Coffee Klatsch—Jill Stover

Having found that much of the wonderful work done at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries is “under people's radar,” undergraduate services librarian Jill Stover is changing that. She is “presenting our services and resources in such a way that patrons can clearly see how the library fits in their daily lives.” That has meant taking the library where the needs are: setting up a “Research Outpost” in a computer lab, holding office hours in the Student Commons for student organization leaders, and setting up library booths at the spring housing fair, student orientations, and Commuter CoffeeBRAKES.

Stover also takes the library's message to groups she's formed close working relationships with, including VCU's Honors Program, Office of Community Programs, and Service Learning Program. Mary Ellen Spencer, head of research and reference services at the Cabell Library, calls Stover “one of the libraries' best ambassadors.” She has the “ability to form easy partnerships with people and [a] gift for identifying strategic opportunities for the libraries,” says Spencer.

Stover shares clever promotional ideas through her web log, Library Marketing: Thinking Outside the Book. She finds blogs an ideal way to meet and share ideas with like-minded colleagues and to force-feed her own professional development—the obligation to post regularly compels her to keep up with the latest developments and learn to synthesize and present information in an interesting manner. By spreading the word that librarians must market their services, her blog also gives her the means to have an outsize impact on the profession.