CMR is one of the divisions of the library, it stands for Community & Media Relations. Let me give you a little insight as to what goes on in this fast paced office. First, an introduction to the staff members of CMR:
Reese Ruiz – Manager, she oversees the daily activities and keeps everyone on track. Reese must sometimes ask the hard questions and make sure everything gets done on time to the best of our ability.
Jennifer Rife – Design & Humanities Coordinator: Jennifer has been in CMR the longest, her experience and knowledge are valued assets for us and the library as a whole. Jennifer oversees all of the exhibits that we have on display in the library. She also ensures all of the acrylic calendar and brochure holders are fully stocked each day.
Amber McDaniel – Volunteer Coordinator: Amber is the one in charge of volunteers, she coordinates tours and makes sure that our hundreds of volunteers have a job, and that they feel valued. Amber interviews each and every volunteer who applies. Amber also coordinates the book sale room and ensures volunteers are there to man the cash register, stock the incoming donations, and all of the other daily operations.
Robin Papaleka – Adult Programming Coordinator: If you have attended a program at the library, Robin is the one to thank! She schedules all the adult programs, she reads through the program suggestions, coordinates with the presenters and schedules rooms and/or volunteers for each program.
Danielle Willoughby – Design Specialist: Danielle makes all of the graphics you see on posters, the calendar, the website, self-checks, bookmarks, gallery, and everywhere in-between! Danielle is a whiz with design and has to cram a great deal into her 20 hour work week.
Anna McClure – Digital Marketing Specialist: Anna updates and maintains the Library’s website and social media. She keeps the social media team on task, and coordinates the blogging team. Anna makes updates to both the public website as well as the in-house employee intranet. Anna is the newest member of CMR and hit the ground running!
Now that you have been introduced to the team, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of what goes on “a day in the life”. CMR is constantly brainstorming and planning as far in advance as 3 years from now! One of the biggest jobs we have are the monthly calendars that are put out. Planning for these calendars begins months beforehand, the events are gathered via email from all of the divisions across the library. Once events are finalized, Danielle takes the “text calendar” and converts it into the beautiful graphic calendar you see out on the desks. Several stages of error checking take place before the calendars hit desks. The calendars are printed off site locally at Pioneer Printing. Anna adds all of the events to our online Events Calendar, and creates Facebook events for some events each month. In addition to the graphic calendar Danielle must also create graphics for posters, Facebook events, the gallery, homepage slider, as well as Facebook and Twitter posts.
Another huge undertaking by CMR are the exhibits that you see in the display cases and on the walls throughout the library. These exhibits are planned years out, Jennifer attends conferences, webinars, etc. To ensure LCLS gets some of the best exhibits in the country. Some of our exhibits have come from the Smithsonian, National Science Foundation, American Library Association, and the Wyoming Humanities Council. To name a few. So much planning must take place, and many questions must be asked along the way. Each site that the exhibits travel to are different, so Jennifer must determine how LCLS will best display them. Then there is the take down and set-up for each one. Sometimes Jennifer is the only one doing the set-up and take down, other times she has some help, in the form of volunteers or other library employees. Once the exhibits are over with Jennifer’s work still isn’t done! She must complete reports, set up meetings to discuss how the exhibit went and what numbers we had. All the while setting up the next one and coordinating the receptions. Whew! Jennifer is always on the go!
Volunteers keep this place running! We would be lost without our volunteers and unable to maintain the level of service that our patrons have come to expect. Amber does an amazing job not only interviewing the volunteers, but figuring out what those volunteers are best suited to do. She has a knack for placing people in roles they thrive in. In addition to working with our volunteers tours are a huge aspect of Amber’s job. August tends to be a busy time for tours, entire classes and sometimes even entire schools come to the library and tour the facility. Coordinating these tours is a big job and Amber handles it with ease and a friendly face.
Programs at the library are one of the greatest services we offer to our patrons. LCLS offers dozens of programs each month, some are recurring and others are one-time events. The planning is extensive from trying to guess at the number of attendees to booking the rooms in the library that can accommodate the group. Then there are the media needs (projector, sound system, and computer) as well as the snacks and drinks often offered. Robin has a standing joke that she is a professional “nagger” since she often has to “nag” people about getting back to her on dates or other various programming needs; she only does this because she wants the programs to be as great as possible.
The website and social media are very important to LCLS, with the growing use of mobile devices in America this is how many individuals get their information. The website was re-designed and rolled out on January 5th 2016. There are daily, weekly, monthly and annual updates that must be made. Job postings, blog posts, and events, are a few of the many updates made regularly. Putting out relevant interesting information on LCLS’s social media is a daily endeavor. The library has a social media team of roughly 10 employees who do research and post what they hope will be fun and interactive for their followers. In addition to everything else the analytics of the website and social media are gathered each month and analyzed to constantly improve.
So the next time you’re in the library please enjoy the latest exhibit, grab the latest calendar, check out the gallery and posters, schedule a tour, consider volunteering, use the computer center and check out our social media, then attend one of our upcoming programs! It is what we in CMR love, for our patrons to take the journey into lifelong learning with us. Enjoy!
~Anna M.