PR Hint of the Week - April 2003 - Library Week ideas

"I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved."
Author Barbara Kingsolver

As the above quote demonstrates, people appreciate librarians and libraries.
So, let's celebrate! National Library Week is next week (April 6-12). Are YOU ready?
If not, here are some ideas for celebrating National Library Week.

CONTESTS: (You'll need to have some prizes)
- Disc toss--a good way to use old CD-roms
- Guess how many bookworms are in the librarian's head (get a clear plastic head, dress it up a bit, and stuff it with gummy worms)
- Photo contest--match the employee with the baby picture
- Stump the Librarian Day
- "Putting for Prizes"--set up a putting green for 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the afternoon. Putters earn a handicap (move closer to the cup) by answering trivia questions correctly. Successful putts get name entered for drawing.
- "Why My Library Books are Overdue" excuse contest--best excuse wins a prize!

FOOD:
- Bagels for breakfast
- Candy or baked goods Monday through Thursday--ice cream social on Friday

PROMOTION:
- "Patron of the Day." Pick a person at random to be Patron of the Day.
Take his or her picture (with a Polaroid camera) and give him or her a gift of some sort.
- Book sale/swap. Set out a table for people to bring in used books that others might take home or purchase
- Movie over the lunch hour
- Create a personalized word search puzzle using your library terms or names. You can also make your puzzle contain two hidden messages--such a "Happy Library Week" or "The Legislative Library Rocks!" For help creating your puzzle go to http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/chooseapuzzle.html

Also, programming ideas to highlight the role of librarians, as well as libraries, are available on the @ your library Website at www.ala.org/@yourlibrary/nlw.cfm. The page also features publicity materials, including a proclamation, display ideas, PSAs, and a sample press release which libraries can customize. The MLA PR & Marketing Committee urges you to send the National Library Week press release and/or the editorial to your local paper. The majority of the work is already done for you! There's also great stuff about CIPA and the Patriot Act in the Save America's Libraries Tool Kit which can be accessed at www.ala.org/pio/csal_toolkit.html

Plan to have something different going on every day during National Library Week, April 6-12.

Make sure to make use of various print and electronic means available in your library to publicize your events

Hope you all have some fun events planned for next week (I know I do!).

Happy National Library Week on behalf of your jolly MLA PR & Marketing Committee!
Lisa
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Lisa Mecklenberg Jackson
JD, MSLIS Legislative Librarian