The Self-Taught Marketers Guide to Creating an Annual Report

Authors

Everly D. Brown, University of Maryland at BaltimoreFollow
Patrick T. Waugh, University of Maryland at BaltimoreFollow
Tara R. Wink, University of Maryland at BaltimoreFollow

Document Type

Poster

Original Presentation Date

2022

Comments

Poster presented at Annual Meeting, Mid-Atlantic Chapter, Medical Library Association, 2022

Date of Submission

November 2022

Abstract

Objective

To produce an easy-to-read, visually appealing, 1-4 page annual report for the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HSHSL). The report should be a mix of interesting statistics, highlights, stories, quotes, and photographs to promote the HSHSL’s annual accomplishments to the campus.

Methods

We gather all of the stories and statistics we think will be eligible material for the annual report, pulling content and ideas from: newsletters, workshops, blog posts, events, exhibits, and meetings with division and department heads. An annual report committee and visual designer decide upon the top stories and statistics, focusing upon high-impact events, meaningful statistics, and attractive design, images, and photographs to craft the report. We keep in mind that the report is meant to be read by non-librarians, and that the language and messages need to be understandable to our larger campus community.

Results

This will be our 5th year producing an annual report for the HSHSL. The process has become more streamlined and less time-consuming as we have become familiar with where to source content, design principles, and how to manage space limitations. This has decreased the amount of time it takes to produce the report and the number of iterations we go through before achieving our final product. Additionally, other libraries have been inspired by our designs and created their own colorful Annual Reports based on our layouts and ideas.

Conclusions

In our next report we plan to include a survey link to try to elicit feedback from our readers. We would like to know if the report was useful to them and if there is other information they would be interested to see in future reports.

Is Part Of

Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association (MAC- MLA) Annual Meeting Posters/Presentations