REFORMA Northeast Annual Report FY 2015-16.

1. Annual Report FY 2015-16
Presented by Mary Marques,
RNE Chapter President, at ALA-Orlando, Florida, June-2016.

2. Entrepreneurs advices

3. The year plan
Develop a budget & a working plan for the FY 2015-16
Improve a virtual presence (RNE website) and on-site presence (chapter meetings) & make
connections with community leaders & other organizations
Measure goals using free analytics tools: Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools
Improve cloud storage: Google Drive
Build up internal communication tools(Excel-Task tracker file, agenda, deadline for assignments) and
external communication (updated website & knowledge base)
Establish a marketing plan to promote on-site chapter meetings and professional events (Mini Joint
Conference & World Languages Book Fair)
Use social media to disseminate information: FB, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn
Develop expertise & leadership style in order to improve visibility in the professional community

4. The theme
Preservation, culture
heritage, traditions &
generations
Marketing tools
& strategy
Key success
factor
Redesign
RNE
website
Goals
Informative
Update
information
Visually
attractive
Organize
Resource
Base
Social
media
tool
Free analytics
tools
Cloud storage
Feedback
Search
Engines
Increase/retain
membership
Increase
funding
Improve visibility
Active participation of the
Executive Board, the
Committee Chairs and the
members
Awards

5. SWOT Analysis: Internal & external environmental factors
Strengths
● New philosophy approach: Motivation to
success
● In house expertise of leader librarians in
working with minority and diverse communities
at local, state & international levels
● Great opportunity to network with librarians in
the RNE area at local, state & national level
● Programing and resources: Building stories of
success
● Be part of the global community
Weakness
Outdated website
Lack of information and resources
Visually unattractive website, mostly text
No deadlines to accomplish projects
Lack of a project management plan
No feedback
Opportunities
● Promote and publicize RNE as a professional
library organization that support members in
expertise, resources, training and leadership
opportunities
● Outreach to the new and the current members
about the volunteer opportunities to share
expertise and grow into the library profession
Threats
Lack of motivation
Lack of innovation
Lack of new approaches to ideas
Lack of a formal annual budget
Lack of an annual strategy plan and guidelines to
accomplish the steps
Lack of “key messages”

6. The marketing mix: The 4P’s of marketing
The promise: Members/non-members active participation and leadership grow
Product
RNE offers a professional support and resources;
in addition to a network of leader librarians that
share expertise in working with minority and diverse
communities: Latino/Hispanic
Price
Annual membership & volunteer opportunities
Promotion
● Outreach: Social media, website & listservs
● Partnership: Libraries & community
organizations
● Training(s) & Guest speaker(s)
● Stationery template: Uniformity in the RNE
mail
Place
RNE cover six states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and
Massachusett

7. Telling our Story: Chapter meetings in four states PA, NY, NJ &
CT

8. Year projects:
Renovated RNE website: Visually attractive (photos) & more informative (content)
Updated information awards and the different sections of the website; also added new pages such as
Reform-a-Service
Added a PayPal account into the website for individual or corporate donations toward RNE or specific
award(s)
Added a “Photo Gallery” section
Added past awards winner(s) biographical information; also gave 3 awards
Added the Annual Report & updated Bylaws (e-voting will go to the next FY)
Used social media (Twitter, Google Plus & Facebook) to disseminate information about the chapter; in
addition to LinkedIn, Eventbrite, Evernote, Survey Monkey, Doodle, Teleconference Call, Appear In,
Skype, Google Share Cloud & email. Also monitor statistical information in Weebly (RNE) and
Google Sites (JMC archive)

9. Other official representation events:
Meeting with REFORMA Vice-President/President Elected, Selina Gomez-
Beloz, REFORMA National Conferences Coordinating Committee, Kathryn
Blackemer Reyes, and REFORMA Northeast Secretary, Tess Tobin &
President, Mary Marques in Philadelphia. Agenda: RNCVI location selection.
Ismael Alicea Life Celebration at New York Public Library.

10. 2016 Joint Mini Conference & Mini World Languages
Book Fair

11. Title: Librarians to the Mission: Preserving Culture Heritage & World
Traditions throughout Generations
Innovate concept that included: World Languages Book Fair, Pre-Conference
Speakers, Conference Speakers, Tour of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Culinary Center, Country of Honor, Keynote Speaker, Guest Speaker,
Folklore Dance Group for the Opening Event, Musical Opening for the
Conference Section and the presence of Community Leader Organizations,
local authors and journalists, and inter-state librarians.
Local press coverage: Online and TV

12. Feedback: Inspirational Success!
“This year's REFORMA Northeast conference was inspirational! Many, many thanks to you and the
executive board for hosting the special gathering in Philadelphia!”- Miriam Tuliao, Assistant Director,
Selection BookOps, Library Services Center.
"I wanted to reach out and tell you that I Loved the conference, it was amazing and I learned a lot." -Georgina
Rivas, Librarian Freeport Library.

13. Stationery and marketing promotional tools
● Traditional media: Email & listservs, fax and word-of-
mouth
● Digital technology: Social media such as Twitter,
Google Plus, Facebook & LinkedIn
● Free online community events: Local radio & TV,
and newspapers
● Influencer people & networks: Community leaders &
leader librarians, library schools, blogs
● Special events: Fairs
● Public relations: Each person that you do a PR has
his/her own network!
● Promotional tools: Eventbrite, Surveymonkey,
Doodle
● Welcome letter to new members: Volunteer
opportunities, projects that RNE is working on, and the
positive outcome of members’ contributions. Why RNE
exist?

14. The numbers and most popular keywords
RNE Weebly Website & Google Analytics: Approx. 1,586 views per month (Since September, 2015)
Local states that viewed RNE website: NY, PA, NJ, CT, MA, CA, RI, FL, OR
International countries that viewed RNE website: Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Brazil, United Kingdom,Russia and
Canada.
JMC Google Sites & Google Analytics: 309 per month (Since January, 2016)
Webmaster Tools Keywords: Award, library, conference, chapter, grant, Latinos, committee, books, gallery, Belpré,
Marrero, application, scholarship.
Most viewed pages: Contact, Upcoming events, JMC, awards, Lillian Marrero, resources, Ismael Alicea, chapter meetings.
Trend: RNE, REFORMA, Chapter meetings, join,resources.
RNE Total Members as June, 2016: 75 active and outstanding members.
#JMCPHL16 attendees: 120.
Feedback: Survey Monkey

15. Internal and External Communication: Measuring
success step by step
Teleconference meetings once a month with the Executive Board. RNE used a free teleconference call service “Free
Teleconference Call”
Teleconference meetings with the Communication/Media Committee members very often. We used Free
Teleconference Call and Appear.in (free online video conference room)
Agenda for each meeting: Focus on the items, take actions & develop a working plan, delegation of activities &
timeframe to accomplish goals
Accomplish the agenda: Who, When, How, What, Where & Why
Minutes & follow up on work assignments
Feedback & work recognition
Email members with important updates, meetings and membership renewals

16. Feedback: A guideline for improvement

17. News from our Sister Libraries...
http://www.rilatinoarts.org/LatinoBooksMo
nth.html
http://www.westchesterlibraries.org/wp-
content/files/trustees/minutes/2016-01/01-
26-2016_DeptReport.pdf
http://sunsetparkvoice.com/news/sunset-park-
library-wins/

18. Suggestions:
Build a toolkit to promote expertise and resources
Build a five year plan
Set-up goals and timeframes to accomplish them
Build leadership expertise and share it with members
Challenge the status quo with responsibility
Take a risk of innovation. Be creative!
Be visionary!
Don’t be afraid to fail! If something doesn’t work; change it!

19. Contact information
Mary Marques
REFORMA NORTHEAST
President 2015-16
Multilingual Reference Librarian
Free Library of Philadelphia
marquesm@freelibrary.org
My Professional Social Network
LinkedIn
Google Plus @Marsoleil
Flickr SlideShare

20. Questions?
Thank you!