Citations (Library Newsletter) April 2001

Library Wins National Library Publicity Award

The NMSU Library is among nine national winners of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, the most prestigious award of the American Library Association, which recognizes and honors outstanding achievement in library public relations.

The award was announced on January 13 at the mid-winter meeting of the American Library Association in Washington, D.C. In recognizing the winning library organizations, Caroline Oyama, chair of the John Cotton Dana award committee, said, “This was an exciting year with a very wide range of libraries entering. The entries depicted public relations programs reaching out to many diverse populations and interests. The committee was extremely pleased to see the overall strength of the entries, as well as a significantly greater number of submissions.”

Dr. Elizabeth Titus, Dean of the Library, said,” We are delighted that NMSU has received this prestigious national award. It reflects upon the outstanding library staff and their contributions to the university community.”

The NMSU Library won in the academic libraries category for its “Dino-mite” campaign, which capitalized on the public relations power of the dinosaur skull “Stan,” the most popular attraction on campus, by celebrating a $3 million library naming gift and honoring the donors, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Zuhl. The campaign was conducted and the application prepared by library Grants and University Relations Officer Jeanette Smith.

Other winners included the Bellingham, Washington, Public Library for its “Catch ‘em Reading Photo Contest”; Denver Public Library for mounting an energetic and effective pre-emptive public relations strategy towards an expose on “Dr. Laura” Schlessinger’s television show, in which the library was targeted; Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Texas, for “Up on the Roof with the Loony Librarian,” in which a librarian camped on the library’s dome for a week to raise funds for renovations to the library; King County Library System in Issaquah, Washington, for their updated visual identity featuring a new branding mark and a focused strategic marketing effort that encouraged their community to “Turn to Us”; the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township, Indiana,

for its “Once Upon a Millennium” community party; Phoenix Public Library for “Read Your Way to the Ballpark”; and the West Bloomfield Township Public Library, Michigan, for “Score Big With Books: They’ll Score Big With You.”

The John Cotton Dana Award is sponsored by the H.W. Wilson Company of Bronx, New York, a publisher of library materials, and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). H.W. Wilson and LAMA have jointly sponsored the awards since 1946. The winning entries will be on display at the John Cotton Dana Award booth in the exhibit area during the annual ALA Conference, June 14-20, 2001, in San Francisco. The awards will be presented to winners at a reception held during the conference.