Gale and EveryLibrary to Promote the Role of Libraries in Community Development with National Media Campaign

EveryLibrary is proud to announce a donation from Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, to help us do a new and innovative type of outreach to the tech community.

Since the spring of 2013, we have been focusing some significant attention on changing the perception of libraries and librarians among entrepreneurs and starters, incubators and accelerators, and the venture capitalists who fund those ventures.  From our election work and understanding of data about voter perception of libraries, it is clear that we need to reframe the library in the national discourse to update the understanding that small business and growing concerns have about the library as a business development resource and the librarians as partners through business reference services.

You can see some of the stories we've gotten placed prior to South By Southwest about libraries and librarians over the last few years as examples.  Our "7 Challenges for Librarians from SXSW" series is a 'professional facing' component of this work, designed to help librarians talk more effectively in their local communities in the business development space.  Our work now to reach out to major national news outlets, bloggers and influencers in the startup space, and to communicate effectively - and in a sustained way - with thought leaders can now start in earnest because of Gale's funding support.

We are excited by the investment that Gale is contribution to our public awareness outreach efforts.  Their ongoing commitment to funding library advocacy efforts that are innovative and effective is well know.    As Gary Price, managing editor for InfoDocket editorialized about this announcement:

This is an excellent idea that has been needed for years. A national campaign focused on bringing awareness to public library business research services and tools to small business and entrepreneurs who have a strong need for credible, current research and business data makes complete sense.

As we say on infoDOCKET regularly, people have no chance of using what they don’t know about. ... Advertising, handouts, videos, and other tools are important to get the word out. However, the best way (but not the easiest) to increase awareness and usage comes only from talking, demonstrating (with examples tailored to a specific person or audience) about what a library and librarian can do to assist the entrepreneur and start-up business owner. We hope this new partnership focuses on talking and demonstrating than prepping handouts and creating videos.

The full text of our joint announcement with Gale was published earlier this week at on the Cengage site. Here it is for your convenience:

Farmington Hills, Mich., April 8, 2015 — Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, is partnering with EveryLibrary, a national non-profit organization dedicated to non-partisan political action on behalf of libraries, for a media campaign to increase awareness of the role libraries play in community and economic development. The partnership demonstrates Gale’s advocacy on behalf of libraries and its support of National Library Week, observed this year from April 12-18.

“Libraries are the heart of communities and that is why advocacy has been a core part of Gale since it was founded over 60 years ago,” said Lisa Spicko, vice president of marketing at Gale. “Our innovative campaigns on behalf of libraries, such as our recent My Library Story community which pledged a national promotion for libraries, led to the establishment of this partnership that will highlight the unique benefits only libraries and librarians can offer.”

Gale and EveryLibrary will partner on a media campaign about the value libraries and librarians provide with a focus on engaging the entrepreneur and start-up business community. Business reference services and support are as pervasive in libraries as storytime, but few are aware of the resources at their fingertips. The campaign, which will run through January 2016, will focus on driving awareness of these services, as well as the library’s role in the discovery of information and as big data enterprises, while simultaneously promoting the social-leveling role that libraries play in society.

“Gale has an amazing commitment to supporting library advocacy that works,” said John Chrastka, founder and executive director of EveryLibrary. “We know from our campaigns how important it is to talk to voters about the relevance of libraries and librarians to business development – both locally and nationally.  This support from Gale will help us communicate effectively about business reference not only to local starters and entrepreneurs, but also across the country to the incubators, accelerators, and venture funds that power the next generation of business development in this country.”

For more information about the partnership or Gale’s advocacy efforts, please contact Kristina Massari at[email protected].

About Cengage Learning and Gale

Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education and K-12, professional and library markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, is a global provider of research resources for libraries and businesses for more than 60 years. Gale is passionate about supporting the continued innovation and evolution of libraries by providing the content, tools, and services libraries need to promote information discovery, enable learning, and support economic, cultural, and intellectual growth in their communities. For more information, visit www.cengage.com orwww.gale.cengage.com.

About EveryLibrary

EveryLibrary is a politically active organization that is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, and unions nationwide who believe that libraries matter in our society. You can learn more about EveryLibrary and its work building voter support for libraries at www.everylibrary.org.

###

For more information, contact

Kristina Massari
Public Relations Manager,
Gale, a part of Cengage Learning
E-mail