Public Relations & Marketing Committee
Meeting Minutes – August 18, 2008
Members Present: Val Davis, `Nita Ferree, Barbara Hood, Natalie Lane, Carol McAuliffe, Richard Saltzburg, Jay Wiese, and Brian Keith
Announcements:
Valrie confirmed that Dr. David Colburn has agreed to speak for the Faculty Author series. He is scheduled for Monday Nov. 3. It will coincide with the opening of a new political exhibition and Dr. Colburn will talk about his book.
The Elegance of Science proposal was accepted and prize money for the next 2 – 3 years has been secured. They are currently in the process of putting together a website and promotional materials. One benefit is that the submitted art can be used in library marketing. Brian asked where the prize money came from and Val told him it was from an anonymous donor who specifically wanted the money to be used for this purpose. Brian expressed concern that some contestants might not be eligible to receive monetary awards from the university and also there was some question about how donated funds could be used. Valrie assured him that Sam Huang and John Ingram were both in support of the current plan. Brian was going to talk to Sam to make sure all the bases had been covered.
Banned Books Week, Sept. 27-Oct. 4:
Valrie and Barbara said that Judy had sent them an email about Banned Books Week (Sept 27 – Oct 4). She was wondering if the libraries could pull something together in time for that, perhaps a mini Read-A-Thon. The committee felt that it would be too difficult to get a Read-A-Thon together in such a short amount of time. John Van Hook and Colleen Seale have said they will work together on a display for Library West. Barbara will ask them if they need any help with their display. Carol McAuliffe mentioned the possibility of working in collaboration with the public library since they may already be planning something for banned books week.
GIS Day:
Valrie said that the committee has agreed to fund food and print media for GIS Day. Carol said that planning for GIS Day is underway and they hope to bring in participants from area schools as well. Penny Rich was given as good contact for P. K. Young.
Magnets, flash drives, retractable signs:
Barbara announced that we were out of magnets and wanted to know if we should purchase more. It has already been worked into this year’s budget. Magnets are more expensive than pencils,5000 pencils for $650.00, 2000 magnets for $400.00
Magnets seem to be more popular than pencils at Preview and other events. Brian asked what was on the old magnets and it was believed that they were specific to the Digital Library Center. Erich had sent them a number of images they could use. Brian thought that using the magnets to promote a particular collection or service of the libraries was a more effective advertizing strategy, rather than promoting the library as a whole which is effectively a monopoly. Valrie was in agreement and the service of Ask A Librarian was brought up as a possible service to promote. Nita thought that having a magnet marketing the number of libraries at UF may be a good idea since many didn’t seem to know that we had so many. The audience we were trying to reach was brought up and it seemed that the magnets were most often used in Preview, faculty orientations, and graduate student orientations. Pencils were requested by libraries and used in Preview and grad orientations. Course Reserves was brought up as a good service to promote to faculty and graduate instructors especially. The committee was in agreement and Natalie is to work with Barbara on a slogan and design for the Course Reserve magnets. A quick mention was made of flash drives and Barbara said Sam had ordered some cool Gator flash drives for donors.
The committee has also been asked to consider buying more retractable signs for use in branches and for specific displays. Smather’s Libraries own two and they have been used for displays, providing information on floors, as well as job fairs/expos. It costs $125 to create a new sign though they can be reused. The committee decided that new signs were not necessary as nice, clean, and informative displays can be created using a poster printed on foam core and an easel.
Rainy Day Bags – Barbara announced that we are out of rainy day bags and wanted to know if we were going to order the same kind, same design, etc. It was established that the bags were in fact biodegradable but they do not have that printed on them. The decision was made to go ahead with another purchase of the bag and design we have used in the past.
Open House:
Nita said she was confused as to how the open houses would work. Would it rotate regularly among the libraries? Valrie said that the plan was to advertise the opportunity to the heads of each of the libraries and then see which libraries would be interested in participating. The funds would be used towards a reception for the library chosen with preference given to libraries that haven’t had a large event recently. Art Bash was brought up as a similar event that we would continue to fund separately from the Open House idea. Brian would like to see the libraries who want “open house” funds come up with some ideas such as Art Bash or GIS Day. The events should be specific and purposeful. Branch libraries need to be made aware that the funds are available. Carol mentioned that the “open house” fund did not seem to differ significantly from the discretionary funds. The suggestion was made to send out an email to advertise the discretionary funds to the library using specific examples such as an open house. Carol volunteered to write up a draft email announcement.
New faculty emails:
The decision was made to discontinue the use of new faculty packets and instead an email will be sent to all new faculty. Val will compose a template and the librarian associated with the particular department will send it out. PeopleSoft should have the address a couple of weeks out.
PRaM Annual Report:
Valrie said there has been no report done in the last 2 years. In 2006-2007, a Marketing Plan was done and the Executive Summary was done 2005-2006. Brian mentioned that an Annual Report is an important project right now since administration is examining the committee structure of the library. A case needs to be made for the Marketing Committee and what we have accomplished the last 2 years. Valrie said she would start working on a draft drawing from the minutes of the meetings over the last 2 years. Mention should be made of the state of marketing in the libraries before the committee was in place, no cohesive marketing, no scheduling of events, no budget and no way to track how much money is spent on marketing. It has also given smaller branches a voice and a way to get their unique messages out.
LibQual Survey – Reports have been analyzed and were reported to Library Council. Bill Covey has said that more information is available and Valrie thought that inviting him to a meeting to talk to us would be a good idea.
Items Tabled for Future Discussion
Marketing plan
“Programming that inspires students to have a sense of ownership of the Libraries” discussion
Further development of PRaM Annual Report
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