Improving Your Image: Marketing Visual Resource Collections

Visual Resources Association 26th Annual Conference, San Diego, California, March 14, 2008

Organizer: Brooke Cox, DePauw University

In the digital age our visual resource collections and spaces can and often do serve a wider audience. Our collections are no longer tied to the rooms they inhabit. Our spaces are evolving away from static repositories to active learning environments where students and faculty from many disciplines come to find expertise in a wide range of image services. With the decreasing usage of our slide collections, particularly by students, it is a challenge to promote awareness of our existence and of the resources we provide. How do we advertise new services to our existing customers while reaching out to new users? During this panel presentation visual resource curators from a variety of schools will share creative methods they have employed to market their services, collections and spaces. Each panelist will talk about the process of creating their marketing campaign, how they implemented it, and the results of their efforts. Examples include making commercials, utilizing Web 2.0 tools, producing posters, and giving away promotional items.

Session Introduction
Brooke Cox, DePauw University

Extreme Makeover: VRC Edition
(presentation text)
Gretchen Witthuhn,  University of Chicago

Marketing the Visual Resources Center to Students Through Web Videos
(presentation text)
Jessica Bozeman, DePauw University

Marketing Your Collections and
Services: get out of the basement and into the community
Jodie Walz, University of Minnesota