GEN: PR ALERT from NYLA (long)

[Paul Girsdansky <PG7041@CNSVAX.ALBANY.EDU>]

From:   ALBANY::PG7041       "Paul Girsdansky"  2-DEC-1996 15:47:36.98
To:     SELF
CC:
Subj:   Fall PR Alert from the New York Library Association

The New York Library Association's PR ALERT, Fall 1996 Issue

**************************************************
This publication, prepared by NYLA's Public Awareness Committee, is
issued twice a year in print and electronic forms.  If you find PR ALERT
useful, drop us a line at nyla@transit.nyser.net
To join, e-mail us at nyla@transit.nyser.net or call 800-252-NYLA inside NYS
or 518-432-NYLA outside NYS.

Please forgive any duplication from cross-posting
*************************************************

This issue of PR ALERT includes six sections:

1) Tip Sheet: Regular Communications are a Key to Successful Public Awareness

2) Training: It Helps Utica Advocates Save Public Library

3) Public Awareness Project Marks 4th Year of Promoting Library Services

4) Editorials Lead to Pioneering Electronic Doorway Program

5) Advocates to Launch Three New Programs
        5a) Friends-Trustees Training
        5b) Cybrary Stories
        5c) Audio News Releases

6) News and Notes:  Dewey Stamp Drive, Milk Carton Campaign

********
1)

 Tip Sheet: Regular Communications are a Key to Successful Public Awareness


Sometimes the best public relations is the routine public relations -- no
press kits, no high-priced consultants, no fireworks.

For example, take the case of Marie Bruni, director of the Huntington Public
Library in Oneonta.  Every Thursday since 1983 -- except for the Thanksgiving
Day paper, her column appears in her local newspaper, The Daily Star.

"I'll write about new books, interesting events at the library, how to find
various kinds of information, summer programs, interesting facts like the
most popular pizza toppings in the world," says Bruni, who has written more
than 1,000 columns between her 13 years in Oneonta and eight years in Ripley,
in the southwestern corner of New York State.

It pays off.  To buy an equivalent amount of advertising, it would cost her
$229.28 a week -- or $11,693.28 a year.

It's not only cost-effective.  It's people-effective, too.

"People come into the door at one minute after 9, clutching the newspaper
column, looking for a book, " Bruni says.

Bruni says it wasn't difficult to get the newspaper to agree to the column.
All she had to do was ask the newspaper, which circulates 20,000 copies a
day.

Larger newspapers can be more difficult to crack, but Bruce Daniels does the
same thing every month in the Syracuse Herald-American, which sells 10 times
as many papers as the Oneonta Star.  An equivalent amount of advertising
would cost $1,457 a month, or $17,484 a year.

Even though Bruni and Daniels have newspaper columns for a major portions of
their public relations, there are a variety of other ways to reach out to
potential users.

For example, library media specialists in the Beekmantown Central School
District try to make sure at least one of them has an article in the district
newsletter, which is mailed each month to students, parents and other
taxpayers.

"It's key that it happens.  It's essential to maintaining community support,"
says Sara Kelly Johns, Beekmantown Junior/Senior High School library media
specialist, who shares the chores with Betty Collins at Cumberland Head
Elementary School and Mary Ellen Martin of the West Chazy and Main Building
elementary schools.

Bruni makes frequent appearances on local radio station and contributes
regularly to newsletters on computing and literacy.  Additionally, she
regularly addresses civic groups such as the Kiwanis.

Daniels says that other Onondaga County Public Library librarians have
regular forums to get the word out about their public library.  For example,
Public Information Officer Ann Nagel writes regularly for Syracuse Parents
Magazine and appears each month on WSTM, Channel 3, to discuss business
resources and other library items.  Bob Brown, head of the library's Petit
Branch, writes for the Syracuse Sunday Herald-American's STARS magazine with
a column called "Beyond the Best Sellers."
-- By Paul Girsdansky
Deputy Director for Communications, New York Library Association



************

2) Training: It Helps Utica Advocates Save Public Library

It hit Utica like a bombshell.

The city's new mayor, Edward Hanna, announced that he had looked at the
finances of the city -- and that they were worse than he had imagined.
And the library would have to close because Hanna would cut all of its city
funding -- a move that would make Utica the largest city in the nation to
lose its public library.  Beyond the loss of Utica Public, the cut would have
been devastating to the Mid-York Library System, the Utica-based agency that
serves more than 300,000 people in Oneida, Herkimer and Madison counties.

Mid-York would have lost $300,000 in funding and, in a sobering domino
effect, each of the member libraries would have lost 25 percent of their
state aid.

Fortunately, Utica Public's defenders had Public Awareness Project training
in their repertoire -- including a session only a couple months before Mayor
Hanna's bombshell hit.

"The Public Awareness training helped give me the confidence I needed to make
our case," says Darby O'Brien, director of the library. "I wasn't afraid to
do it.  I was pretty well prepared."

News conferences were held.  Factsheets were assembled.  Library stories were
collected -- and disseminated.  Advocates called their lawmakers -- and their
media.  Newspaper, radio and television stories appeared.

Meanwhile, Mid-York Library System Director Malcolm Hill and Assistant
Director MaryLou Caskey mobilized library advocates from the Erie Canal to
the Adirondack Mountains.  The move gave advocates a broad base that helped
publicize the closure as a vital issue to everyone in the Mohawk Valley
Region.

Additionally, the fight gained national exposure when a story on Utica's
financial plight appeared in The New York Times.

In the end, the library won.  Almost of the funding was restored and the
library remained open for the city's readers.

The training in Utica, however, was one of several programs held in the past
year.  Other sessions included:

* A program for the School Library Media Specialists of Southeast New York
that trained 50 school librarians.

* A session on library marketing for 90 special librarians who convened at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

* Three programs at the American Library Association conference in New York
City for more than 100 librarians, trustees and Friends.

* A session for 30 trustees in the Upper Hudson Library System area, which
serves Albany and Rensselaer counties.

* Marketing training for Friends in the Ithaca area.

* Training for trustees in Nassau County.


************

3)

Public Awareness Project Marks 4th Year of Promoting Library Services


The New York Library Association's Public Awareness Project is entering its
fifth year with confidence, bolstered by key successes in Year 4 and
strengthened by augmented funding from the Rochester-based Viburnum
Foundation.

The Foundation awarded $50,000 in grants to the Public Awareness Project for
new programs to provide training to trustees and friends, produce a video
demonstrating the importance of libraries in public access to the Information
Superhighway, and create a system to produce and distribute audio news
releases to radio stations across the state.

The new grants are in addition to the commitment made by the foundation in
1995 for a $60,000 base grant for 1996-97 . (For Details, See Other Postings)

Before 1992, many journalists considered libraries unnewsworthy, except as
occasional filler for "community calendars." Today, librarians are treated as
top-level news subjects by the media - in a league with many other community
institutions such as police, firefighters, business owners, and lawyers.

Since then, the media have recognized the natural informational alliance
between journalists and librarians and have taken New York's library stories
to the public. Whether it's the Wall Street Journal in Manhattan or WRVO
radio in Oswego, journalists are ready and willing to tell the library story.

When the local newspaper in Saratoga Springs announced its most important
news stories of 1995, No. 1 on the list was the opening of the city's new
public library!

Project volunteers are pleased with Year 4 accomplishments that included:

* More than 800 advocates have been trained in Year 4, the close of the grant
year, bringing the total to 1600 since 1992. With the help of the strategies
and tools made possible by the Public Awareness Project, librarians are
increasingly on journalists' news agendas across New York State.

* After positive editorials on libraries in the Albany and New York City
newspapers, Governor Pataki issued his 1996 budget proposal with level
funding for libraries. This is a victory for libraries in a budget that
proposes cuts for almost every other service.

* A New York Times editorial "The Information Have-Nots" focused the
attention of millions of readers on disparity of access to information. The
editorial appeared in both the New York and the National editions.

* On Library Day at the New York State Capitol, a major placement for NYLA
was the appearance of Janet Martin Welch on WINS radio, a prime outlet in the
nation's largest media market.  The same day, President Betsy Sywetz appeared
on public radio stations in Buffalo, Jamestown and Olean;  and Membership
Committee member David Karre appeared on stations in Binghamton, Oneonta and
Ithaca.

* National Library Week observances included an hour-long appearance on April
16 by NYLA spokespeople, including President Betsy Sywetz, on public radio
stations in Albany, Kingston, Middletown, and other cities.

* Distribution of 875 NYLA Media Kits and five fax broadcasts to prime media
outlets, writers, editors, and talk-show hosts led to at least 150 placements
on libraries in media statewide.

* The first Advocate Recognition Reception honored hundreds of advocates at
the Rochester conference, offering awards, exhibits, updates on project
activities, and inspiration.

* Extensive, positive media coverage obtained by library advocates in the
Rochester newspapers helped the Rochester Public Library to exceed its
fundraising goal for a major library addition.

********

4)

Editorials Lead to Pioneering Electronic Doorway Program

More than half of New York State's daily newspapers, spurred by dozens of
library advocates in meetings from Long Island to Niagara Falls, backed
Electronic Doorway Libraries in editorials that were essential in the
program's approval.

The state approved $2 million in new funding for Electronic Doorway Libraries
in a year in which most programs were cut or maintained at the previous
year's levels.

Library advocates from across the state met with local editors, editorial
writers and publishers to persuade them to back Electronic Doorway Libraries
on their editorial pages.  They discovered that journalists were very
receptive to their message, and found common ground on other
freedom-of-information issues.

The meetings usually included three or four library advocates to represent a
variety of interests.  Represented groups included public, school, academic
and special librarians, trustees, Friends, officials with library systems,
officials with libraries and representatives from the immediate vicinity of
the newspaper and from other regions of the state.  The diversity helped
insure that journalists see a wide variety of views and that local and
statewide interests were both represented.

The legislation was backed by 32 newspapers, which made the library bill the
most endorsed of any measure before the State Legislature.  The largest
newspapers included Newsday of Long Island, the Buffalo News, the
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Rochester Times-Union, the Syracuse
Post-Standard, Gannett Westchester Newspapers (a group of 10 newspapers), the
Syracuse Herald-Journal, the Albany Times-Union and the Middletown Times
Herald Record.

***********


5) Advocates to Launch Three New Programs
        5a) Friends-Trustees Training
        5b) Cybrary Stories
        5c) Audio News Releases

Thanks to Funding from the Viburnum Foundation, NYLA has New Tools in
1996--97 to Tell the Library Story  -- Friends Trustee Training, "Cybrary
Stories" Video, and Audio News Releases

By PEGGY BUCKLEY
Trustee, Gates Public Library /
Owner, The Communications Factory of Rochester

5a: Friends-Trustee Training
The New York Library Association is offering offer new leadership training to
an audience that has been committed but underused -- library Friends and
trustees.

The new program, funded with a generous grant by the Viburnum Foundation,
will  expand the corps of library advocates nationwide and add new strong and
convincing voices to the promotion of books, reading, literacy, and
libraries.

The Public Awareness Project pre-viously has taught and continues to teach
public-relations skills to librarians and a small number of trustees and
Friends.

"We will be able to accomplish so much more for libraries by giving all
willing Friends and trustees the skills we are giving to librarians," says
Janet Martin Welch, chair of the Training Subcommitee of NYLA's Public
Awareness Committee.

"We have long known trustees and friends are very effective advocates, and
potential library users quickly identify with local community leaders," she
said.

Welch said that Friends and trustee groups from Maine to Arizona are asking
the NYLA Public Awareness Project to help them speak loudly, clearly, and
effectively about the benefits of libraries.

NYLA has developed successful public awareness training materials
specifically for library Friends and trustees. It has an outstanding advocacy
curriculum, outstanding trainers ready to assist other states without
compensation (we request reimbursement for travel costs), and a proven record
of incubating national advocacy activities.

If you want a training session for your group, call the Rochester Regional
Library Council at 716-223-7570 or e-mail it at rrlc@rrlc.rochester.lib.ny.us


5b: Cybrary Stories

The original Libraries Stories video is invaluable in showing decision-makers
and potential library users how profoundly libraries change people's lives.
It delights audiences and will remain a foundation of our NYLA's public
awareness campaign.

Now, however, libraries have a new job to do: telling the public that
libraries are even more essential in the age of the information superhighway.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Viburnum Foundation, the NYLA Public
Awareness Committee will be able to produce a video, tentatively called
Library Stories II: Access for All to the Information Superhighway, and get
the word out!

The video, and public service messages to be produced in conjunction with it,
will be crafted to convey these messages:

* Libraries provide access to electronic information to those without home
computers or other means of access to the Internet.

* Libraries teach people how to navigate the Internet.

* Libraries show people how to make judgments about the reliability of
information located on the Internet.

* Libraries are experts in information regardless of its format-print or
electronic.

A NYLA panel is reviewing proposals from videographers to present
their vision  and production plans for the new video.   The panel will sift
through proposals this autumn, and production work is to begin by Jan. 1.
Additionally, NYLA is seeking funding for duplication and distribution
costs.

For more information, or to make suggestions, contact NYLA at 800-252-6952
(inside NYS), 518-432-6952 (outside NYS) or at nyla@transit.nyser.net

5c: Audio News Releases

NYLA is going on the air!

In years past, the Public Awareness Project has enjoyed much success in
enlisting the print media to tell the library story -- thanks in large part
to the project's news releases that provide print journalists with the
information they need for articles in the most usable form.

However, many non-users of libraries are not readers of print media. Some
non-users lack sufficient reading skills to be comfortable with print media,
and others simply lack the habit of reading.

Instead, they rely instead on broadcasters. Radio stations are willing
partners, but until now NYLA has lacked the ability to provide them with
press releases in the form they need: recorded audio.

Two distribution methods are planned to  get the library story out to
listeners, using well-crafted and timely audio news releases.

One distribution system will be to mount tapes on a phone mail system. Radio
journalists will then dial in to record and incorporate the tape in their
features .

This method would allow broadcasters 24-hour access to telephone-quality
tapes (or "actualities," as they are called in the business). Broadcasters
search for as many different voices as possible to put on the air; they would
much rather air a tape of someone experiencing an event than simply read a
news item. This type of release would be most appropriate in dealing with
spot news situations, such as libraries hosting Great ReadAloud programs
earlier today.

Another method would be to distribute tape to broadcasters, a method most
appropriate for advance public-service campaigns  such as National Library
Week, which are not very time-sensitive.

Listen for NYLA library stories by spring!


********

6)

PR ALERT: News and Notes.  (In the print version of PR ALERT, these notes
appeared as cutlines of photographs)


(((( Photograph of Price Chopper milk carton
---- with "Kids Who Read Succeed" and "Visit Your Library" slogans
---- with graphic of child carting a wheelbarrow full of books))))

For the second time in two years, the library message was distributed to tens
of thousands of milk drinkers.  This year, the message appeared on Price
Chopper cartons from Poughkeepsie to Plattsburgh and west to Central New York
and the Southern Tier.  Libraries also will be promoted in a third milk
carton campaign in December by Wegman's supermarkets in Western New York.

(((( Photo of Prototype Melvil Dewey Stamp))))

This New York Library Association prototype of a Melvil Dewey postage
stamp is being used in a petition drive to have the U.S. Postal Service
commemorate Dewey's contributions to librarianship with a stamp in 2001, the
sesquicentennial of his birth.  A poster-sized "stamp" was displayed at
the ALA Conference in New York and the NYLA Conference in Saratoga Springs.

*************************************************
The New York Library Association
Since 1890, Serving New Yorkers and Their Right to Know

If you find PR ALERT useful, drop us a line at nyla@transit.nyser.net
To join, e-mail us at nyla@transit.nyser.net or call 800-252-NYLA inside NYS
or 518-432-NYLA outside NYS.

Susan Keitel, executive director
Paul Girsdansky, deputy director for communications
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