Five libraries are winners of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, which recognizes and honors outstanding achievement in library public relations. The John Cotton Dana honor has been awarded continuously since 1946 and is sponsored by the H.W. Wilson Company, the H.W. Wilson Foundation, and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). This year H.W. Wilson Company increased the cash prize that comes with the award — libraries receiving the award this year will enjoy a $5,000 development grant.

“The John Cotton Dana Award is the most prestigious of all library awards in the public relations field and is important not only to the winning library, but also to the communities so positively impacted by these thoughtful and imaginative campaigns,” said award committee chair Sherrill Smith.

The 2008 awards will be presented to:

Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, Illinois, for “Space: Dare to Dream,” a dynamic interactive exhibit that was also an innovative approach to marketing traditional summer reading programs. The program made exemplary use of partnerships, and the library leveraged the exhibit to rocket its way to record numbers for summer reading participation, library card registration, materials circulation, and program attendance.

Hamilton Public Library, Hamilton, Ontario, for “One Book, One City: Tackling Poverty Through the Arts.” This multi-faceted “one book” campaign, featuring the book Looking for X by Deborah Ellis, championed art as a common language and mobilized the community to raise public awareness about the issue of poverty.

Metropolitan Library Service Agency of St. Paul, Minnesota, for its “Museum Adventure Pass” program presented by Macy’s. The Pass transforms the library card into up to four free tickets to any of the community’s participating cultural organizations. The well-planned campaign was implemented using a broad range of public relations tactics.

Richmond Public Library in Richmond, British Columbia for creating a unique campaign that promoted the library to school age children from kindergarten to grade seven. The highlight of the promotion was the round Ralphy library card for kids.

University of California Santa Barbara for “UCSB Reads for Earth Day 2007.” The UCSB library led a campus-wide initiative to read, discuss, and even recycle (for other readers) the book Field Notes from a Catastrophe. Held in collaboration with local libraries, the program reached a wide range of community members beyond the university, from high school students to users of recordings for the blind and dyslexic.

Winning entries will be displayed at the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award booth in the exhibit area during the 2008 ALA Annual Conference.

The John Cotton Dana Award is sponsored by the H. W. Wilson Company and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). H. W. Wilson Company and the ALA have jointly sponsored the awards since 1946.