LIS 568: Marketing Made Easy

One of the activities we as SLMS will have to undertake regularly will be the marketing of our programs, our collections, our challenges and contests… but who has time to be a graphic designer as well as a school library media specialist extraordinaire? YOU do-- if you use Canva! I discovered this incredible tool during my secondary practicum. There I was, spending way too much time trying to create bookmarks to give to parents and students at our Open House, struggling to move some text a millimeter this way, a graphic two millimeters that way. Only after I came up for air and proudly showed my LMS mentor my design did she say, “Wow, that looks great! Okay… don’t be mad…” and then proceeded to introduce me to Canva, which I have used every time I have needed to create a flyer, a bookmark, a poster, a postcard-- pretty much anything flat.

My ALA Banned Books Week Flyer Promoting #RebelReaders

Canva offers free templates once you sign up, as well as some that you could pay for (but WHY?) and options to upload your own images. It’s amazing, it’s easy, it’s free, and it will save you time while allowing you to flex your creative muscles and print out a professional-looking product. With this tool, it will be such a breeze promoting the library, you may have to print out sign-up sheets, too!

The Halloween Makey Makey sign