October 2007

""A Liberal On Conservatives"" -- video review of "Conservatives Without Conscience", by John W. Dean

"Read It For Her Book Club" -- video review of "A Thousand Splendid Suns", by Khaled Hosseini

""Does He Make It?"" -- video review of "Running With Scissors A Memoir", by Augusten Burroughs

"Time Shifts" -- video review of "Three Junes", by Julia Glass

""For People Like Me It's Refreshing"" -- video review of "God's Politics Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It ", by Jim Wallis

In her new book, Alice Sebold commits a crime more grievous than murder: self-plagiarism.

In which a franchise chickens out of the very thing that would have redeemed it.

In Michael Chabon’s marvelous new novel, the Alaskan panhandle is an imperiled, makeshift holy land.

Reflections on digital communication from the last generation that remembers uni-tasking.

In How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman cuts through our
fear—and fetishization—of M.D.’s.

A no-frills guide to the just-published nonfiction shelf.

Against the Day is exhausting, twisted, and paranoid. But that doesn’t mean Pynchon can’t also be fun.

This news from Florida Radiology Imaging should give any librarian a boost of inspiration. The creative people at FRI held a brainstorming session in which they devised a way to persuade women to get those pesky but important mammograms done. Their solution? Throw a party! FRI now offers Midnight Mammogram & Manicure sessions where women can invite up to 13 of their friends for an evening of wine, food, pampering, and mammogramming. According to a local news article,"The idea came about as employees at Florida Radiology Imaging brainstormed for ways to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October."You have heard of women going to Botox parties. Well, we decided this is way more important than that," said Melody Huffman, marketing director for the radiology group. "I have friends myself, moms who work and are so involved with school -- the last thing they do is take care of themselves. But you can always get a girlfriend to go to dinner. So we're trying to make it easy and fun to come out and take care of your health."...

Here are some changes on the LM blog I thought you might like to know about:1. Good Marketing Reads - This widget contains some interesting books from my newly-created LibraryThing account. To be honest, I can't claim to have read all of them YET. I ranked the ones I've finished reading and the others are on deck. Lately, most of my reading has been on creativity in preparation for at talk I'm giving in November, so expect to see some titles that will help you tinker with your thinker (wow, the lack of sleep last night must be catching up with me...).2. Drop Jill a Note - This Meebo widget will allow you to get in touch with me and/or leave me a message (if you leave me a message and want me to get back to you, please include some contact info). This widget replaces my previous one to the Library Marketing Exchange Chat Room. I'll probably still use the chat room in the future, but I found that a number of people would pop into the room, ask a question, and find no one there. That's not very nice so I thought this was better. So far, it's been working out well in that I've received some questions and comments.Happy reading and thanks as always for dropping by!

"Story of Nigerian Culture" -- video review of "Things Fall Apart", by Chinua Achebe

I was Meebo-ed by an anonymous tipper who asked if I had heard about the Wyoming Libraries Campaign - thanks anon.! I wrote about it last year, but was glad for the reminder to review their new campaign materials. I think the campaign is pretty funny and relevant for the patron base. I also really like the slogan: "bringing the world to Wyoming." Nancy Dowd has some thoughts on the campaign too.

Good morning, campers! It's the wee hours of the morning (at least for me). I'm at RIC ready to fly to Green Bay, WI to give a talk on drawing in new users for the Wisconsin Library Association - how fun! Ever on the lookout for great marketing inspiration, I had to whip up this post after reading a great story in USA Today. An article called, "Alzheimer's program is one from the art" describes how Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art offers special programming to persons with dementia and their caregivers. The program is called Meet Me at MoMA. According to the article, the specially-designed tours have been shown to aid recall and open people up who might otherwise be too nervous to express themselves.Not only is this program inspirational, it's brilliant marketing. Great marketing serves important needs. In this case, museums are addressing a significant health issue and nurturing people's well-being, while providing caregivers with a well-deserved respite. Wow! This example is sure to be featured in m...

"Those Crazy Boleyn Girls" -- video review of "The Other Boleyn Girl", by Philippa Gregory

""Interesting But Not Fabulous"" -- video review of "Committed A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir ", by Dan Mathews

The "Small Biz" section of BusinessWeek offers an article called, "Education-Based Marketing Sells" and it is definitely worth a read. In my reference desk experiences, I've often witnessed how teaching patrons about a technique or tool they didn't know they were missing can endear them to the library. It's during those so-called teachable moments that librarians can prove to patrons that they have something to offer that's relevant to their specific personal needs. Education is powerful marketing stuff, as the BusinessWeek article author, Christine Comaford-Lynch describes. She says,"Sales is about building rapport, not breaking it. When you sell or pitch, you're often breaking rapport because the prospect may be skeptical—no one wants to be "sold." When you educate, you are building rapport. Your credibility is increased significantly when you begin meetings with data that is of value to the prospect. Launch all your meetings by teaching your prospect something or by offering data that establishes that you've done your homework." [Emphasis mine.][Ok, so this article is laden wi...

"Good, But Not Best Book" -- video review of "The Four Insights", by Alberto Villoldo

"Why So Difficult?" -- video review of "The No-A hole Rule", by Robert I. Sutton

If your creativity needs a jump start, take a look at Springwise.com, billed as " required brain food for entrepreneurial minds." Springwise, a sister site of TrendWatching, enlists springspotters who scour the worldwide business landscape to unearth the neatest of the neat business-to-consumer (B2C) endeavors. Here's more from the site:"Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation. Ferociously tracking more than 400 global offline and online business resources, as well as taking to the streets of world cities, digital cameras at hand...So whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, head of a start-up, management consultant, marketing manager, business development director, trend watcher, or anyone else interested in creating or expanding companies, Springwise will instantly inspire you by getting the world’s most promising young ventures right in front of you." They also offer a free weekly newsletter so you can easily keep up with all of the innovative id...