The Campaign for America's Libraries - American Library Association

14. Print a coupon for free coffee/copies at the library’s café or bookstore or self-checkout receipts.
Offer free coffee to students once a week in the morning.
15. Print messages on napkins, cups, or cup sleeves at the library café.
16. Run the library’s message in campus planners/calendars.
17. Give away library brochures and promotional items such as bookmarks, highlighters, or pens in
registration packets and at orientation.
18. Host tours/sponsor a reception for parents and alumni during orientation or homecoming.
19. Enter a float in the homecoming parade.
20. Ask faculty to include a library message, e.g., “Got questions? Get answers! @ your library,” in
course handouts. Include business card for the appropriate contact for the class.
21. Send brief and lively announcements of training classes, study tips, new materials, and other updates
via e-mail distribution lists.
22. Use screen savers and banners to highlight special messages on the library’s Web site and public
computers located throughout the library.
23. Have plastic book bags imprinted with the library message. Also give to campus bookstores to use.
24. Post flyers/posters on information kiosks, inside buses, bus stops and bulletin boards around
campus, as well as in the library.
25. Ask bookstores to insert library flyers in shopping bags.
26. Distribute posters/flyers/other library promotional materials at the tutoring center and other student
service centers, e.g., Office for Disabilities, ethnic student associations, job placement, etc.
27. Hang colorful banners outside the library, in dining halls, in the student center, and around campus.
28. Distribute library promotional materials during fraternity/sorority events. Include with rush
materials or direct mail/e-mail.
29. Give away earplugs in cases imprinted with the library’s message at the information desk. Other
ideas for giveaways: mouse pads, T-shirts, stress balls.
30. Use chalk to graffiti the library message around campus. Get permission, if needed.
31. Participate in orienation events around campus for freshman, graduate, international, and transfer
students.
32. Sponsor an ice cream social for students during the fall and spring semesters. Give away free ice
cream to students on the university quad or outside the entrance to the library.
33. Consider hosting a gaming night in the library.
34. Sponsor a pumpkin carving contest in October for student organizations. Display pumpkins in the
library and let students vote for their favorite.
35. Start a paperback exchange in the library for recreational reading
36. Give away free coffee and food during exams and have a game of something as a destresser
37. Send an early welcome message over the summer to incoming students, highlighting how the library
wants to support their success. Promise a giveaway to be picked up at the reference desk to
encourage them to visit soon after they arrive. Paper mailings make a memorable impression in this
digital age.
38. Make sure the library is on the admissions tours for prospective students. Supply a short script of
key talking points for tour guides.
39. Invite student performance groups to give brief presentations (dance, concert, etc) just before an
upcoming performance to help them and you market!
40. If the library has an exhibition area do one on new librarians and library themed zines, comic books,
and movies.
41. On every floor and major study area have a need help sign and the phone number to the
information/reference desk.
42. Have library information on the doors in the restroom stalls.
43. Have an library scavenger hunt with a prize.
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