PrefacCe xiii reach students (and faculty, staff, and administrators). There’s always some- thing you can experiment with incorporating into your own workflow or calendar of events. We encourage you to test and try. My baby is now a toddler (with a new baby brother—another major life event!) and the pandemic is still having an impact on many lives. So, I’ve learned that we have to embrace change and accept the unknown, as scary as that can be. Because it will teach you that you are resilient—you can sur- vive in any situation. We’ve seen this with our students. Once they moved past the survival mode of spring 2020, they were able to thrive, completing classes with the help of faculty, staff, and administrators who were compas- sionate and flexible given their distinct needs. Chapter 4 discusses marketing to the “whole student,” taking into account their identity and priorities and heart and core. This is crucial during a pandemic, and not just for students. We librarians can’t forget to treat ourselves with that same compassion and flexibility that we’ve learned from the pandemic. As you read through this book and plan your marketing strategy, don’t forget that you’re human too. You have your own unique identity with strengths in many areas and unmet needs in others. Your self-care is necessary to be able to serve others. We encourage you to approach marketing from a standpoint of service while also not giving up so much of yourself that your own cup is empty. The world is different now, and it’s okay to keep things general and approach your field with a more practical, one-step-at-a-time mentality. This book doesn’t have all the answers—but as librarians, we hope to share our information with those in need so you all can thrive too. —Stephanie My very first job out of library school was working nights and weekends in a public library where I contributed to the book displays and social media, as all other adult services librarians there did. My first full time gig was at a university library where I’d tack up posters for workshops and post pictures to Instagram of rare Pokémon in our library from the then-popular Poké- mon Go game. I have always worked with an understanding that we all are responsible for marketing library services and resources, from the student worker at the circulation desk to the cataloger behind the scenes. I, like my coauthor, like to tell stories. I also like to create—I vacillated between art education and creative writing majors as an undergrad. If you too possess these skills, you might find yourself being asked to serve on or volunteer for library marketing initiatives. Or perhaps you don’t have a knack for storytelling or creating, but you have the skills related to organi- zation or leadership—these traits also add tremendous value to library mar- keting. In fact, I think that regardless of your position and individual talents and experience that you can, in fact, make a great contribution to your library’s marketing and to the charitable community of library marketers.
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