Celebrating the Best of the Best

 

By Cathelijne Kuiters
IFLA Management & Marketing Section member

As every year, the prestigious IFLA PressReader International Library Marketing Award was presented in 2024. Now in its 21st edition held on August 27th (available on our Youtube Channel), the award has honored organizations that have implemented creative, results-oriented marketing projects or campaigns for over two decades. It is a fantastic way to recognize and celebrate the most innovative and effective library marketing efforts globally. The award acknowledges the best library marketing projects from 2023, encouraging libraries to embrace marketing and providing a platform for sharing expertise and experience worldwide.

The Marketing Award is one of the “Big Three” awards presented by IFLA each year, alongside the Public Library Award and the Green Library Award. Because there is no World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) on the calendar this year, the IFLA PressReader International Library Marketing Award ceremony was held virtually, attracting over 100 attendees from all time zones.

This year, the award received a record-breaking 103 submissions, making the selection process incredibly challenging for the jury. To determine the top ten and the ultimate winners from this high-quality pool of entries, the jury evaluated each submission based on four categories: creativity, strategic thinking, reach, and metrics and evaluation. The awards were given to the entries that scored the highest across all categories, demonstrating excellence in every aspect.

This 21st edition is particularly special as IFLA President Vicki McDonald presented the awards. As a former member of the Marketing and Management Committee, she is especially enthusiastic about this year’s entries and winners. “It’s likely that everyone will walk away with ideas they want to implement themselves. It’s so important to share what we do because, so often, people still say, ‘I didn’t know libraries did this.’ The top ten projects we are celebrating today have certainly contributed to changing that perception and can rightly be called ‘the best of the best’ for 2024.” 

The 2024 Winners Are:

  1. Auckland Council Libraries (New Zealand): 100 Reasons to Have a Library Card 🥇
  2. Seoul Metropolitan Library (Republic of Korea): Seoul Outdoor Library 🥈
  3. Nanjing University Libraries (China): The Sounds of the Library 🥉

Auckland Council Libraries – 100 Reasons to Have a Library Card