Anythink is one of five recipients of the 2011 John Cotton Dana Award presented by the American Library Association (ALA). The award honors outstanding public relations by libraries, and Anythink won for its 2009-2010 brand launch. In recognition of their achievement, John Cotton Dana award winners receive a cash development grant of $5,000 from the H.W. Wilson Foundation. The John Cotton Dana Awards will be presented at reception hosted by H.W. Wilson, held during this year’s American Library Association annual conference in New Orleans.

“Public relations are such an integral element of our work,” says Anythink director Pam Sandlian Smith. “Doing it well, then being recognized for this work is such an honor. Our communications team and Ricochet Ideas are simply brilliant. Anythink is all about thinking about libraries as partners in ideas, information and creativity. JCD has always been about fostering these library values.”

“This was a very difficult judging year,” said JCD committee Chair Kim Terry. “The quality was outstanding. We had entries from a variety of libraries - several academic libraries applied with fabulous campaigns. Many of the submissions came from small- to medium-sized libraries. It’s amazing that in these challenging economic times how wonderfully gifted libraries are at leveraging what they have to produce effective marketing campaigns. Libraries have come a long way.”

In addition to Anythink, other recipients of this year’s John Cotton Dana Award are:

• Loudoun County Public Library, Leesburg, Va., for “Try Poetry” - a year of building community through the borderless conversation of poetry.

• The University of California Santa Cruz Library for its campaign surrounding its acquisition of the Grateful Dead archives.

• The Edmonton Public Library, Edmonton, Alberta, for “Rebranding the Edmonton Public Library.”

• Worthington Libraries, Worthington, Ohio, for the “Find Yourself Here” rebranding campaign, a unique, informative and fun way to position the library as an information source and inviting destination.