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Contact: Barbara Macikas
800 545 2433, ext. 5025 

bmacikas@ala.org

For Immediate Release

Sept. 24, 2004 

"Smartest Card" toolkit available online

CHICAGO - "The Smartest Card.   The Smartest Campaign," a new toolkit with graphics and sample publicity materials for the new advocacy campaign launched by the American Library Association (ALA) and Public Library Association (PLA), now is online at www.ala.org/pla.   The message is: "The smartest card.  Get it.  Use it. @ your library®.

"There are more public libraries than McDonald's in the U.S, but libraries don't have big advertising budgets," said PLA President Clara Nalli Bohrer, director of West Bloomfield (Mich.) Public Library. "The "Smartest Card" campaign is an opportunity for us to work smarter by working together to deliver a powerful message."

The "Smartest Card" campaign will focus on how public libraries help people save money, help make people smart and are a bargain for taxpayers. It was selected based on the work of the PLA @ your library® Task Force, the PLA Strategic Plan and on focus groups with members of the public and public librarians.

The "Smartest Card" campaign builds on ALA's Campaign for America's Libraries, a multi-year public awareness and education initiative.

As advocacy is a fundamental goal of the PLA Strategic Plan, PLA has made a multi-year commitment and will focus on one or two key external audiences each year. For the initial year, the audiences are families and "influentials"-funders and policymakers, community and business leaders. 

Another primary audience is library staff, trustees, Friends and other members of the library "family."   One of the campaign goals is to help libraries-especially small and medium-sized libraries-position themselves as partners for vibrant, educated communities, as places of opportunity and as a bargain for taxpayers.

A "Smartest Card" poster, bookmark and other promotional materials directed at families is available in the Fall 2004 ALA Graphics Catalog and from the ALA online store at www.alastore.ala.org.

The campaign has met with enthusiasm. David E. Fulkerson, director, Spring Hill (Tenn.) Public Library, said,  "My background is not library science. I spent 20 years in sales and marketing, working as a marketing communications manager for several large firms . . .This Smartest Card campaign is right on target!   As they say in advertising, 'It has legs'."

Members of the @ your library Task Force are: Kathleen Reif, St. Mary's County Memorial Library (Md.), chair; Luis Herrera, Pasadena (Calif.) Public Library; Clara Bohrer, West Bloomfield Hills (Mich.) Public Library; Susan Hildreth, State Librarian of California; Peter Persic, Los Angeles Public Library; Sallie Johnson, Memphis-Shelby (Tenn.) County Public Library; Jan Sanders, Spokane (Wash.) Public Library; Kathy Coster, Baltimore County Public Library; and Marilyn Barr, Philadelphia Free Library.

3M Library Systems is a sponsor of the PLA initiative and a founding Partner in ALA's @ your library® Campaign for America's Libraries. Members of the "Smartest Card Team," include the American Library Trustee Association (ALTA), Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and WebJunction.

For more information, visit the PLA Website at www.ala.org/pla or The Campaign for America's Libraries Website at www.ala.org/@yourlibrary and click on the Public Library Campaign icon.