Marketing

Retro Bond Covers

Great Western Dragon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:33:02 -0400

Like any avid reader, I appreciate the beauty of good cover art. No matter what they say, millions of people judge books by their covers every day.

These retro covers for Penguin's reissues of Ian Fleming's master spy stories fit the style and sexiness that fans all over the world have come to associate with James Bond. Some of the covers are completely original while others pay homage to the movie based upon them. (See Dr. No for the now iconic white knife belt worn by Ursula Andress and then most recently by Halle Berry.)

Obviously these come just in time for the release of Quantum of Solace, the newest big screen film featuring Daniel Craig as 007.

New Marketing Site: Marketing Your Library

Blake — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:01:24 -0400

Susan Akers sent over word on a new Web site on marketing libraries.... www.marketingyourlibrary.com for interesting articles, great links and tips and how-to's on marketing, branding and more.

File This Under Bad Bookmark Ideas

stevenj — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:52:11 -0400

It seemed like a fun way to promote goodwill for the University of Michigan at the Ann Arbor Mayor's Green Fair earlier this month: Hand out bookmarks made from recycled computer circuit boards. But the idea has now prompted a recall, complete with a reward, because the university has learned the circuit boards contain lead. U-M bought 1,000 of the bookmarks from an Illinois-based company that marketed them as "eco-friendly." Between 40 and 60 were handed out at the environmental fair in downtown Ann Arbor June 13. Read more at MLIve.com
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Stepping into marketing: Who’s with me?

Blake — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:32:58 -0400

Greg's been thinking and reading about online identity, reputation management and personal branding. His interest is NOT in marketing libraries. He says there are plenty of other people worrying about that. He's talking about marketing librarians and hopes to find ways to demonstrate the importance of that distinction to others in our profession.

I suspect few of you would disagree that librarians are, for the most part, poor self-promoters and marketers. I plan on doing my part to change that and the first step is paying attention to the people who know what they’re talking about.

Yummy Books

birdie — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:04:10 -0400

During the second annual Edible Book fundraising event at the Lilly Library, Florence, MA, visitors could taste 16 dishes inspired by books. The evening was a fundraiser for the Lilly Library and The Forbes Library, Northampton who split the proceeds. Masslive.com reported that the delectable tomes ranged from "a cake based on The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman to a platter of horse shaped cookies inspired by Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses."

The "Best in Show" award went to John Riley, owner of Gabrielle's Books, Northampton, who made Aristotle's Second Book of Poetics, a fictional book in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. The 'book' was made of a combination of baklava and lavash flat bread.

The needle in a haystack problem; The Librarian Solution

Blake — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:18:43 -0400

Seth Godin wrote about his The needle in a haystack problem: " But Google doesn't help with finding experts when the problem is hard to define, or when interactivity is required...No, there isn't an obvious answer. But yes, it's a universal problem. Worth a think when you get a chance."

The answer seemed completely obvious to me!

Insanity @ My Library: A Photo Contest

Anonymous Patron — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:57:15 -0500

Scott Douglas has released full details of a book give away contest here:

Do you have a picture that perfectly illustrates the insanity that takes place at a library? Maybe it's the book drop that was destroyed by a firecracker, the librarian who never matches his socks, or the library that is completely falling apart and has structural damage to prove it! If so, send them to me and you will automatically be entered in a drawing for a free signed copy of Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian.

Pondering Podcast Access -- A Conundrum I Have No Solution To

StephenK — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:09:54 -0500

The Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science defines podcast as:

A digital media file (audio or video) syndicated over the Internet via an RSS feed. The author or host of a podcast is known as a podcaster. Once available online, podcasts can be downloaded for listening on portable media devices (MP3 players, pocket CDs, cell phones) and personal computers. Despite the similarity in name, listening to or watching a podcast does not require an iPod, although the device can be used for that purpose. Online directories of podcasts are usually browsable by subject and searchable by keyword(s) (examples: Podcast Alley, Podcast.net, and Podfeed.net).

This describes the program produced here in the Las Vegas metro. This also describes the method of normal distribution. Is this the normal means of accessing LISTen, though?

From the survey attempt made earlier I found that there was no single dominant answer as to how folks obtained episodes. The answers that together made up the single biggest response area was e-mail. Receiving links to the episode from friends as well as from the news update e-mail from Blake has been the most common means of hitting the episode.

As might seem normal, this makes for a conundrum for me. By normal definitions LISTen is a radio show carried by alternative means. From statistics we see that access is not normally had by way of iTunes or another podcatcher. By and large folks follow links from e-mail. As to the definition for podcasts being used, LISTen does not necessarily meet it exactly.

Would a subscribe to the show via e-mail button help? Morgan Webb has such available for her program WebbAlert at this page. Morgan's set up for that involves using FeedBurner.

If I look into setting up such a means of subscribing that carried with it the Flash player, would it be used? Would it be wise? Would it be effective?

My posts seem to end in questions at times. This comes from my wanting to run as open of a production as possible. It is hoped that, with the amount of openess as to production being displayed, this might help librarians who are thinking about instituting podcasts at their libraries and trying to see what it is like producing such. Technology alone does not a podcast make.

Just as much as Morgan Webb puts up donation buttons at her site, I put such for you here as well:

Canada

New Zealand

Dancin' the Fines Away

Great Western Dragon — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:35:33 -0500

Okay, this is cool. The Wadleigh Memorial Library recently held a competition where patrons could dance their fines away through playing the video game Dance Dance Revolution. While patrons could donate food items to reduce fines, but they were also encouraged to enter the competition too.

Both librarians and patrons alike took part.

Several local businesses donated food to provide energy for the hungry dancers.

How Much is a Free Public Library Worth in Cash?

birdie — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:34:37 -0500

The Chelmsford (MA) Library has an interesting marketing tool on their website...they ask readers to estimate how much money they would spend on services that the library offers completely free, such as Interlibrary Loan, computer hours, programs, etc. and ties a monetary value to each.

The library encourages librarians & webmasters to add the calculator to their own websites.