EIU Booth Library

Booth wins national PR awards

Posted on July 1st, 2020

Booth Library has been named the winner of two awards in the 2020 PR Xchange Awards Competition sponsored by the American Library Association.

The PR Xchange competition allows libraries of all sizes from throughout the United States to enter their best public relations materials in both print and digital categories. Entries are evaluated on content, originality, and design by a team of experts in public relations, graphic design, communications, and marketing.

Two digital entries submitted by Booth Library were named winners.

• The booklet titled Center for Student Innovation: Creating a Cross-Disciplinary Hub for Active Student Learning in Booth Library won in the Advocacy/Fundraising/Annual Reports/Strategic Plans category. This project was designed to explain the vision and plans for the creation of a Center for Student Innovation at the library. The booklet was completed by an architectural consultant and edited by Zach Newell, dean of Library Services, and Newton Key, director of the Faculty Development and Innovation Center. It can be accessed online via The Keep, EIU’s institutional repository, here.
• The documentary “To the Moon and Back” won in the Special Events and Exhibits category. The film was created in conjunction with WEIU-TV and the EIU Department of History to complement and promote the library’s spring 2019 exhibit, “On the Shoulders of Giants: The Moon and Beyond,” which celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the lunar landing. Andy Cougill, Booth librarian and exhibits coordinator, led development of both the exhibit and the documentary. “To the Moon and Back” serves as an oral history project, featuring interviews from several Coles County residents about their memories of the 1969 moon landing. The film is available to view online here.

The PR Xchange Awards are typically presented during the American Library Association’s annual conference; however, the in-person conference was canceled this year due to COVID-19. A virtual awards ceremony will take place at a later date. The awards program is managed by the PR Xchange Committee, part of the ALA’s Library Leadership and Management Association’s Marketing and Communications Community of Practice.