Library communications over summer
By simon.bralee.15, on 13 September 2022
Updates about comms from across Library Services.
Comms Calendar
The first iteration of the Library Comms Calendar 2022-23 is now available on LibNet.
Please check it and get in touch if there is anything coming up in your sections this term.
New posters and library maps
Daniel Kordik created a series of new posters for library sites starring library colleagues and a student ambassador. You can see the posters and onelan screens in all libraries from 26 September. We have also printed out library maps with all 17 sites, including One Pool Street in UCL East.
Campaigns in Summer
Colleagues were very busy over the summer months:
South Asian Heritage Month (18 July – 17 August)
The Library Liberating the Collections Group and Campaigns Group sought book recommendations from across the UCL Community to create a book list to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month.
South East Asian Heritage Month (September)
We’re also asking the UCL community to share their book recommendations for East and South East Asian Heritage month which takes place from September.
Green Spaces (22 August – 09 September)
We ran a very light well being focused campaign on social media during the Late Summer Assessments to encourage students to take a screen break from libraries. Although it might seem counter-intuitive to encourage our users to leave our library spaces, it’s not only good for wellbeing but it’s a big draw to have a space which you can focus in and then leave for a short break.
If you missed it
How do you cram all the key information about a library site into 30 seconds of film? You have to be very fast! As this video from the UCL Libraries TikTok shows:
@ucllibraries #ucl #ucllibrary #uclgosh #running #library #london #university #books
(The department’s TikTok account is managed by Amad Uddin and Sofina Lias from the Social Media Task and Finsih Group. If you would like to get involved with it or feature a service or space on it, please contact them. It has been agreed to only have one TikTok account for the moment. No other accounts should be set up in the meantime.)
Most read ‘Library News’ articles
- Working in hot weather – our libraries with air cooling systems
- Studying in our libraries on Thursday 14 July
- Celebrating South Asian Heritage Month
Updates from the comms sub-groups
Three sub-groups help coordinate comms activities across Library Services.
Open Days Group
Published a new video in time for the July Open Days starring student ambassadors. A big thanks to the Finance team for their support with this.
Campaigns Group
Planned campaigns for 2022-23, including a new ‘Find your library’ campaign to take place in the second half of term 2. The centre piece of this will be a new web tool created by Jonathan Fowles, Gillian Mackenzie and Chris Carrington. We will also promote spaces through student reviews and TikTok videos.
Social Media group
Finalised new guidance document and metrics tool which will be published on LibNet shortly, planned and led Twitter and Instagram training.
Comms campaigns coming up in Term 1
- Getting Started (Coordinated by the Library Induction Group) (26 September – 11 November)
- Open Access Week (Coordinated by the Office for Open Science) (24 – 30 October)
- Find your library (12 November – 18 December)
- Black History Month (October)
- Knowvember (November)
- UK Disability History Month (18 November – 18 December)
If you have any questions about comms, please get in touch with Simon Bralee.