july06b.indd


MARL
announces
2007
Marketing
Awards:


You,
too,
can
feel
like
a
rock
n’
roll
librarian



The lights dimmed, the rhythmic beat of the music began to fi ll the 
gigantic room, and my heart began to 
beat faster. I felt like I was in a large 
dance club or concert, but when I 
looked down at my clenched hands I  
was politely dressed in trousers and a 
blouse instead of my usual rock’n’roll 
uniform of jeans and old t­shirt. But 
nonetheless I felt like a rock star. 

When American University won the 
grand prize in the ACRL 2005 Best Prac­
tices in Marketing Academic and Research 
Libraries @your library Award, I never 
anticipated that we would be one of the 
focal points at the 2005 ACRL National 
Conference. After winning, ACRL asked 
us to create a f lash presentation that 
highlighted our project. Our marketing 
team had no idea how this video would be 
used.We were only told the award would 
be presented at the conference­wide 
lunch. When we arrived at the ballroom 
we found two 20­foot screens where our 
video would be shown.With anticipation 
I waited for our segment to play. Soon 
electronica music that accompanied our 
winning campaign presentation blared 
through the large hall. After the video, 
ACRL past president Tyrone Cannon said 
“shake @your library” in reference to our 
heart pumping soundtrack.With a laugh, 
he invited us on stage. 

This prize was the summation of more 
than two years of researching, brainstorm­
ing and planning a marketing campaign 
along with negotiating and editing de­
signs.The pride I felt as the members of 
our marketing team took the stage was 
overwhelming. It started out as a proj­
ect that a few of us rallied for and our 
University Librarian, Patricia Wand fully 
supported. But she didn’t just support us, 
she allowed us to be creative, crazy risk 

takers. Everyone who worked on this proj­
ect brought their very best knowledge to 
the table including: two marketing gradu­
ate students with fresh and challenging 
information, two senior librarians with 
much knowledge and many campus con­
nections, one development offi cer with 
amazing event planning skills and keen 
creativity, and one graphic designer with 
an almost telepathic ability to know what 
the team was thinking and how to mani­
fest it with both humor and clarity. Since 
last year, two of our team members have 
become marketing directors elsewhere 
and both Pat and I have moved to different 
institutions. But the feeling of being rock 
stars that day remains! 

You could be next 
We truly rocked and now you can too, 
because the ACRL Marketing Academic 
and Research Libraries Committee has 
just announced that there will be a 2007 
Best Practices in Marketing Academic 
and Research Libraries @your library 
Award given out at the 13th ACRL Nation­
al Conference, to be held in Baltimore, 
Maryland, March 29–April 1, 2007. This 
time ACRL, with support from Springer, 
will honor three first place winners who 
will each receive a $2,000 prize. Each 
award will celebrate a different type of 
library: associate or community college, 
college and university. 

Please check the ACRL Web site (www. 
acrl.org/marketing) for the latest informa­
tion, such as criteria for judging, timeline 
for submission, types of materials to sub­
mitted, etc. I look forward to you applying 
for this award because I know that regard­
less if you win or not you will feel like a 
celebrity for choosing to promote library 
services, resources and values. —Mary 
F. Evangeliste, University of Arizona,  
Evangelistem@u.library.arizona.edu. 

July/August 2006  425 C&RL News 

mailto:Evangelistem@u.library.arizona.edu