I am assembling information and quotes for a library bulletin board highlighting the materials, services and general value of an academic library. Having a background in public relations I feel it should be one of our main responsibilities to promote our worth so that those who do not know or have not taken the time to understand what libraries do cannot make the decision to make cuts without full knowledge of our value.

I found the follow statistic that I want to use but I have a feeling but might blow the roof off this joint because who wants to faces how little money libraries get?

College libraries receive less than two cents of every dollar spent on higher education.

This one is also a little sad:

The number of librarians per 1,000 students enrolled in 2 and 4-year colleges and universities in the US dropped from 2.4 in 2000 to less than .5 in 2004.

[Source: ALA Office for Research & Statistics; ALA Public Information Office. Complied in 2006]

I do plan to use this quote as the centerpiece of my bulletin board.

“A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. The library is the university.” ~ Shelby Foote

I plan to start a new Flickr account for the photos of these displays along with creating a blog to highlight links to articles. It is all part of my plan PR plan for this library and I really cannot fail since they have never had one!