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Director of Communications Sacramento Public Library Board member, national Ph.D. Student, Managerial Leadership, Simmons College 15 years national chain advertising and marketing experience |
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P.O. Box 568 Sacramento, CA 95812 (916) 425-8664 Follow me on Twitter: |
Latest News:
1/10 Shaffer reaches out to Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to ask that public libraries be included in the Jobs for Main Street (Stimulus) Bill. As first-responders in getting America back to work, public libraries need to counter budget-cuts that are closing buildings and decreasing hours in spite of overwhelming increasing demand.
1/10 Shaffer joins Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and press from across the nation for a press conference on Race to the Top, available K-12 Stimulus Funding.
1/10 Shaffer invited by John Collins, Director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Gutman Library to join Christina Dunn, Department of Education's Director of the National Library of Education at HGSE. Shaffer joined HGSE master's and Ph.D. students for an Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) seminar/focus group looking to establish usage patterns, as well as brainstorm improvements of this educational database portal.
1/10 Shaffer joins Simmons 2008 Ph.D. cohort in presenting HR onboarding best practices paper to the Association of College and Research Libraries Personnel Administrators and Staff Development Officers Discussion Group. Key discussion point: Orientation and onboarding are two very different things.
1/10 Shaffer appointed to Public Library Association National Library Advocacy Day Task Force. Set for Tuesday, June 29, 2010, National Library Advocacy Day will convene librarians, library workers, and people who support libraries on Capitol Hill at 11 a.m., so that our voices may be heard.
1/10 Sacramento Public Library staff, along with Congresswoman Doris Matsui, California Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Mayor Kevin Johnson, and others welcome thousands on opening day, January 9, of the new North Natomas Public Library.
12/09 Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond appoints Shaffer to district's Literacy Task Force .
12/09 Shaffer joins newly appointed California State Librarian Stacey Aldrich and library leaders from across the state for a two-day summit to improve Internet access in California public libraries. The summit, titled Opportunity Online: Achieving Broadband Solutions for Libraries and Communities, brought together 200 library leaders, supporters, nonprofits, and state government leaders. Convened in Sacramento, the summit was made possible by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Washington, DC based nonprofit Connected Nation.
11/09 Architect Travis Hamera works with Shaffer on a design to convert a 1920s bank building into a modern library replete with glass atrium and reinforced steel core to support the increased weight load of tens of thousands of books.
11/09 Public Library Association Board Director Shaffer joins Jill Nishi, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and retired Memphis Public Library Director Judy Drescher in hosting the PLA's Turning the Page grant recipients in St. Louis, Missouri. The two-day advocacy training workshop was generously funded by the Foundation.
10/09 Sacramento Public Library expands upon its Better Every Day! Campaign by launching Serving You...Better Every Day! on transit, direct mail, and inserts. This latest rendition of the campaign moves the message from a purely institutional focus to one celebrating the interaction between customer and library.
9/09 Author Steve Lopez visits the Sacramento Public Library to share about his personal friendship and journey with Nathaniel Ayers, as told in his best-selling book and the Sacramento Public Library's One Book Sacramento: Connecting Our Communities selection The Soloist.
9/09 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan holds a town hall meeting at the Sacramento Public Library's Central Library. Joined by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, he addressed education reform and Race to the Top, available K-12 Stimulus Funding.
5/09 The Sacramento Public Library plays host to United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. The Cabinet member was in Sacramento to promote the digital television conversion. Shaffer was the department's chief liaison during the visit.
4/09 Read Shaffer's post on The New York Times article 101 Uses for a Deserted Mall.Shaffer offers up public libraries as excellent tenants for malls. Jurisdictions would be well served to work with developers upfront to include favorable financial conditions for public libraries in these planned spaces. The article was a follow-up to another titled, Malls Test Experimental Waters to Fill Vacancies.
3/09 Sacramento Public Library announces its 2009 One Book Sacramento: Connecting Our Communities selection, The Soloist by Steve Lopez at the library foundation's annual Authors on the Move dinner. The Soloist was named one of the best books of the year in late 2008 by Publisher's Weekly.
3/09 Shaffer develops the "Sacramento Public Library: Better Every Day!" ad campaign and leads a team that implements the Internet, transit, outdoor, newspaper, general and Hispanic market radio advertising.
3/09 Sacramento Public Library launches its new Web site, on-time and under budget, to many accolades. Shaffer says the dynamic site, for which he directed the project, allows staff from across the system to maintain individual pages and offers customers a more user-friendly experience.
1/09 The Sacramento Public Library plays host to the 75th Biennial Crocker Kingsley Art Exhibition on the balcony of the Central Library's Tsakopoulos Galleria. Shaffer served as the Kingsley Art Club's chief library liaison.
11/08 Shaffer presents Getting the Word Out! a library literacy marketing toolkit at the California Library Association Literacy Section Annual Meeting. New television, radio, and newspaper PSAs were shared with the group. The presentation took place at the San Jose Public Library's Dr. Martin Luther King Library.
11/08 Sacramento Public Library launches Smart Investing for Women, a once-a-month noon-time brown-bag talk series. The Keynote speaker launching the series is public television's Pam Krueger; host and producer of the show MoneyTrack. Pam is also the author of the The MoneyTrack Method: The real person's guide to successful investing.
10/08 Sacramento Public Library is the only public library to exhibit Freedom's Sisters, the latest traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institute, now on display through early January 2009. The exhibit may also be viewed at one of the many museums across the country which will follow.
10/08 Shaffer attends the PLA Fall Board Meeting and a joint meeting of board members from other ALA Divisions and the ALA Executive Board in Chicago. Amongst many discussions was a request from ALA to seek stimulus funding for public libraries from the Federal Government, PLA Communities of Practice, and Leadership Development.
9/08 Sacramento Public Library fills the Community Center Theater to near capacity (2,400) for a presentation by the author of the 2008 One Book Sacramento, Connecting our Communities selection: Greg Mortensen. Mortensen's book Three Cups of Tea has sold over 2 million copies and has been on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 83 weeks. Mortensen's co-author David Oliver Relin will visit the library in October.
9/08 California State Library debuts a Public Service Announcement promoting public libraries' free adult literacy programs on International Literacy Day. Shaffer conceived the campaign and is assisting the State Library with its launch.
6/08 Government Technology Magazine heralds Sacramento Public Library's MoneySmart @ your library Web page, one of 32 Book Bulletin Web pages, full of recommendations on books, materials, articles and Web sites on a myriad of topics. Customers may also sign-up to have Book Bulletins delivered to their e-mail inboxes. All suggestions link directly to the e-item or to the catalog record.
5/08 Shaffer elected to the Public Library Association Board of Directors.
4/08 Sacramento Public Library and the Sacramento Public Library Foundation celebrate National Library Week by bringing NPR's StoryCorps project to Sacramento.
3/08 Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, accepts Shaffer into its Ph.D. program in Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions. This distance-learning program is designed for (full-time) working, senior-level information professionals.
2/08 Shaffer is nominated to serve on the Public Library Association Board of Directors .
1/08 Reference User Services Association Executive Director Barb Macikas recommends Shaffer for a talk to fellow Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) grant recipients at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia. The bibliography and a methodology (detailed in a 2003 article), which Shaffer shared during his talk, are posted here for the groups' reference.
12/07 The Alameda County Library hires Shaffer to give a talk on marketing for libraries. Per a letter from Children's Services Manager Bonnie Janssen the talk was very well received.
12/07 American Library Association announces that Shaffer and his cohorts at the Sacramento Public Library are awarded a $60,000 grant by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to execute their project proposal: Take Control of Your Future: Smart Investing for Career Women. Shaffer served as the chief grant writer and will also serve as the project principal.
10/07 Shaffer joined California State Librarian Susan Hildreth to present a program at the Annual California Library Association Conference in Long Beach. The presentation served as an introduction to the newly available Public Library Association publication Libraries Prosper with Passion, Purpose and Persuasion: A PLA Toolkit for Success.
10/07 Director of Marketing Shaffer posts a Public Relationship Request for Proposal on behalf of the Sacramento Public Library. The RFP calls for a complete change in how a public library interacts with its customers, via the Web, in-branch, and via the phone.
10/07 The Urban Libraries Council's fourth Executive Leadership Institute graduates. Shaffer joins over 70 library leaders who have completed this leadership program run by Geno Schnell, who has run similar "action-learning" leadership programs for various departments in the Federal Government and the private sector.
6/07 Shaffer and fellow Public Library Association @ Your Library Advocacy Campaign Task Force members publish and make available for sale Libraries Prosper with Passion, Purpose and Persuasion: A PLA Toolkit for Success at this years' American Library Association Annual Conference. The toolkit was instrumental in securing a $7.7 million dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to be used for public library advocacy training. This is the single largest grant ever awarded to ALA or any division of ALA. Library Journal reports that grant recipients will be trained in sessions offered around the country.
5/07 Library Journal announces Shaffer's move to the Director of Marketing post at the Sacramento Public Library.
4/07 Shaffer leaves mark on the County of Los Angeles Public Library via the establishment of a National Library Week Evening Author Series partnership with the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and an expanded experiential themed booth at this year's festival. View photos of the booth experience themed "County of LA Public Library, where Science, Magic and Learning Meet." The Festival was held April 28-29th, 2007 at the UCLA Campus.
2/07 Shaffer discusses the loss of Brooklyn Public Library's innovative Public Urban Library Service Education (PULSE) program to the profession, with Library Journal Editor-in-Chief Francine Fialkoff. Read her editorial titled Keep PULSE Beating here.
11/06 Infopeople, a project that functions as the training arm of the California State Library, proposes that Shaffer conduct intermittent statewide training on an ongoing part-time basis.
10/06 The Urban Libraries Council chooses Shaffer as a fellow for its prestigious Executive Leadership Institute 2006-'07 class. The program is facilitated and taught by Johns Hopkins University faculty.
9/06 Shaffer promoted to Public Services administrative post at the County of Los Angeles Public Library Headquarters.
8/06 The County of Los Angeles Public Library nominates Shaffer to participate as a fellow in the Executive Leadership Institute of the Urban Libraries Council in Baltimore, MD for the '06-'07 Class.
7/06 Gary Shaffer publishes an article entitled Stop the Presses! in the July 2006 issue of School Library Journal.
6/06 Public Library Association National President and California State Librarian Susan Hildreth asks Shaffer to serve on the prestigious PLA Partners committee.
4/06 Gary Shaffer accepts nomination to Beta Phi Mu an international library and information studies honor society.
3/06 Shaffer named one of the 50 people shaping the future of libraries by Library Journal. See LJ Movers & Shakers for details.
2/06 Author Dave Eggers' 826NYC opens first Superhero Writing & Tutoring Annex in the basement of the Williamsburgh Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The partnership was an outgrowth of Shaffer meeting Eggers at the 2004 New Yorker Festival. Shaffer served as the project manager on the alliance while at Brooklyn. See Shaffer's School Library Journal article for details.
1/06 Gary Shaffer accepts appointment within elite reference unit of the County of Los Angeles Public Library.
11/05 Shaffer addresses the Library Public Relations Council at the New York Public Library's Science, Industry, and Business Library. The talk: Building Strategic Partnerships in Libraries may be accessed here.
8/05 John Berry, Editor & Chief of Library Journal publishes Shaffer's letter on his Feedback page.
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