussed the previous request for a retractable sign. John agreed with our decision to not purchase a retractable sign, particularly since there does not appear to be branch interest and as there is already quite a number of posters printed in-house for the Common Reader Program. If we later identify a direct library benefit to purchasing a reusable retractable sign for a UF program, we can revisit.

“John did feel that Classic Fare catering seemed acceptable for the AFA library’s ArtBash event, given the popularity of the event and the difficulty AFA would have in food set-up. He didn’t have a problem making this a permanent line item on our budget.”

Filed under: Meeting Minutes, Uncategorized