Wanna Collaborate?

Poster Design by Dennis Reed, Jr. 

I'm really excited about this semester's upcoming book club and activities! We are continuing our collaboration with the Women's Studies Program, which allows us to join forces in running the book club and obtaining funding for the books and author visit. When searching for meaningful ways to contribute to student learning, consider the activities already happening through campus clubs and organizations. Is there a speaker scheduled to visit? If so, could you offer to run a book club or speaker series that piggy-backs off of the topic? A little collaboration can go a long way in ensuring success!

Do You Archive?

Photo sharing sites such as Picasa and Flickr are great for sharing snapshots with friends and family-- and also serve as frugal tools for archiving marketing materials. At E. H. Butler Library, we use Flickr to archive our posters and promotional materials for the Rooftop Poetry Club. Not only does this help us keep track of all of our events, but it also looks pretty darn impressive!  Check out our Flickr archive for a little design inspiration (posters by Dennis Reed, Jr.)

Need A Caffeine Fix?

Poster design by Dennis Reed, Jr. 

At E. H. Butler Library, we offer extended hours during the final weeks of classes for late-night studying.  Unfortunately, our cafe does not offer the same hours...and our students REALLY love coffee.  No fear!  We've collaborated with our dining services (Sodexo), who graciously supply free coffee and tea to our students in the library. Just one more example of collaboration hard at work!

Here's the great poster that Dennis Reed, Jr. made up to advertise the service. (We've noticed that the poster keeps disappearing from the table-- so I've started making extras for those who feel the need to have their own copy!).

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!  

Collaboration In the Stacks

Poster Design by Dennis Reed, Jr.

Collaborating with partners across campus doesn't have to be complicated.  To guide students to the Career Development Center, we hang this poster in the stacks near the resume writing books.  It's a very small thing that could make a big difference to students who are unaware of available resources across campus.

"Girl Power" Reading Club

I'm incredibly excited about this semester's reading club selection and activities.  As part of an on going collaboration with the Women's Studies Program, we'll be reading Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music. I've been planning lots of great activities utilizing library resources. We're also collaborating with campus partners to secure funding to bring reading club members to an upcoming Ani DiFranco concert!  When planning your own club, don't overlook possible funding sources, such as Residence Life.
You might just find they are happy to provide students with copies of the book, or assist with other campus activities.

Poster design by Dennis Reed, Jr.

Book Club Collaboration

One of the most successful collaborations we have going right now is our book club, a collaboration between Butler Library and the Women's Studies program. Started to support the Women's Studies program's sponsorship of a visit by Pink Think author Lynn Peril, the club is being continued with a new book selection each semester. This is a great example of collaborating with campus partners to provide unique programming activities.

Poster design by Dennis Reed, Jr. 

Green Talk Workshop Series

Go Green In the Library poster design by Dennis Reed, Jr.

It's easy to arrange innovative programming events when you want to be involved yourself!  What are current topics that you'd like to learn more about, and what events are already happening on campus?  What are folks talking about in your community, and what are the student organizations doing on campus?  You don't have to be “the expert” to lead a program or club; you just need to be motivated. Start with a genuine curiosity on the subject, and then do what you do best—gathering and presenting relevant materials!  Contact university and local authorities on the subject, check out books from your own library, and then take the time to explore and learn from these freely available resources.  Most of the time, local organizations are looking for venues to get the word out about their mission, and will jump at the opportunity to present to an interested audience.  For example, our “Green Team” has hosted Green Talks by local experts on earth friendly cleaning (leading to the making of cleaning solutions to use in the library!), city gardening, campus recycling, and reusing old building materials.  Green programming also included an Earth Day poetry contest, paper art display, and the creation of an environmental subject guide.

The Library Is Good for Your Health

This year, we'll be marketing the library's health resources at the school's annual health fair (poster design by Dennis Reed, Jr.).  We also managed to get some great freebies from MedLinePlus (including cool little sticky notes that say "Information Rx").