BYU public relations students officially started their campaigns for the national Bateman Case Study Competition on Monday, Feb. 3.
According to the Public Relations Society of America website, the National Bateman Competition gives students real-world experience by having them create and execute a campaign for a specific organization.
This year’s organization is EveryLibrary. According to their website, EveryLibrary advocates for pro-library legislation, less censorship and general library support.
BYU entered two teams into the competition, the “True Blue” and the “Royal Blue” teams.
While both teams represent BYU, each team wanted to focus on different groups of people based on their research.
“Our main target audience is mothers within the state of Utah with kids who go to libraries to read and attend events,” Maurielle Cook, the True Blue team lead, said.
Alternatively, the Royal Blue team’s campaign had a more political focus.
Kennedi Kersavage, the Royal Blue outreach specialist, said their research showed EveryLibrary’s tendency to have more left leaning communication so they wanted to broaden their audience.
“Our campaign is targeting the moderate Republicans (particularly in) Utah County, because we think there's definitely a place for them in the book banning and intellectual freedom conversation,” Kersavage said.
With their main audiences in mind, both teams planned and scheduled several events to help people connect with EveryLibrary’s cause.
Through the True Blue team's research, they found that nearly all of their focus group felt, "that libraries are important to them and their communities, but they don’t know how to actually support them,” Maria Durrans, the True Blue measurement and evaluation specialist, said.
To help with this issue, Cook said they set up a webinar with Rebekah Cummings, a library advocate who ran for lieutenant governor last year. Cummings will discuss laws that impact libraries.
“That's our first big event that we're really looking forward to,” Cook said.
The Royal Blue team’s events address the perspective of banned books and intellectual freedom.
Lauren Walker Arnett, the Royal Blue team lead, said they will have an event with authors who have written controversial books or had their books banned on Saturday, Feb. 22. Arnett said authors like James Dashner, Richard Paul Evans and Charlie Bird will be on the panel.
“We wanted these people to be fun, family-friendly people that people could take their whole families to and learn about this topic in an approachable way,” Arnett said.
Overall, both teams were excited about their campaigns and expressed a personal investment in EveryLibrary’s cause.
"We’re creating a space where communities can be fostered and where people can learn without any sort of discrimination based on what you can afford, and your socioeconomic background,” Kersavage said.
Durrans shared a similar perspective.
“Libraries can be the backbone of communities; it can bring people together,” Durrans said. “As a society when we don't have that, we’ll go backwards.”