LibGuides: ACRL/EBSS Resources for Curriculum Materials Professionals: Marketing & Promotion

Overview

The ACRL’s Guidelines for Curriculum Materials Centers states that CMCs should use marketing to promote their unique services and collections. It asserts that “Promotion should be directed toward all CMC user groups and stakeholders and should include both formal and informal means.” To accomplish this, a CMC should utilize its web presence, printed brochures or guides, informal campus contacts, local school contacts, and professional associations.

General Resources

ALA Communications & Marketing Office
Discover events, oversight groups, and resources (including ALA Press Kits).
Library Marketing and Outreach Interest Group LibGuide
A library marketing libguide for beginners.
Marketing Libraries Journal
A peer-reviewed, open access journal dedicated to marketing in libraries.
Super Library Marketing Blog
A blog with marketing ideas for "all kinds of libraries."

Getting Started

Marketing Plans

For CMCs which do not have comprehensive marketing plans, a document outlining audience, objectives, and more can help prioritize efforts and increase efficiencies. The resources below provide guidance on crafting a new marketing plan.

Marketing Plan Template
A worksheet for developing a marketing plan, from identifying an audience to writing objectives and goals. The eleven essential forms found in Blueprint for Your Library Marketing Plan: A Guide to Help You Survive and Thrive are available here as fillable PDFs. These online versions make it easy for librarians to use and share the forms with staff and advisors.
Full Marketing Plan Template
A marketing plan template from North Carolina State University. This marketing plan template is designed to facilitate analysis, planning and communication of your strategic marketing and communications plan. Additional resources and worksheets are referenced throughout the
document to assist with more detailed planning in specific areas.

Mission Statements

According to ALA, "Each type of library — public, school, and academic — should have a central, guiding mission statement that defines the library’s purpose and describes who the library serves. Additionally, the mission statement may be expanded to include a vision statement that clearly identifies what the library would be if the mission statement was achieved and a list of values, commitments, or goals that would help the library achieve its mission statement. At the minimum, a mission statement is needed to provide guidance for all efforts of the library." Due to the distinct nature of CMCs, having one specific to the CMC can help communicate to stakeholders the impact, relevancy, and cause the CMC supports.

ALA's "The Library Mission
As part of the selection and reconsidration policy toolkit for public, school, and academic libraries ALA provides guidance on crafting a mission statement.
WebJunction's "Writing a Mission Statement"
A guide to writing a mission statement by answering the questions What do you do? Who do you serve? How do you do it?

Mission Statement Examples

Framingham State University Curriculum Library
"The Curriculum Library prepares educators for learning and teaching in the dynamic world of the 21st Century. The collection supports active, collaborative learning, and provides materials, resources and technology for lesson planning, teaching, and scholarship. Collection policies are based on FSU Department of Education curriculum and the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework, incorporating the Common Core State Standards."
Hanley Library (University of Pittsburg)
“The primary mission of Hanley Library's CRC is to support the curriculum of the education program by providing quality materials and services to pre-service teachers and education department faculty."
Keane State College Curriculum Library
“It is the mission of Mason Library’s Curriculum Materials Library (CML) to promote excellence in pre-kindergarten to grade 12 teacher preparations by providing access to high quality resources and instruction in alignment with the mission and vision of Mason Library and Keene State College. The CML exists to collaboratively develop information literate, ethical, and critical thinkers to teach the next generation of students.”

Elevator Speeches

An elevator speech is a 20-60 second sound-bite that summarizes a who/what and explains its value. While elevator speeches are probably most commonly developed for individuals, they can also be crafted to quickly and succinctly communicate the strength and value of a given curriculum materials library. See the resources below for tips on getting started with an elevator speech.

ALA's "The Elevator Speech"
A flowchart on the key components of a good library elevator speech: the message, the story & key data, and the ask.
ALSC's "Elevator Speech"
Information on how to craft a good library elevator speech. What is an elevator speech? An elevator speech is a brief opportunity (one minute or less) to answer the questions, “What do you do and why should I care?” The goal is to plant a seed of curiosity so as the elevator doors (real or metaphorical) open, the listener says, “Tell me more.”
Everyday Advocacy's "Write an Elevator Speech"
A value-based language templet for librarians to use whe writing awesome elevator speeches.

Marketing & Promotional Materials

Resources for finding images for library marketing and promotion:

Creative Commons Images
A collection of over 300 million images from open APIs and the Common Crawl dataset.
Unsplash
A searchable collection of beautiful, high-resolution images.
Wikipedia Commons
A collection of over 54 million freely usable media files.

Tips for flyers, brochures, and other handouts:

Tips for creating posters:

Tips for library social media marketing.

Resources for designing and creating library marketing and promotional materials:

Adobe Express
Online graphic design tool that helps beginners create professional-looking content. Includes Spark Post, Page, and Video. Limited free version.
Canva
Online graphic design tool that allows users to design professional-looking posters, handouts, flyers, and other print resources. Users can create from scratch or use templates. Free although some templates, images, and fonts are available for a fee.
Library Design Share
Provides shareable design work as well as a community to inspire and be inspired by.
Library Transform Campaign
Offers free tools and resources for librarians interested in marketing the transformative nature of libraries and lifelong learning.
Smore
Online design tool for creating professional-looking flyers and posters that can be shared through email, links, websites, or social media. Limited free version.