Speak Up!

         Looking for a speaker to come to your school or library, but don't think you can find the extra funding?   The NY Council for the Humanities "Speakers in the Humanities" and "Speakers in the Schools" program offers grants to not-for-profit organizations in New York state.  Speaker's honoraria and travel expenses are paid by the Council, so school libraries and public libraries book at next to nothing (schools are free and public institutions pay a $35.00 application fee.)  It's a great program with speakers available for nearly every subject.  What do you have to lose?  

Quiet Marketing

E. H. Butler Library recently unveiled our new 24/7 QuietQuad study facility. During the grand opening celebration, visitors were greeted by a mime handing out pens and lip balm with a “shhhh” theme (intended to encourage students to maintain a noise-free study zone).  Germaine Robinson, our mime volunteer, is a student in the theater department.  She was thrilled to help us out, and received a gift card for the book store as a small token of our thanks.    
As a reminder to "keep the quiet,"  Dennis Reed, Jr. designed these clever posters for the new area:

One of My Favorite Projects

Patrons who wander the second or third floors of E. H. Butler Library have some innovative help finding books on their topic. Colorful posters, designed to guide users in visually locating books by subject, pair Library of Congress subject headings with matching illustrations.  The poster project was a partnership between the Library and Instructional Resources.  After seeing over-priced subject posters advertised in a supply magazine, I contacted Computer Graphic Specialist Kaylene Waite with the idea to create our own posters.  Kaylene was eager to help, and along with student assistants, Matt Evrard and Eddy Silvario, produced a collection of 115 unique posters. The project, which was a substantial undertaking (over 300 posters in all), took over a year to complete. Students really appreciate the extra help in locating their books--and feel a little less "lost" in the stacks!