Curtis Rogers Consulting, LLC

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Promote Your Library With A Shelfie Contest

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Dr. Curtis Rogers

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Get great library photos and bring together your community.

What is a shelfie contest? It’s a fun and easy way to involve your community in promoting the library and bringing awareness to libraries during National Library Week. Invite your library community (academic: faculty, staff, students; public: any community members, board members, etc.) to visit the library and take selfies, or ‘shelfies’, around the library stacks, holding favorite books, at book displays, etc.

Plan to hold the shelfie contest in celebration of National Library Week (National Library Week 2024 will be celebrated Sunday, April 7th through Saturday, April 13th) and begin announcing it in early March. Post flyers and to social media that you’re holding the contest and create a unique hashtag so everyone can find the photos later. For instance, if it’s the Polk County Library, use something like #PolkShelfies2024 but don’t make it too long. Keep it simple.

Also use a brief definition for shelfie in your promotional materials: Shelfie – a selfie but with books or literary themes.

Announce that the contest is open to anyone and that participants may submit their shelfies in one of the following ways:

-On social media of your choice: #PolkShelfies2024
-Post to the library’s Facebook page and use #PolkShelfies2024
-Email as an attachment to (email address of the staff member coordinating the contest) with the subject line #PolkShelfies2024

Or use any other way that works best for you to get the images…

Make sure to mention that the top winners (this could be top ten, top five, etc.) will be selected by a team of your library staff members and the winners will be announced before or during National Library Week. If you have prizes to offer, say they will be provided to the top three winners (have a first, second, and third place and you can also have honorable mentions) and will be recognized during National Library Week.

Make sure to announce a deadline for submission (some time before National Library Week). Use whatever works best for your team.

And most importantly, be sure to include in the contest information the wording, “All submissions for #PolkShelfies2024 may be used for the library’s future promotional activities”. This way you can use any of the shelfies to promote future programs, events, etc.

Whatever you come up with, be creative and have fun! Be sure to visit the South Carolina State Library’s Flickr site to see their contest from 2015, which has some great examples.

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About the author

    Dr. Curtis Rogers is a library consultant who has worked in the library and information science field for over 35 years. He has worked at the Union (SC) Carnegie Library, and the Charleston County (SC) Public Library, and retired as the Communications Director of the South Carolina State Library. He has also taught courses at the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, a Master of Library and Information Science, and a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Carolina. In 2001, he completed the University of the Azores Summer Study Course in Azorean Portuguese Culture and Language and in 2002 completed the Certified Public Manager credential. In 2008, he was President of the SC Library Association. Rogers developed a national library survey on library use of social media for public relations and presented this survey’s results at the 2009 German Library Association Conference and at the State and University Library of Hamburg. He has served as secretary of the board of the Library Marketing and Communications Conference and as secretary of the SC Academy of Authors, as well as chair of the USC School of Library and Information Annual Literacy Leaders (ALL) Awards Committee. He has also served on the Friends of South Carolina Libraries (FOSCL) board and is a member of the ALA CORE Library Consultants group. He is a recipient of the 2015 F. William Summers Outstanding Alumni Award from the USC School of Library and Information Science.