Libraries As Canva Power Users: Good Marketing Done In-House

By Dan Bostrom - May 13, 2022
General Advocacy Brochure created by Vespasian Warner Public Library District

The My Library Is… campaign is all about helping libraries do marketing and advocacy in new ways. And libraries aren't shy about discovering these new ways! Libraries are curious, creative places. Even though they might not have huge budgets to hire expensive graphic designers, videographers, etc., they constantly find a way to promote themselves and the programs and services they offer.

Many of them are using Canva. If you don’t know about it, Canva is a great free/low-cost tool that allows libraries to do their own graphic design and marketing. It’s pretty to easy to use and puts a lot of power into the hands of library staff. You can even share templates and allow others within your building to edit.

We wanted to get an idea of how libraries are using Canva, so we asked for some examples. Thank you to all of the libraries who responded! I should also note that you can search the My Library Is... Sharing Showcase tags for "Canva" to find all of the items created with that tool. Here are just a few examples:

Chillicothe Public Library District

Evergreen Park Public Library

Huntley Area Public Library District

Huntley Area Public Library District uses Canva in many different ways. They even created a video using both Adobe Creative Suite and Canva!

Kane County Law Library

La Grange Park Public Library

  • Resource Guide - created using Adobe InDesign, but with Canva elements added

New Lenox Public Library

The New Lenox Public Library has created a number of templates for their staff to use. All of their logos, colors, and typefaces are set up in Canva so staff members in and outside of Creative Services can creat branded content. A few examples:

North Riverside Public Library

Princeton Public Library

Princeton Public library used Canva for a marketing campaign to celebrate National Library Workers Day. The campaign included placements on a billboard (across the street from the library), by the movie theater, on the monitors at the park district gym, and in the newspaper.

Vespasian Warner Public Library

Worth Public Library District

Have something to share? Or if I missed any suggestions, please feel free to post about them in the comments below or you can post them to the Sharing Showcase using the tag "Canva." You'll make it easier for libraries to do design work in the future!

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