| Australian Library Week 1997 was very successful with a range of activities taking place around Australia. The continuation of the consultative committee structure introduced in 1996 to improve the level of communication between branches and ALIA National Office again provided the opportunity for involvement by all branches and supported exchange of ideas.
An important initiative was the development of a two-minute video of background footage of libraries and library users for dissemination to television stations in Australia. Feedback to ALIA National Office indicates that this venture has been successful with several television stations seeking to retain the tape as file tape on libraries. Web pages on ALIAnet with links to other ALW pages were created. While some branches availed themselves of the opportunity to use the web, this year has been a foundation on which the consultative committee can build to increase the amount of publicity generated for ALW via the Web in 1998. Reports on ALW activities received before the deadline for July inCite have been published in that issue. Further reports will be published in the August issue.
Sponsorship was obtained for the 1997 ALW posters from Ebsco and Blackwells. Sales of merchandise increased for all items in 1997 compared with 1996. This together with sponsorship ensured that Australian Library Week was a profitable venture for the Association in 1997. Responses to a faxback survey circulated with the June issue of inCite generally indicate that merchandise produced for ALW 1997 was of a high standard and appropriate to libraries' needs.
As in 1996 an outside media analysis of Australian Library Week was conducted by Media Monitors. The period surveyed in 1997 was 2 - 18 May, a period of 17 days. The Media Monitor's report demonstrates that in that period a total of approximately $73 000 worth of publicity in advertising dollar terms was received free. This compares very favourably with the 1996 publicity achieved when over a 52-day period from 30 April to 20 June, the total free publicity in advertising dollar terms was approximately $75 000.
An important point to note in comparing the publicity yield in 1997 with that of 1996 is the influence of a major launch activity such as the Oration and the Shark Tank launch in gaining publicity for Australian Library Week. The Oration held before ALW in 1996 assisted in gaining publicity to focus on the coming event. In 1997 however, publicity achieved tended to be through reporting of events after they had occurred. All states and territories achieved publicity placement, although there was very little in Tasmania. New South Wales was successful in achieving 39 per cent of the total publicity accrued in 1997 while Victoria and Queensland also achieved well with 22 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. A copy of the full Media Monitors report will be available for general councillors at the meeting and a summary will be circulated to members of the consultative committee.
Dates for Australian Library Week 1998 have been set as 3 - 9 May 1998. The theme will be Libraries: pathways to knowledge, reflecting the theme of the 1998 biennial conference. |
