Speaking of Books: Connecting with Faculty through a Campus Author Series Speaking of Books: Connecting with Faculty through a Campus Author Series Timothy Hackman University of Maryland

Outline History of “Speaking of Books…” at University of Maryland Benefits of an author series Publicizing your author series Future directions

Began informally in with talks by two English professors Funded by UM Libraries and College of Arts & Humanities for ; focus on Arts & Humanities faculty Funded by UM Libraries from 2007 to present; expanded to include all schools and colleges “Speaking of Books” at UMD

14 events since 2005 Average 50 attendees per event Departments/Colleges represented: Agriculture & Resource Economics American Studies, Communication English (4), Government & Politics History (3), Journalism, Public Health, Public Policy

Benefits of an Author Series Provide a forum for great scholarship Create positive publicity for the Libraries Provide a service to the departments and the faculty to improve relations Foster the image of the Libraries as a “learning space”

Benefits of an Author Series Brainstorming: Can you think of other benefits of hosting a faculty author series at your library?

Getting Started Start Small –Gauge interest of your community –Learn the ropes of planning –Build administrative support Have a Plan –What are your goals? –Who is your primary audience? –How can you most effectively reach them?

Publicity Ideas Don’t do it all by yourself Make personal connections Use the power of the network Look for opportunities to collaborate Think outside of campus

Publicity Ideas Brainstorming: Can you think of publicity options available: –On your campus? –Through campus collaborators? –Off-campus and in your community?

Where Do We Go from Here? Greater campus integration Greater campus collaboration Broadening the scope Turn attendees into donors Speaking of Books 2.0 –University of MississippiUniversity of Mississippi –University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia

Thank You!

Verlyn Flieger. Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien’s Mythology. Kent State UP, Gene Roberts. The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation. Alfred A. Knopf, Clare Lyons. Sex Among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender and Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, U. of North Carolina Press, Robin Sawyer. Sexpertise: Real Answers to Real Questions About Sex. Simon & Schuster, Psyche Williams-Forson. Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food and Power. U. of North Carolina Press, Robert Friedel. A Culture of Improvement: Technology and the Western Millennium. MIT Press, Background Image Credits

Barry Lee Pearson. Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers. U. of Tennessee Press, Jeffrey Herf. The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust. Harvard UP, Paul Herrnson, et al. Voting Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act of Casting a Ballot. Brookings, Trevor Parry-Giles & Shawn Parry-Giles. The Prime-time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism. U. of Illinois Press, Vincent Carretta. Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man. U. of Georgia Press, Stanley Plumly. Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography. W.W. Norton, Background Image Credits