Monday, June 30, 2008

Summer Reading Photo Contest Winners

Congratulations to Monica Owens, Michelle Shields and Marta Soderberg -- winners of the 2008 Summer Reading Photo Contest. Many thanks to all who participated! Look for these winning photos in the August edition of The Dewey.





Wednesday, June 25, 2008

When a Reporter Calls...

The phone rings at the library, you pick it up and offer a friendly salutation and an offer of assistance. The person on the other line is not a patron, but Joe Reporter from the local newspaper. What do you do next? Freeze? Set down the phone and run? No, our tendencies towards customer service may compel us to help out this lost soul who needs “just a little information…”

STOP! The only help you need to offer the reporter is to refer them to the Communications Department. Your standard answer – no matter how persistent that person is – is to direct him to either Nicolle Davies or Jessica Sherrick, or another available Communications staff person. We would be happy to take the reporter’s call and find the information they need. Whether this reporter’s inquiry is seemingly innocuous or he is on the offense from the beginning – you can hand him off to Communications to determine the best response or course of action.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Summer Reading Pics

Many thanks to everyone who submitted Summer Reading Photos. We received some fabulous photos and appreciate the hard work that went into pulling off the events, and taking pictures of them on top of that! All of the photos we received reflected the fun that our patrons experienced at the various Summer Reading programs throughout the Library District and we look forward to publishing some of the photos in the next edition of The Dewey. Stay tuned!

Quirky Works!

Those of you who work with the public in the libraries are fortunate because you are in prime position to observe story ideas. Do you have a regular patron who is particularly interesting, or even a fellow staff person who has a great story to tell? You just never know what you’ll uncover by talking to people. If you come across anything that may be of interest to those outside of the library, let me know – we could grant that person their 15 minutes of fame!

Friday, June 13, 2008

The New Dewey Colors -- Green!

Recently, the printer who publishes The Dewey for ALD each month informed us that the stock we use to print the paper was now available on FSC Certified paper.

Of course, we jumped at the chance to print The Dewey on FSC Certified paper – it just fits with our goal to consistently look at new ways to “go green.” We were also pleased to note that this paper didn’t add anything to our printing costs. What is FSC Certified you ask? According to their web site, “Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.” In other words, they help ensure that the paper we use is from forests that are well-managed and replenished.

To find out more, visit http://www.fsc.org/.

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Patron Comment Form


In the Public Relations/Communications Field, we are constantly communicating with our audience – newsletters, flyers, brochures, website updates and more. It is equally important that we receive feedback from both our external audience (our fabulous patrons!) and our internal audience (our equally fabulous ALD staff). Our ALD Communications Blog is an outstanding example of how our staff can communicate to us . . . feel free to leave comments any time – we read them and we value them, so post away!

As many of you know, two excellent ways for our patrons to provide feedback is through either ALD’s public email account at ask@ald.lib.co.us, or the “You Talk, We Listen” patron feedback form. Recognizing these two mediums are a valuable way to learn about the thoughts of our patrons, the Communications team recently re-designed the “You Talk, We Listen” form, now simply titled “Patron Comment Form.” Aside from an updated look, the new and improved form features an area for patrons to leave suggestions and compliments to let us know how we’re doing. ALD’s mission is to provide Outstanding and Personalized Service, and the Patron Feedback form is just one way to determine if we are meeting this mission.

What do you think of the new form?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

YourHub is a Partner for Promotion

The YourHub insert to the Thursday editions of The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post has been a valuable partner in promotion for ALD for nearly three years. Although I will admit that when they first started encouraging us to post our own news online, I was quite reluctant to take the reins. That initial fear of new technology can be paralyzing, but it is empowering once we take the time to grasp what is before us.

I encourage you to check out the online edition of YourHub at Yourhub.com. While your event promotion may not make the papers due to ever-shrinking space available, we do post online with the hopes that it will appear in print. Just last week a valuable article written by ALD Early Literacy Specialist Lori Romero that first appeared in the June edition of The Dewey appeared in YourHub.

Check out her article at:
http://denver.yourhub.com/Centennial/Stories/Goings-on/General/Story~477069.aspx

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Oscars are Over, but It’s Still Library Award Season

The Communications Department works hard to identify staff, volunteers, events, projects, partnerships and even technology that may qualify for industry awards. Perhaps you were able to take a look at the March issue of the Library Journal and their Movers and Shakers publicity piece honoring our very own Padma Polepeddi. You can check it out online, as well at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6535100.html. Congratulations, Padma!

The Communications Department is charged with taking recommendations from staff or identifying opportunities on our own to apply for such honors. We encourage staff, who are usually quite familiar with industry awards, to share any ideas they might have to honor a person or project associated with ALD. From there, we research the award and determine whether it would be viable to pursue – whether it be timing, award qualifications or other factors. If the award is a go, Communications would be happy to draft up letters of nomination and support, and also gather supplemental information.

Deferred Gratification
Communications staff are currently finalizing details on Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) professional awards. Although nominations are due mid-June, by early fall we will have an idea who or what will be honored on ALD’s behalf at the CAL conference in November.