Contest offers NJ libraries a chance to share some sunshine with customers

GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO REACH OUT TO YOUR COMMUNITY
Times are tough for many in your community. We are partnering with the Meadowlands with great prizes for your customers while providing your library with another tool to promote all of your services.

We are sponsoring drawings for four free tickets to family shows at the IZOD Center. This is ordinarily a great incentive but in these times when many families are struggling, a free family night to see these shows could be a terrific boon to families:

- Harlem Globetrotters
- Nuclear Cowboyz Freestyle Motocross
- Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus FUNundrum
- Smucker’s Stars on Ice
- Nets games

NO ONE IS GOING TO KNOW ABOUT IT UNLESS WE PROMOTE IT!
Your library should have received a poster. If you haven’t received one or want additional posters to hang around town please email Gary Cooper gcooper@njstatelib.org.

All people have to do is fill out the latest book they read and give their contact information so we can notify them and send them tickets if they win. Why not make someone’s day and let them know about the contest.

IT ALSO BENEFITS LIBRARIES.
- Great PR for your library
- Brings people to the NJ library Champions page and the link to become a NJ Library Champion
- Reminds people how libraries are helping in these tough time
-Provides a great tool to piggyback with all your services

MARKETING IDEAS
- Create displays on different themes from the contest and feature corresponding materials and programs
- Send a media release or calendar event to your local newspaper
- Post to your Facebook page
- Share with groups including local religious, community and social organizations
- Share with your staff, give them flyers to share with their friends and families

How are you marketing this contest? Email me at ndowd@njstatelib.org or leave a comment so we can share your creative ideas with everyone. Thanks- Nancy

Free NJ Champion Posters for Libraries

NJSL wants to help your library promote your value and attract new champions. We just ordered a second batch of posters and are ready to get them out to you. Here’s how:

ORDER POSTERS FOR YOUR LIBRARY
NJSL will send your library free NJ Library Champion posters for you to display in your library.
Order here.

GET 10 FREE POSTERS TO GIVE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
Get the excitement going in your library. We’ll send you 10 free posters to give away as prizes!
Order your posters here.

Today is deadline for NJLA Awards

Today is the last day to submit nominations for the annual NJLA honors and awards.

Please go here for the online nomination form.

Criteria for all of the awards can be found here.

NJSL Partners with Meadowlands to Promote Value of Reading

The New Jersey State Library and the Meadowlands Sports Complex have partnered to promote the valuable role reading plays in helping everyone succeed in life. Your customers can be entered into a drawing to win four free tickets to various events by filling out an online form with the name of a book they have read at http://njlibrarychampions.org

Prizes in the upcoming months include tickets to these family shows at the IZOD Center: Monster Jam, Harlem Globetrotters, Nuclear Cowboyz Freestyle Motocross, Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey FUNundrum, Smucker’s Stars on Ice and Nets games. This is an excellent opportunity to conduct outreach to families in your communities through community groups, businesses and schools.

Libraries will receive large color posters. If you would like more to distribute please contact Gary Cooper gcooper@njstatelib.org

FLYERS FOR LIBRARIES TO PRINT Download this flyer to display in your library or distribute at schools, community centers, local businesses, etc.

NJ Library Champions

This month the NJ State Library is rolling out the NJ Library Champions public awareness campaign that will support the NJ Library Association’s effort enlisting people to support libraries by becoming a NJ library champion. Here are some exciting things that are happening now.

****UPDATE: Add a web link to njlibrarychampions.org on your library’s site! We’ve created badges for all the champions so you can have choice. Click here to get the files..

Website
The State Library has created a beautiful site featuring famous NJ library champions and key advocacy messages. We are also adding fun trivia games and a section where people can win free prizes by entering the latest book they read. Winning entries will be drawn randomly. Viewers are invited to sign up to become a NJ Library Champion with NJLA. We will be providing icons for libraries to display on your Web pages very shortly.

Advertising
The State Library has secured billboards in north and south Jersey and media spots on Path train station platforms. The combined venues will have a media reach of over 5 million impressions. (See the list of locations below.) This first wave of media will be targeted to people “on the go” who are either traveling in their cars or on the trains. There will be a mobile-based call to action asking people to text “Champion” to 51684 in order to receive more information about the campaign.

Billboard Locations:
• Trent Cole: Rts 40/322 1.4 Miles W/O Atlantic Ave (Facing West)

• A.J. Burnett : NJ Turnpike @ MM 109.4 .5 miles N.O Exit 15W- Western Spur (Facing North)

• Justin Tuck: NJ Turnpike @MM 116.2 N/O Exit 18W Western Spur (Facing North)

• Zach Parise: NJ Turnpike N/O Exit 16E @ I-495 (Facing South)

Path Trains:
A 15 second video montage featuring Justin Tuck, A.J. Burnett and Zach Parise as NJ Library Champions with their quotes will run on 32’ and 42’ screens at six stations heavily trafficked by NJ commuters. These daytime spots will run during December and February for a total of over 3 million impressions including key rush hour viewing times.

Order posters for your library.
We are providing libraries with free NJ Library Champion posters. Order now and you will receive yours by January. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/njchampions

If you see the billboard or video be sure to take a picture and send it to us: gcooper@njstatelib.org
Thanks- Nancy

OCL Lakewood Branch’s Community Dinner Video

Larry Meegan from the OCL PR Department sent me this link to a video they produced promoting their latest activity @ the Lakewood Branch Library. One more NJ librry that has found success with video marketing!

Tweet or Text … Help us write a book!

11/25 Update
My friend Andy Woodworth wrote a beautiful piece that you simply must read. Read here. I know our lives are often so busy that we don’t even have the time to think about those whose words have touched our lives. If Andy’s words touched your heart, then consider passing on the gift by sharing your words. Life is all about one human being sharing with another human being. This is your chance to share what is good and inspirational with others. If you decide to write more than a line, feel free to send it my way.

Happy Thanksgiving. -Nancy

This is National November Write Your Own Book Month and the New Jersey State Library is taking the challenge to write a book with 50,000 words in one month. We need your help to both write and to spread the word to EVERYONE you know – friends, family, customers, co-workers, hairdressers, teachers, students. Everyone has the potential to write something that might positively impact the life of a stranger with this book!

Here is the plan:
The NJ State Library will compile a book with the collective wisdom of people sharing advice with another human being. Words of wisdom for a child, friend, politician, parent, teenager, adult, parent … The catch is, you have to text your advice and it can only be 140 characters or less. We’ll collect your text messages until we have 50,000 words of wisdom. The name of the book will be, H2H (Human to Human) wisdom in 140 characters- unless someone texts us a better title! We’ll even publish it online so you can share it with your friends and families.

Three ways to submit your H2H words of wisdom:

1. Text “H2H” to 51684, hit “space” and type your advice. Standard message charges apply. You’ll receive a message to let you know your submission has been accepted. We will keep you updated about the book but we won’t send more than 1 message per week and you can stop the messages anytime you want by replying “Stop”.

2. Tweet to: @h2hbook

We will include your initials or first name to your quote if you include it. All entries must be submitted no later than November 30.

3. Go online: Follow this link and fill out your words of wisdom online.

Guidelines:

No profanity

No personal references

While we would love to use all quotes that are submitted, we will be editing the final product and reserve the right to reject submissions.

Questions? Nancy Dowd: ndowd@njstatelib.org

Nancy Dowd
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
New Jersey State Library
609-278-2640 ext 122
www.njstatelib.org

NJ Libraries Invited to Join with NJSL in the Pennies for Peace Initiative

Throughout February and March 2010, the New Jersey State Library plans to honor the legacy of Abraham Lincoln as part of the national Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commemoration. Lincoln firmly believed in education, equality, opportunity and peace. To help continue his legacy, the State Library is encouraging all New Jersey libraries to participate in the Lincoln Pennies for Peace Campaign. All funds collected will be donated to Pennies for Peace which collects funds for the Central Asia Institute co-founded by Greg Mortenson, the subject of the bestselling biography, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School At A Time.” His newest book, “Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan” is due out Dec. 1, 2009 and continues the story begun in “Three Cups of Tea.” The money collected for the Pennies For Peace Campaign will be used to build school libraries in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The New Jersey State Library encourages New Jersey school and public libraries to join this campaign:
• Register at the Pennies for Peace website. You can receive free postcards and stickers and other materials.
• Let us know too. To receive a free poster for your library and to have your library included in statewide media releases please register with the NJ State Library here.
• Design a creative donation container and send in pictures for posting on the State Library Website. Either post the photos to your Flickr account and send Gary Cooper the link or send us the digital photos and he’ll post them for you. (gcooper@njstatelib.org)
• Get children and the community involved in contributing pennies. Pennies for Peace has lots of suggestions to get you started.
• The libraries collecting the most pennies for New Jersey libraries will receive recognition during National Library Week in April 2010.

To be eligible for this contest, libraries should collect the pennies, make a check made out to “New Jersey State Library” and send the check to the State Library by April 1, 2010. We’ll send all the checks to Pennies for Peace.

Send your check to:
Sheri Shafer, Chief Financial Officer
NJ State Library
PO Box 520
Trenton, NJ 08625-0520
Checks must be received at the State Library by April 1, 2010.

The original Pennies for Peace was conceived by students in a Wisconsin elementary school in 1996. Since then, over 16 million pennies have been raised by over 700 schools in all 50 states, including over 10 million pennies in the past year. The program is designed to educate children about the world beyond their experience and show them that they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time. To date, the Central Asia Institute has established 130 schools, educating over 51,000 students, with an emphasis on girls’ education.

Media Inquiries: Gary Cooper email: gcooper@njstatelib.org
Contact for Libraries: Sharon Rawlins email: srawlins@njstatelib.org.

New Resource on NJLA PR Committee Wiki

The NJLA PR Committee has posted a listing of national and statewide events, each with ideas and resources for your library to use to promote yourselves and your events to their wiki. Great resource, take a look.

NEW JERSEY LIBRARY CHAMPIONS: Order Your Posters!

The NJ State Library will be launching a community based public awareness campaign featuring role models as “Library Champions” from the sports and literary fields demonstrating how libraries have the power to transform people’s lives. Our “Library Champions” campaign will emphasize that libraries have the power to transform people’s lives by offering free and excellent reading and learning opportunities for everyone.

The State Library will provide your library with gorgeous full color 18 * 24″ posters (they will fit on the end caps).

To place your order go to: http://tinyurl.com/njchampions

Champions so far include:

AUTHORS
• Judy Blume
• Janet Evanovich
• Michael Connelly
• Chris Andersen

ATHLETES
• AJ Burnett, NY Yankees
• Kofi Kingston, WWE
• Justin Tuck New York Giants Football
• Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils
• Devin Harris, NJ Nets
• Cheri Blawet- Paralympics Gold Medalist
• Lauryn Williams- USA Track and Field – Olympian
• Joe Theismann, , NJ native
• Trent Cole- Philadelphia Eagles
• Jim Dowd, retired, Stanley Cup Champion

We are still trying to secure a Phillies player.

We are developing a beautiful Web site that will have more information about the champions and important information about what why libraries are valuable to our communities. We encourage libraries to have their customers become champions too and will have a link for them to sign up with NJLA. We will also be providing a web icon for you to place on your sites.

We have secured four billboards, one in south Jersey and three along the NJ Turnpike that will run November through February. We wil also be running ads at teh Path Train stations in December and February and will have skins on tractor trailers.

We are still looking for box truck owners wiling to give us free space on their trucks to feature a graphic of an athlete or author and a positive message about the value of libraries. We will pay for the design and installation of the skins. If you know anyone who owns a box truck or a company with a fleet of box trucks, please contact me via email. Thanks.

Nancy Dowd, Director
NJSL Marketing and Public Relations
ndowd@njstatelib.org