Gretchen Gfeller

 As Public Relations Manager at Fogler Library, I coordinate the Library's outreach and marketing initiatives for both the University and statewide communities. These efforts include outreach campaigns, event planning, and publications. As coordinator for the Fogler Library Friends, I work with alumni/ae and donors to encourage private support for library collections and services. I work with the Library's Marketing Team to develop strategies to involve students in the decision making process and to give them a sense of ownership in their Library. These efforts include opening up direct communication channels with students via suggestion boards placed in public areas of the Library, soliciting their input for books to purchase for our popular reading area, producing music videos that bring staff and students together as members of The Renewals, Fogler Library's band, and arranging therapy dog visits during Finals Week.

I coordinate the Library’s workshop series and serve as instructor for Adobe Suite training. These sessions provide web skills, desktop publishing, and research-related application training for faculty, staff, and students. I also provide training, design, and technical support for the Library’s web initiatives. I am committed to exploring ways to make new media technologies and training more widely available to the university community and consult with individuals and departments who share this goal. I am a member of the Campus Accessible Information Committee and have taught workshops in designing for universal access both at the University of Maine and around the state.

My areas of interest include exploring ways to better integrate new media technologies and universal design principles across the curriculum and the development of internship and outreach programs that provide students with an opportunity to assess their skills in a workplace setting and to connect with employment opportunities within the state.

Recent publications include:
Gfeller, Gretchen, Desiree Butterfield-Nagy, and Hansie Grignon. "Imagine: A Student-Centered Library." College and Research Library News 72, no. 5 (2011): 270-73.

Article on May 2013 therapy dog visits: Bangor Daily News, 8 May 2013:
http://bangordailynews.com/slideshow/volunteer-dogs-help-umaine-students-relax-relieve-stress-of-final-exams/

Contact Info:
Public Relations 
5729 Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5729

Telephone: (207) 581-1696
Fax: (207) 581-1653
Email: gretchen.gfeller@umit.maine.edu

Revised: 05/08/2013