The theme of this year’s conference is: Renew, Refresh, Rethink: Inspiring Lasting Change in Academic Libraries. Institutions of higher education throughout the country may be considering their institutional environments, processes and practices with regard to rebranding, and innovation. Ideas include what’s new and exciting in your libraries, environmental initiatives, and how to market your institutions to adapt to forward-thinking trends across campuses and institutions. How do we transform our academic library’s spaces and practices to build upon our institutions’ drive to keep library spaces fresh and relevant? This theme welcomes presentations that address new and exciting initiatives in libraries such as recycling, best marketing and promotional practices, revamping and refreshing your library space for the best user experience as it relates to academic libraries, etc.
Mark Aaron Polger is an academic librarian and information literacy instructor who has been working in libraries since 1992. He received his MLIS degree in 2000 and has worked as a librarian in public, hospital, and academic libraries. Currently, he is the Coordinator of Library Outreach at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York (CUNY).
At the College of Staten Island, his responsibilities include coordinating the library’s marketing and outreach activities, engage in campus community partnerships, and assists in the assessment of library services and resources. Mark also teaches LIB 102 (Beyond Google: Research for College Success), the information literacy course taught in the department.
Polger’s research interests include library marketing, outreach, and UX (user experience) design. He is most interested in how users interact with the library’s physical and virtual touch points; specifically the web site, terminology, signage, and promotional materials. He has written and presented on topics ranging from library marketing strategies, faculty outreach, library marketing campaigns, library jargon, and library signage.
Since 2014, he has been co-chairing the Annual PR Xchange Awards Competition, part of the Core division of the American Library Association. He was part of the founding committee of the Library Marketing and Communications Conference (LMCC) from 2015-2019. Currently, he is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the open-access, peer reviewed journal Marketing Libraries Journal, which was launched in Fall 2017.
He is the author of three books; Library Signage and Wayfinding Design: Communicating Effectively with your Users(2021), Library Marketing Basics (2019), and Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians (co-authored with Scott Sheidlower)(2017).
Originally from Montreal, Canada, Mark holds a DEC in Pure and Applied Sciences from Marianopolis College, a BA honors in Sociology from Concordia University, an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario, an MA in Sociology from University of Waterloo, and a B.Ed. in Adult Education from Brock University.
Currently, he is a PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY). He is completing his 7th year and working on his dissertation where he is studying faculty perceptions of academic librarians’ teacher identity. Polger moved to New York City in 2008. He is an avid cyclist and runner, loves studying street maps, and enjoys exploring the city by foot and on his folding bike.
A special thank you to our sponsors for this year's conference:
