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ACRL Libraries Transform Toolkit: Introduction

ACRL Libraries Transform Task Force Charge

The ACRL Board of Directors approved the ACRL Libraries Transform Task Force to support the new ALA advocacy campaign. Please see the following charge, tasks and timeline:

Charge: To develop messages and resources that will address the needs of academic and research libraries using the new ALA campaign, Libraries Transform.

 Tasks:

  • To develop and suggest to ALA new “Because” statements for the campaign.
  • To develop resources that ALA can use on its campaign website, e.g., suggest individuals for interview, libraries to spotlight.
  • To review the Academic and Research Libraries marketing materials developed for the ALA @ Your Library Campaign and revise/update or recommended removal from the website as needed.   

The taskforce also wishes to gratefully acknowledge  Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Harmony Faust, and Martha Scherf-Pompa, consultant on the project, for their support and assistance in developing content and shareable graphics and templates.

ACRL Libraries Transform Task Force

Task Force Membership

  • Virginia Cononie (Value of Academic Libraries Committee liaison)
  • Christine Dulaney
  • Cinthya Ippoliti (Chair)
  • Shannon Farrell
  • Joyce Martin
  • Kristen Mastel
  • Christopher O Davidson (Library Marketing and Outreach Interest Group liaison)
  • Jennifer Park (Library Marketing and Outreach Interest Group liaison)
  • Devin Savage
  • Denise Wetzel                         

ACRL Board Liaison: Lori Critz, ACRL Staff Liaison: Allison Payne

Comments or Questions? Please let us know!

How to use this toolkit

Toolkit Rationale:

The impetus for this toolkit arose out of the needs expressed during the committee's assessment of marketing and outreach activities. Surveys and discussions with various stakeholders revealed a need to have access to easy to use outreach best practices and materials in a way that allows for flexibility and adaptability.

“We’ve started being more intentional in our library about the various channels of marketing and promotion that we have available to us, as well as their reach. We haven’t figured it all out yet, but I would characterize our ‘intentionality’ as working better.”

That was a response when the ACRL Libraries Transform Task Force recently asked in a survey, “What is the process that your library utilizes to implement your library’s marketing and outreach strategy?” We also received feedback that activities are often “ad hoc” and somewhat haphazard and while committees are full of caring folks, the realities of staffing and budgets can limit outcomes. We’ve all been there. While we all fully understand the critical need of marketing and outreach, it’s easy to become daunted or overwhelmed by limitations. That’s why this particular survey response resonated so strongly as we began development of the ACRL Libraries Transform Toolkit. By simply being more “intentional” – as individuals as well as in team or committee configurations – we’re already making progress.

No doubt you’ve seen toolkits rolled out in the past and perhaps discovered an abundance of publications that address their role in successfully marketing libraries. We’re mindful of that and in developing this new ACRL Libraries Transform Toolkit, focused on providing content to support most critical needs. It should also be understood that any toolkit, much like a toolbox, should be modified and adjusted as needs change based on your specific market, academic environment, and users.

Toolkit Goals:

  1. Adopt a framework for community engagement and advocacy that is outward facing and takes into account the entire context in which a library operates, not simply the tools needed in order to develop an effective outreach strategy
  2. Develop a model to initiate and implement strategic, sustainable, and scalable outreach
  3. Provide tools and resources that can be adapted for any library and organizational context and assuming the availability of limited or no resources