Marketing time-savers from SW Iowa Library Service Area

Thanks to Karen Burns of the SW Iowa Library Service Area for more helpful tools to get the word out about library services:

Just when I was saying bookmarks were "out," Karen pointed me to some ready-to-go"If You Like..Bookmarks" from SWILSA's Reader's Advisory page that you can customize for your particular library. The bookmarks feature reading recommendations based on topics of interest.

In addition, The Pathfinder Project (an LSTA funded endeavor) is a site filled with pathfinder templates to be used and shared with others. There are already a number of pathfinders available on topics as diverse as "Apples," "Information Literacy," "Scrapbooking," and many more (even "Blogging"!). You can also download and customize your own and then share with everyone else. I've found that pathfinders and research guides targeted to your intended audience can be an incredibly effective way of demonstrating to patrons how libraries can help them no matter what their interests or needs.

Finally, SWILSA is involved in an effort to create downloadable "Computer Help Sheets" that cover how-to's like creating business brochures in Publisher and making photo albums with PowerPoint.

Thanks again to Karen for helping to save us from reinventing the wheel and for sharing these creative, exciting projects!