Academic and school librarians are finally beginning to settle into the fall semester, and many of us are able to relax (or just stop running in circles) due to the efforts we put in during the summer to prepare for this school year. Joanna Hare, a Subject Librarian at the Run Run Shaw Library at the City University of Hong Kong, recently updated a guide to assist students in using the library.
Assessment isn’t easy, and sometimes the hardest part of measuring your effectiveness is getting patrons to take a survey. When our library embarked on the LibQual survey last month, we had a goal to reach more patrons that we had in 2010. We agreed that a marketing campaign was the best way to accomplish this, and that our catch-phrase would be “Let Us Know,” which is simple, but exactly what we wanted patrons to do. So I got busy making designs to promote our LibQual.
Whenever I start to create something, I look for other examples out there for inspiration. I found these amazing designs from a French library (and then of course I had to Google translate to understand the text!):
These marketing signs were unlike any others I had seen, and I knew I wanted to create something similar for our library. In the designs above, you are asked if you prefer your library one way or another…I didn’t have a lot of staff to stage pictures, so I used the pictures we already have. My designs don’t compare services, but each one does ask a question straight from the LibQual survey.
I placed eight different variations of this design around the library to catch patrons’ eyes, but to remain consistent in design and message. I furthered our library “brand” by using orange, the color we use on our handouts, website, and instructional materials. Our patrons are pretty used to seeing “library orange” these days. To continue the message, we used the phrase, “Let Us Know” with an orange picture in emails to faculty, staff, and students, and we placed this banner on our website:
So how did it go? Well, we increased our respondent rate by 25% from years past. We can’t directly count the marketing for the increase, but I’d say it didn’t hurt.
What are you doing to promote your library? Have you tried to market your LibQual survey? Share your designs here with us! And, if you would like the original Publisher documents to modify for your library, contact me.
A few months back, I went to a resource fair in my institution, and another department had an interesting giveaway that I hadn’t seen before: an iPad cleaner. Of course, this is really nothing more than a large eyeglasses shammy, but by putting it into the trendy context of an iPad or a tablet cleaner, it became THE swag to snag.
So, of course, I decided that my library needed to get in on this and make our own cleaner for the next opportunity we have to give things away. I started with a simple, basic design, like the one that I picked up, but before long, I realized that we could use a design that was already in circulation…our tablet handout. The iPad layout fits perfectly to the 5 1/2 x 7″ size of cloth. The only change I needed to make to the design was to include our tablet site’s web address and QR code at the bottom so that patrons could find the site we were advertising (the tablet handout was two-sided with that information on the back, and the cleaning cloth can only be printed on one side).
You may notice that our tablet site’s image changed a bit since the last post, but we have committed to keeping this design for at least a year, so we ordered 500 of these babies at about $1.50 a piece through our institution’s vendor, and we think they’ll be a big hit!
What are you guys giving out to patrons this fall?
Contact me if you want the original Publisher file for this design.
If you’re an academic librarian, late summer is (among other things) the time for Fall Semester prep. Lindsey Gumb, Web & Digital Services Specialist at Roger Williams University Library has created these cute bookmarks to give away to freshman and new students in the fall. Here’s Lindsey in her own words:
I recently designed a “bookmark” to be passed out to incoming freshmen to promote our social media and to give them a quick “cheat sheet” link to all the ways to connect with us. We’re new to really using social media to connect with our students, so we want to make sure we promote as much as we can. This bookmark is just one way we’re doing that! It was designed using Photoshop CS5, and I have the psd files for anyone that’s interested in seeing them. I’m not a graphic designer by any means, so the design is simple, but it works for us, and I’m happy to share!
Lindsey’s bookmarks also include a great adaptation of Michael Schofield’s mobile app icon for libraries, which was featured on the blog in February. It’s nice to see designs shared here reused and adapted!
For the original Photoshop files, email Lindsey.
This submission is a great example of what we hoped Librarian Design Share could do. Here’s what Bohyun Kim from Florida International University Medical Library has to say about her new Kindle lending program advertisement:
This is a poster I created [using Photoshop] for my library’s new Kindle e-book reader lending program sponsored by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/Southeast Atlantic Region Express Mobile Technology Project Award. The poster will be printed on a large glossy paper (36′ x 24′). This poster design has been inspired by the circulation desk signage of Saint Mary’s College of Maryland Library featured on Library Design Share back in December.
You can read more about Bohyun’s poster creation on the ACRL Tech Connect blog (which, if you’re not reading, you should definitely checkout!). If you’ve been inspired by any of our posts, we’d love to feature your adaptations.
For the Photoshop file of this poster, email Bohyun Kim.
When our staff developed a tablet page to highlight our mobile resources, we wondered how we would advertise it. It finally became apparent that the very best way to advertise an iPad or other device was by using the image of the device itself. What’s more eye-catching than a tablet?
I made a handout that is two sided: the front is an image of our actual tablet page as if you were holding and viewing it (I just layered a screen shot of the page over an iPad image–that’s what you see above), and a little more information and QR code on the back side (see the image below). I print four of these per page to save some trees, and they are always popular at our Information Desk.
The topic buttons on the handout were created by Laurissa Gann, Outreach Librarian at MD Anderson Research Medical Library. If you would like the Publisher document for this handout, contact April Aultman Becker.
Are you using LibCal to book your study rooms? It’s changed our lives around here. This is the bookmark I created to promote our new self-booking system. I’ve caught quite a few patrons around the library scanning the QR code with their smartphones to reserve a room. Email April Aultman Becker if you would like the Publisher document.
We started a Kindle lending program this fall and used this sign to connect borrowers to our Kindle Libguide. It’s my first experiment with QR codes on library flyers and I’m curious to see if any of our students use it. For the Photoshop file, email Veronica Arellano Douglas.
Librarian Design Share 