The Arlington Heights Memorial Library is a recipient of the 2018 John Cotton Dana Award, provided in conjunction with the H.W. Wilson Foundation, the American Library Association and EBSCO. This national award honors outstanding library public relations and marketing.
The library took creative inspiration from social media themes in its 2017 One Book, One Village (OBOV) community read selection, The Circle by Dave Eggers, and built #beinthecircle, a communications campaign combining traditional marketing with a heightened emphasis on social media. Key to the success of the program was using “influencer” marketing to promote the program. The communications and marketing team identified popular local social media users to create posts about the online book discussion and library exhibit to their followers. In return, they had an impressive statistical growth over the previous year’s OBOV campaign, which included 84 percent more social media engagement, 100% growth in author event attendance, 36% growth in the OBOV title circulation and a remarkable 55 percent growth in book discussion attendance.
“We are really excited about this award,” said Interim Executive Director Mike Driskell. “To be included in this national recognition is really an honor. Our communications and marketing team does an amazing job promoting the library on a daily basis. This One Book, One Village campaign is one of the finest examples of their work.”
The team behind the library’s #beinthecircle communications campaign includes Pat Aichele and April Harder (editorial), Brian Benson and Colleen Kelly (graphics) and Mary Hastings (manager).
A key component of the campaign was the first-time use of influencer marketing. Social media partners included Randy Recklaus (Village of Arlington Heights), Adam Harris (Arlington Heights School District 25), Randal Klaproth (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre), and local bloggers Melissa Schwartz and Alison Groen.
In recognition of this achievement, the eight John Cotton Dana Award winning libraries received a $10,000 check from the H.W. Wilson Foundation. The awards were presented at a reception hosted by EBSCO during the American Library Association annual conference in New Orleans on June 24, 2018.
At the annual conference, The American Library Assocations's PR Xchange awarded designers Brian Benson and Colleen Kelly four design awards for their orginal designs for pieces promoting Special Programs & Exhibits (One Book, One Village 2017), Materials Promoting Collections (Book Discussion Brochure), Newsletters (AHML Newsletter) and Reading Program Themes (Winter Reading Challenge 2017).