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Get National Media Attention Through ALA Story Bank

The American Library Association's "Story Bank" can be a powerful PR resource for your library. According to Joyce Kelly, ALA Press Officer, the ALA is actively looking for unique and interesting ideas to submit to the media. Stories which have received national coverage through the Story Bank include an article about a teenage boy "sentenced" to visit the library three times a week in USA Today, a profile of ALA past-President Betty Turnock in the New York Times and features in Business Week and on ABC's World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News.

Kelly has some suggestions about the type of stories that will work:

• Creative ways you use new technology for kids or young adults
• Children or adults whose lives have been transformed because of information or training they got at your library
• Anyone who found a great job or started a business using the library's technology. Or someone who found a soul mate or cured and illness
• New and unusual service and/or projects
• Dynamic librarians and how they make a difference in the lives of children and adults
• Celebrity or famous politician who has worked in support of your library
• Creative stories on how your library is changing to address ethnic needs, i.e, an excellent English-as-a-second-language program or a bookmobile that targets communities that would not otherwise be served.
• Dramatic changes in funding — a big increase or a drastic cut.

The American Library Association is working with Hildy Karp of Pro-Media Public Relations to pitch your stories and is standing by to help you reach out.

Contact Joyce Kelly with your story ideas in the form of news releases or local media clip via fax at (312) 944-8520 or e-mail to jkelly8@ala.org.