LibGuides: Library Staff Resources: Events & External Comms

Requesting Outreach Support (Event Planning and External Comms)

The forms and resources below are ONLY for library employees. Please contact the Outreach and Engagement team at library.outreach@lmu.edu for any general inquiries about: library events, hosted exhibitions, orientations, tours, marketing and promotion, social media, and/or external relations.

Event Programming Request Form
Use this form to request support for library-sponsored events or meetings. This form is NOT necessary if you only need to request a meeting space (e.g. for committee work, group meeting, instruction session). However, if your meeting/program requires additional logistics, such as catering or promotion, please fill out this form to the best of your ability.
External Communications Request Form
If you have a project, service, collection, or accomplishment that you would like to promote externally (i.e., beyond library staff), use this form. This could include (but is not limited to): utilizing mass email, social media, word of mouth, website development, digital marketing, press releases, and/or anything related to working with LMU's MarComm unit (e.g. LMU This Week).
Graphic Design Request Form
Use this form to request the creation of print or digital deliverables that require graphic design work prior to production. This might include: posters, web graphics, fliers, stickers, etc.
Library Website Suggestion Form
Use this form to request changes to the library's website (i.e. sites that live at the library.lmu.edu domain)

Policies and Guidelines

Library Marketing and Style Guidelines
Provides scope and outlines strategic priorities for the marketing and communications efforts of the library in order to ensure brand consistency. This document is the guide for all external (i.e. on campus and off campus) outreach, providing recommendations for consistent communication to our students, faculty, staff, and LIS colleagues.
Graphic Design Workflow
Provides an overview of the standard practices, procedures, and timelines for graphic design work.
Library Co-Sponsorship Policy
Defines what events qualify as "co-sponsorships" with the library and outlines the policies that govern the relationship between the library and its program partners.
Program Planning Handbook
A brief guide to planning an event. If you are taking the lead on a library event, this guide provides helpful questions to consider before you begin the planning process.
Internal Social Media Guidelines
All employees, including student workers, of the library participating in the use of the library’s social media outlets will adhere to these guidelines, as well as those outlined in the library’s External Social Media Policy. These guidelines cover all social media and other third-party digital communications channels published in the name of the library or its programs, initiatives, units, or collections.
External Social Media Policy
This policy establishes parameters for the library's use of social media in order to maintain and uphold the (internal) goals of the library’s social media presence. (This is the policy that we post on our public website.)

Drafting Announcements

In order to do a proper job of "getting the word out" about new services, collections, or programs, consider pulling together the following two groups of assets. Consider this the ideal bare minimum for effectively announcing a new project and launching/fostering word of mouth. We obviously can't (and don't) do this for everything we announce, but this has what has always worked best in the past.

Here is what Outreach would like to have to begin the process:

For LMU Library News: A 1-2 page "press release" style announcement. Don't fuss too much about getting it perfect... that's John's job as editor (and there will be edits) 😉. But this would include:
1. 2-3 sentence intro that (if no one reads anything else) gives them the essential info
2. 1-2 paragraphs about what the project/collection is
3. 1-2 quotes from individuals involved in the project (usually a project lead, plus an external partner, if applicable) that talks about why the project is significant and/or why people should care about it
4. 1-2 paragraphs that gives any additional useful, but possibly not essential information. This could include provenance, information about the partner/donor, history/context about the collection/program, etc.
5. 2-3 images that can go along with the announcement. You want to select things that are either visually interesting or informationally interesting (have a good story). Both is better!
For Social Media: a selection of 3-5 images that are BOTH visually interesting and informationally interesting (have a good story) plus a 3-4 sentence description of each (or more if you really feel it needs it. Instagram is more forgiving these days about longer captions). These can be the same images as 1e above. (Note: Not all photographs are created equal. Refer to any product photography or portrait photography best practices guide for tips, or speak with Outreach about using one of their professional photographers.)

There's a lot we can do with both #1 and #2 above. Outreach can get it into LMU This Week, college newsletters, and loop in others who might be interested in doing their own stories (e.g. MarComm, Loyolan, LMU Magazine, Community Relations, student orgs, etc.).

Here are four different (but equally good examples) of what has worked well in the past:

IRDL Scholars (standard press release format minus the additional photo highlights)
Singleton Papers (a good, solid example minus the quotes from stakeholders)
Tango Films Collection (an image-heavy example, particularly useful if you have a visually interesting topic)
Ancestry Library (a deep dive example)

Once we have #1-2 under wraps, there are other ways to promote new collections and programs, like video interviews with your team, faculty testimonials (if they are using them in their coursework), or more complex visual campaigns like cabinet cases posters and brochures. Those are usually more involved and come with production costs, so that's why we like to start with the above so we can at least get something out there.