Twitter for Journalists

Found this great slideshow helping journalists use Twitter. Great ideas!

Tell Us Your Story Update

On behalf of the New Jersey State Library and the New Jersey Library Association, I would like to thank all of the incredible people who participated in the “Tell Us Your Story” campaign. We were delighted to have had hundreds of librarians attend the marketing boot camp and special programs, and then hundreds more learn to tell a compelling story. Receiving such wonderful digital stories for the contest segment of the campaign has been the icing on the cake!

We are especially grateful to the NJLA IT Section, NJLA PR Committee and NJSL Marketing for their contributions. We are also appreciative of our partnerships with the Ocean County Library, Ramapo College Library and Monmouth University Library. This campaign could not have gotten off the ground without the collaboration all all these organizations.

So far the campaign earned second place honors by the NJ Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and ALA is awarding our digital story, Sean, “Best of Show” at their annual conference. Libraries around the country are looking to replicate the process; some have already begun creating their own digital stories. But the people who truly made this campaign a success are all of you who joined us. Whether you volunteered to help plan an event, attend a workshop, write a story or create a digital story, you are part of a team that is committed to spreading the story that libraries are transforming lives.

And that makes a difference.

Our judges have selected the winners of the contest and we are planning a big event in August here in Trenton where we’ll give out the awards and screen the winning submissions. Stay tuned for details.

For those of you who wished you had made a digital story but ran out of time, don’t fret. We would love to receive your story and it might be used as part of the larger statewide marketing campaign. Email the link to me at ndowd@njstatelib.org .

Thanks again to all the incredible people who have contributed to the success of this campaign!

Nancy Dowd
NJSL Director of Marketing

Libraries in a Networked World

Saw this at Library Bytes and thought you’d enjoy mulling over the ideas it presents.

Video Contest Submissions with the judges

We have received the submissions for the video contest portion of our campaign and they are fantastic!!! The judges have them and the announcement of the winners will be made June 29. Good luck to all of the libraries that are participating! -Nancy

Digital Story Deadline is Almost Here!

To submit your digital story and have the chance to win a $5000 visit from Story Corps- just fill out the director’s release form, send it to us and download your video to YouTube! Can’t wait to see your stories! -Nancy

Marketing Blog: http://nancydowd.wordpress.com/tell-us-your-story/
Deadline is June 1
Questions? Nancy Dowd email: ndowd@njstatelib.org

Second webinar added for PhotoStory3

Registrations are reopened for PhotoStory3

Due to an overwhelming response, we have scheduled a second webinar on how to create a digital story using Photo Story3. Join Nancy Dowd and Amy Kearns for a webinar on “How to Use PhotoStory3″ and see how easy it is! This webinar will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a digital story. PhotoStory3 is a free software.

Date and Time: May 22, 10 a.m. – noon
Register now for this free webinar, seats are limited:

http://tinyurl.com/cjrlcPhotostorySecond

You will receive the log-in information after you register.

Questions: ndowd@njstatelib.org or amy@cjrlc.org

If you can make a PowerPoint you can make a digital story using this software!

This program is sponsored by the NJLA IT Section and NJ State Library.

Media Opportunities

Hear are a couple more great opportunities for your library from ALA … (if you email them you may want to let them know what a great job they are doing

Gourmet magazine is working on a short article on food-related collections in public and university libraries. Since there has been an uptick in usage, and more folks are eating at home, are food collections growing as a result of the growing interest in preparing food at home? Please provide information as soon as possible. Email: mmorales@ala.org

The ALA Washington would like to hear from libraries (school, academic, public) who have made efforts to secure stimulus funding from any program contained the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They are particularly interested in school libraries, as they are looking to assist a reporter from an education publication. Please contact Jenni Terry email – jterry@alawash.org or phone- 202.403.8208.

A Library Success Story: Developing Good Library Relationships

This story by Tara Sullivan, Children’s Book Evaluator, Long Branch Public Library, is a powerful reminder that you never know when an interaction will be “the one” that grows into a relationship. Thank you to Ingrid Bruck for sharing it with us.

“While evaluating the Central Jersey Library Cooperative children’s books, one in particular struck me as being extremely well done, witty and enjoyable. I actually laughed out loud while reading it. The dedication was interesting to me, I am familiar with this particular author’s work but did not really know much about him personally, so I went to his web site for more information. From his website I linked to his blog and left a favorable comment regarding the book I had evaluated. In the text of the comment I identified myself as a LBPL employee, who loves coming to work in the Children’s Room thanks to authors such as this one.

Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang in Children’s, I answered it and a man asked for me by name. Much to my absolute surprise he identified himself as Barney Saltzberg, the author. We had a lovely chat, he told me my compliment had made his day, I of course told him his phone call had made mine! He took our address and said he will be sending some materials here (he is also an aclaimed musician who has had his music featured on the PBS show “Arthur”). I hope to be in contact with him in the future, we own quite a few of his books here and he has published over 30, hopefully this is the start of a fruitful Author/Long Branch Public Library relationship.

Tara

p.s. He lives in Los Angeles, so this was a bi-coastal interaction! “

NJ Libraries are helping families save for the future

New Jersey Libraries are helping families save today for tomorrow’s future. Many people have had their investments hit hard in this economic downturn. New Jersey libraries provide opportunities for families to save hundreds of dollars with free Wi-Fi, books, magazines, DVDs, classes and workshops. Please feel free to embed this commercial in your library’s web site!

Register now for Photo Story 3 Webinar

Are you hesitate about creating a digital story for your library because you think it’s too difficult? Join Nancy Dowd and Amy Kearns for a webinar on “How to Use PhotoStory3” and see how easy it is! This webinar will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a digital story.

Date and Time: May 19, 10 a.m. – noon

PhotoStory3 is a free software. If you can make a PowerPoint you can make a digital story using this software.

Register here for this free webinar.

You will receive the log-in information after you register.

This program is sponsored by the NJLA IT Section and NJSL.