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IFLA International Marketing Award

Past Winners


2006

First place was awarded to Cindy van Kranenburg from the public library of Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, for a simple but cost-effective marketing campaign to attract non-user patrons by sending a simple postcard. The library also evaluated the number of non-users who became users. The marketing slogan is "We miss you" (in Dutch: "Wij missen u"). The first-place winner will receive airfare, lodging, and registration for the 2006 IFLA General Conference and Council to be held this year in Seoul, Korea, and a cash award of $1,000 (U.S.) to further the marketing efforts of the library.

Second place was awarded to Suzanne Payette, President of the Public Libraries of Québec for developing a topical and unique marketing campaign entitled "Follow the Stream" (in French: "Suivez le courant") during the Week of the Public Libraries of Québec in Fall 2005, offering sustainable promotion material like reusable shopping bags.

Third place winner was Óscar Arroyo Ortega, of the Regional Library Service of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain for the campaign entitled "Public Libraries: No need to knock!" (in Spanish "Biblioteca Pública, pasa sin llamar"). The Campaign's main object was that the citizens of the small towns of this region knew the new concept, social functions and services of the public libraries in the information society. Thus, they would use the libraries and request to the local authorities of their towns that continued financing and supporting them. The campaign consisted of a travelling exhibition about the new concept and social functions of the libraries, that is going of town in town to be exposed. In the exhibition there are three metaphors to explain what are the libraries: house, tree and river. The exhibition is structured in five areas: opinions; target groups; aims and possibilities that libraries offer; the new spaces and facilities, and how to enjoy them.

The first place winner will be announced officially at the final day, during the plenary session, of the IFLA Conference in August 2006, in Seoul, Korea. Second and third place winners will be awarded with distinctions.

Criteria and Applications 2006

For this fourth award, applications were available in the main IFLA languages (English, Spanish, French, German) on the Web.

The deadline was January 15, 2006.

Altogether there were 15 applicants from four continents, sent in from 10 countries including: India, Spain, United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Mexico, Belgium, Philippines, Senegal and United Kingdom. Any library, agency, or association in the world that promotes library service was eligible to receive the award.

The IFLA INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AWARD is to honor organizations that have implemented creative, results-oriented marketing projects or campaigns.

Objectives of the Award
  • Reward the best library marketing project worldwide each year
  • Encourage marketing in libraries
  • Give libraries the opportunity to share marketing experiences
Applicants were carefully judged on the following
  1. Strategic approach to marketing;
  2. Creativity, originality and innovation;
  3. Potential for generating widespread public visibility and support for libraries;
  4. Effectiveness of communication;
  5. Commitment to ongoing marketing activities.
  6. Expression of emotion, sustainability and ethical aspects.

The Jury revised the criteria to facilitate increased understanding of marketing, and participation by a broader range of countries. A new goal that was reached was to recognize marketing efforts by developing countries with fewer resources.

For more information contact the following representatives of the Jury of the IFLA International Marketing Award:
  • Daisy McAdam, Chair
  • Christie Koontz, Communication Director

2004

First place was given to the School library of Australian Islamic College, located in Kewdale, WA., Australia for using library resources to promote reading and computer literacy to 300 refugee children from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. The library's slogan is "I came, I saw, I read." The first-place winner will receive airfare, lodging, and registration for the 2004 IFLA General Conference and Council to be held this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a cash award of $1,000 (U.S.) to further the marketing efforts of the library.

Second place went to the Krasheninnikov Regional Research Library, Kamchatka, Russia, for developing and offering outreach programs and services to the elderly and disabled in this region of the country who are psychologically and socially vulnerable. The library's campaign is called, "Remedy for the Soul."

Third place went to the African Rice Center in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for its project to offer current information to the agricultural researchers in the National Agricultural System (NARS) in West Africa.

For more information contact:
Chairpserson of the IFLA/3M International Marketing Award committee
Daisy McAdam, E-mail: Daisy.McAdam@ses.unige.ch
or, Christie Koontz, E-mail: ckoontz@admin.fsu.edu

Program overview 2004

For this third award, applications were available in the five official IFLA languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and also Mandarin/Chinese) on the Web sites of both sponsors, IFLA and 3M. The deadline was November 30, 2003. Altogether there were 52 applicants from all five continents, sent in from 17 countries including : Russian Federation, Australia, Spain, Nigeria, New Zealand, India, United States, Canada, Argentina, Ivory Coast, Philippines, Cuba, United Kingdom, Sweden, Romania, Indonesia, and Chile. Any library, agency, or association in the world that promotes library service was eligible to receive the award.

Applicants were judged on the following criteria:
  • Strategic approach to marketing communications;
  • Creativity and innovation;
  • Potential for generating widespread public visibility and support for libraries;
  • Effectiveness illustrated by efforts to emphasize the organization's communication and marketing goals;
  • Commitment to ongoing marketing and public relations activities.
The committee revised the criteria to facilitate increased understanding of marketing, and participation by a broader range of countries. A new goal that was reached was to recognize marketing efforts by developing countries with fewer resources.

2003

First Place: Mireia Sala, Concorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona (CBB), Spain
Second Place: Supaporn Chaithammapakorn and Yupin Chancharoensin, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Third Place: Janice Bell and Maureen Carter, Newman College of Higher Education, Birminghan, United Kingdom