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MAPLE MADNESS: PROGRAMMING & PROMOTION AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
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Elizabeth Berman
Selene Colburn
Prudence Doherty
Robin Katz
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Vermont is the top-ranked state in production of maple syrup, having
produced 890,000 gallons of maple syrup in 2010, approximately 45% of
the total U.S. production and distribution. The state boasts nearly 2,000
maple producers – from large manufacturing operations like Dakin Farms
to artisan operations like Dragonfly Sugarworks to backyard hobby
producers. The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, founded in
1892, is the oldest known agricultural organization in the country. The
central role maple plays in the life of Vermonters is evident by the
numerous ways it is celebrated throughout the state, including the
Vermont Maple Festival, Sugar-on-Snow parties, and the annual Maple
Open House Weekends.
As a land grant university, the University of Vermont has a well-established legacy of agricultural research. Basic
and applied maple research began in the early 1890s and continues today at UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center,
the first permanent maple research facility in the country. The University Archives contains over 120 linear feet of
unique maple materials, dating from the 1890s to the present and including faculty research papers, photographs,
and samples of sugaring equipment. The UVM Libraries’ Department of Special Collections holds a large collection of
published monographs on maple research from organizations through the state, dating from the late nineteenth
century to the present, as well as eleven interviews on maple sugaring and maple history in its oral history
collection.
With access to a wealth of information, both within the libraries and more broadly across the institution, the UVM
Libraries was well positioned to be a go-to resource for maple information. In 2007, the University of Vermont
Libraries became an institutional member of the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), and in 2008
applied for and received a grant to create a Maple Research Website.
The resulting website (http://library.uvm.edu/maple) is a comprehensive subject guide in the field of maple syrup,
pulling together maple resources from institutions across the state. Additionally, the site provides access to the
history of maple syrup in Vermont in the form of digitized historic photographs, agricultural extension research
bulletins, and maple recipes, created in collaboration with the UVM Libraries’ Center for Digital Initiatives (CDI).
The information presented on the Maple Research Website meets the needs of a broad audience, including:
•researchers and students, who have access to an extensive maple syrup bibliography and digital primary
resources related to maple production
•maple producers, who benefit by obtaining current applied research on maple collection and production from a
single source
•the general public, who benefit from carefully selected content with valid, up-to-date information, including
health and nutrition information and the community maple cookbook.
The Maple Research Website went live in March of 2010. A team of library
faculty created and implemented an aggressive and innovative promotional
strategy to enhance discoverability of the website and related physical
collections in Special Collections and the University Archives. We promoted
the website to the campus and local communities because the resource was
created for potential heavy users both internal and external to UVM.
Our goal was to make rich and underutilized library resources more
discoverable by showcasing the University of Vermont as a leader in maple
research, assisting researchers and students in meeting their information
needs, and marketing the UVM Libraries as an accessible resource to the
community, especially the vibrant local food community.
Team members included Elizabeth Berman, Science Librarian and Project
Manager for the Maple Research Website; Selene Colburn, Assistant to the
Dean of Libraries for External Relations; Prudence Doherty, Special
Collections Outreach Librarian; and Robin Katz, Digital Initiatives Outreach
Librarian.
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NEEDS ASSESSMENT
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!!The Maple Research Website was created in partnership with the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), with
support from the National Agricultural Library. The website is a comprehensive subject guide in the field of maple, meeting the
information needs of a broad audience, including researchers, students, maple producers, historians, and community members.
Information on the website includes:
• A history of maple sugaring from the 16th century through present, including a comprehensive timeline and common
terminology;
• A primer on maple collection and production, including links to maple Extension facilities, trade associations, and
equipment manufacturers;
• A section on nutrition and recipes, including information about maple syrup grades, the nutritional value of maple syrup,
and a community maple cookbook, populated by recipes submitted by local chefs, restaurants, and community members;
• A comprehensive bibliography of maple-related literature, including national and international maple statistics;
• A digital collection of maple materials, including the University of Vermont’s maple extension bulletins and historical
photos of the Proctor Maple Research Center, created in collaboration with UVM’s Center for Digital Initiatives; and
• An AskMaple reference service.
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MAPLE RESEARCH WEBSITE
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MAPLE RESEARCH WEBSITE
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COMMUNITY MAPLE COOKBOOK
The Community Maple Cookbook is a virtual
collection of maple recipes submitted by
community members; all recipes from the Maple
Cook-Off are in the cookbook. The cookbook is
managed using Wordpress blogging software,
which allows for features such as categories and
tagging.
ASK MAPLE
AskMaple is a free maple reference service
offered by the UVM Libraries, in collaboration
with maple syrup researchers, educators,
producers and historians.
THE CENTER FOR DIGITAL INITIATIVES http://cdi.uvm.edu !
The Center for Digital Initiatives (CDI) makes unique research
collections available online. This digital library offers powerful
search and browse capabilities and accepts a variety of formats -
from film to historic photographs to born-digital files. It is the
UVM Libraries' goal that students, faculty, staff, scholars, and
community members participate as users and creators of digital
resources in an open, collaborative environment. The CDI works
with users to integrate digital collections in their research,
teaching, and learning strategies.
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MAPLE RESEARCH DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
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THE MAPLE COLLECTIONS: COLLABORATION FROM PRODUCTION TO PUBLICITY "#$%!&'(()&*$'+!,-%!&.)-*)/!01!&'((-0'.-*$'+!0)*,))+!%)2).-(!345!6$0.-.$)%!7+$*%8!$+&(7/$+9!*#)!:;<8!
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/)%$9+)/!*'!0)!BC7(()/!'7*D!$+*'!-+'*#).!.)%'7.&)8!*#)!5-C()!E)%)-.&#!F)0%$*)A!!F$*#!*#)!$+&(7%$'+!'=!
C#'*'9.-C#%!=.'>!345G%!H.'&*'.!5-C()!E)%)-.&#!:)+*).8!$*!,-%!-(%'!*#)!=$.%*!*'!/$9$*$I)!-.&#$2-(!>-*).$-(!
#'7%)/!'7*%$/)!'=!*#)!($0.-.1A!!"#$%!&'((-0'.-*$'+!#-%!%).2)/!-%!-!>'/)(!='.!=7*7.)!,'.J!&'>C()*)/!-%!
C-.*!'=!*#)!:;<G%!9'-(!*'!&.)-*)!B-+!'C)+8!&'((-0'.-*$2)!)+2$.'+>)+*AD!!"#)!&'((-0'.-*$2)!+-*7.)!'=!
C.'/7&$+9!*#)!&'(()&*$'+!C.)C-.)/!7%!='.!*#)!$++'2-*$2)!5-C()!F))J!C70($&$*1!%*.-*)91!'=!07$(/$+9!
0.$/9)%!0)*,))+!2-.$)/!-+/!/$%C-.-*)!7%).!9.'7C%A!
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Users can browse all 260 items in list or
thumbnail form.
A browse page also helps users access items
from lists of creators, places, topics (Library
of Congress Subject Headings), and format.
Users can search within a collection, or
across all CDI collections. There are maple
resources in nine of the CDI’s collections.
Users can leave comments on individual
items, view larger images, and read a full
description based on the metadata record.
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MAPLE RESEARCH DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
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MAPLE RESEARCH COLLECTION 260 items, covers 1890-1988
Documents the history of maple research at the University of Vermont.
Includes a selection of photographs taken between 1948-1957 from the archives of the Proctor Maple
Research Center (PMRC), a field station of the first permanent maple research facility in the United States.
Also includes the published University of Vermont Agricultural Extension bulletins on maple research
(1890-1988) as well as technical reports and a collection of producers’ labels.
MAPLE RECIPES COLLECTION 49 items, covers 1890-1988
The Maple Recipe collection offers a unique glimpse at the variety in maple sugar and maple syrup use over
the last half-century, as it is prominently featured in a range of dishes, from the sweet to the savory.
The collection includes entrees, side dishes, appetizers, breads and desserts, and draws recipes from a
variety of sources, including commercial cookbooks, regional cookbooks, and community cookbooks. The
materials in this collection are a small sampling of the cookbook collection in the University of Vermont
Libraries Department of Special Collections.
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Vermont is the 8th smallest state, with a total
land area of less than 10,000 square miles; we
are 90.3 miles across at the Canadian border,
and 41.6 miles across at the Massachusetts
border.
Vermont’s population is 620,000, with
approximately two-thirds of them living in
rural areas.
Vermont leads New England in farming, with
approximately 7,000 farms.
20% of private jobs and 31% of private
business in the state are related to the
production and processing of agricultural
goods.
Vermont leads the country in maple
production, producing 890,000 gallons of maple
syrup in 2010, or roughly 45% of the U.S. total.
Maple production is the third largest
agricultural commodity produced by the state,
yielding approximately $15 million in direct
sales each year, with an economic impact in
Vermont of over $225 million annually.
The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’
Association is the oldest known agricultural
organization in the country, founded in 1892.
The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’
Association boasts a membership of over 2,000
maple producers, ranging from large-scale
industries to small-scale backyard and hobby
producers.
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VERMONT: AN AGRICULTURAL OVERVIEW
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2010 Maple Production (in 1,000 Gallons)
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The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College,
more commonly known as the University of Vermont (UVM),
was chartered in 1791, the same year Vermont became the
14th state.
Originally a private institution, the passage of the Morrill
Land-Grant College Act in 1862 established the university as
the state’s land-grant institution, adding to its core mission
agricultural research and extension.
The university has an enrollment of approximately 10,000
undergraduate students, 1,500 graduate students, and 500
medical students, and a full-time faculty of 2,000.
UVM offers 100 bachelor’s programs, 5 pre-professional
options, 54 master’s programs, 22 doctoral programs, and an
M.D. program through the College of Medicine.
Bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs are offered
through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the
College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and
Social Services, the College of Engineering and Mathematical
Sciences, the College of Medicine, the College of Nursing and
Health Sciences, the Graduate College, the School of
Business Administration, and the Rubenstein School of
Environment and Natural Resources.
BURLINGTON, VERMONT
The university’s 451-acre campus is located in Burlington, Vermont.
Burlington, the largest city in the state, has a population of 39,000; the
population for the entire state of Vermont is 620,000.
The urbanized area consists of the cities of Burlington, South
Burlington, and Winooski; the towns of Colchester, Essex and Williston;
and the village of Essex Junction. This metropolitan area has an
estimated population of 140,000, or approximately one-fourth of the
state’s total population.
As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, no part of the state met the
characteristics of a metropolitan area until 1980.
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UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT: BY THE NUMBERS
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WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE FROM CAMPUS…
• 1 of the most beautiful lakes in the world — the
sixth largest freshwater lake in the U.S. (Lake
Champlain)
• 9 theatre and concert venues
• 40 art galleries and venues
• 13 coffee shops
• 8 night clubs
• 100+ restaurants and bistros
• 11 different types of international cuisine
• 2 shopping malls
• 1 of the oldest minor league baseball parks still in
use in the country (Centennial Field, home of the
Vermont Lake Monsters)
• 1 house museum belonging to a Revolutionary War
hero (Ethan Allen)
• 14 parks
• 3 sand beaches
• 1 community sailing center
• 17 religions represented by their houses of worship
• 354 acres of agricultural and wild land located in
Burlington's Intervale along the banks of the
Winooski River
• 12-mile pedestrian path along Lake Champlain
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!!Basic and applied maple research began at the University of Vermont in the early 1890s, when C. H. (Charles Howard) Jones,
head of the UVM Agricultural Experiment Station and a prominent early maple sugar chemist, conducted seminal research on
the biology of maple trees to better understand the sap flow mechanism and its dependence on meteorological changes, as well
as the considerable variance in sap sugar content.
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MAPLE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
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PROCTOR MAPLE RESEARCH CENTER
In 1946, James Marvin and Fred Taylor founded the Proctor Maple Research Center with a donation by Governor Mortimer
Proctor of the former “Harvey Farm” in Underhill Center, Vermont, to UVM. For the first year of operation, research on sap
flow, maple tree physiology, and the economics of maple production were conducted in an 8’ x 12’ shed. In 1948, the first
sugarhouse was constructed to allow research on syrup production techniques, followed several years later by the C. H. Jones
Laboratory (which served as the primary research laboratory until it burned down in 1998).
Today, the Proctor Maple Research Center consists of 200 acres of wooded and open land. Approximately 40 acres are an
actively managed sugarbush for maple syrup production and research. The center also includes the main laboratory building,
which contains modern research facilities, a sugarhouse, the Maple Production Research Facility, sap storage and barrel
storage sheds, and several small outlying research buildings.
Through the years, UVM has had numerous prominent maple researchers,
scientists and educators, including Frederick Laing, whose research helped
develop and improve methods of installing plastic tubing and directed
improvements in using vacuum pumps to increase sap yields, and Mariafranca
Morselli, who brought a greater understanding to the role of microorganisms in
determining syrup grade, as well as developing methods to detect adulteration
of maple syrup by adding other sugars. Most recently, current director of the
Proctor Maple Research Center Timothy Perkins patented a tap that prevents
bacterial contamination and backflow of sap, which has a dramatic impact on
maple syrup production.
FOOD SYSTEMS “SPIRE OF EXCELLENCE”
In May 2010, Food Systems was named as a “Spire of
Excellence” for the University of Vermont, with a focused
investment intended to give UVM the ability to inform
complex 21st century issues surrounding food production,
processing, transportation, consumption and removal. This
research area focuses on the critical role of our local and
regional food systems as they, in turn, affect soil and water
quality, human health and nutrition, economics, packaging
and transportation interests, and overall food and energy
security. This Spire will be grown from one of the strongest
applied research and scholarship strengths at UVM: our
connection to Vermont’s working landscape. Positioned to
build on our existing partnerships with Vermont farms and
communities, the Spire also takes advantage of existing
Food Systems research expertise and public interest in
sustainable, secure, and healthy food systems.
MAPLE + UVM LIBRARIES
The UVM Archives contains over 120 linear feet of maple
materials, dating from the 1890s to the present, which
includes research papers of faculty members, photographs,
samples of sugaring equipment, pamphlets and other
publications, and class teaching materials.
The Department of Special Collections holds a large
collection of published monographs on maple research from
the Agriculture Experiment Station, the Vermont
Department of Agriculture, and other Vermotn
organizations, dating from the late nineteenth century to
present. It also includes eleven interviews on maple sugaring
and maple history in its oral history collection.
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In 1935, the Vermont State Farm Bureau decided to
“make the American people more maple-syrup
conscious” and held the first statewide maple festival.
Cooks were invited to make a cake and enter it in the
cake contest. The contest was held in 134 towns, and
1,500 cooks offered their best maple-frosted cakes. The
first-prize winner, Mrs. Arthur Way, took her cake all
the way to the White House for the President’s table.
Her frosting was made by cooking one pint of maple
syrup until it threaded. A beaten egg white was poured
into it and stirred until the mixture attained a
consistency suitable for spreading.
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VERMONTERS: A LOVE AFFAIR WITH MAPLE
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VERMONT MAPLE FESTIVAL
1935 marked the first statewide spring Maple Festivals. For
the past fifty years, a group of dedicated volunteers from
across Vermont have continued the tradition with the annual
Vermont Maple Festival, held in St. Albans, Vermont, at the
end of the sugaring season. This event annually attracts
crowds of over 50,000 people.
The Vermont Maple Festival celebrates sugaring and focuses
attention on the entire state. One of the goals of the festival is
to promote and market Vermont’s famous product – sugar-on-
snow, maple cotton candy, maple cream doughnuts, maple
candy, maple creemees (soft serve), maple popcorn, pure
maple syrup, and more.
As the first agricultural festival of the year, the event
includes maple syrup and cooking contests, crafts, antique
and specialty food shows, a pancake breakfast and a maple
awards banquet, maple exhibits and demonstrations, and
sugar house tours. To cap it all off is the huge Vermont Maple
Festival Parade, featuring bands, horse-drawn maple-themed
floats, and Vermont’s Maple King and Queen.
In recent years, the festival has been featured on the Food
Network’s All American Festivals; it was named one of the
Top 100 Festivals in North American by the American Bus
Association; and Vermont Public Television includes recipes
from the festival in their “Vermont Cooks with Maple”
program.
VERMONT MAPLE OPEN HOUSE WEEKEND
The Vermont Maple Open House weekend is the
official celebration of the maple season, when
sugarhouses around the state are open to visitors.
“SUGARING” PARTIES AND SUGAR-ON-SNOW
Maple sugaring is a sociable activity, drawing workers together to help collect sap and boil it down to syrup and sugar.
“Sugaring off” parties began in the late 1700s, as colonists celebrated the boiling of the season’s first batch of sap. The imagery
of these parties was captured by a number of painters in the 1800s, most famously Eastman Johnson, whose maple sugar
paintings celebrated New England’s ingenuity, ruggedness, independence, and community spirit.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, the Dean Joseph Hills Sugar Party was held at the University of Vermont to highlight the
importance of maple and maple research to the economy of the state. Dean Hills arranged for students to be transported from
UVM to the sugarbush, where they would enjoy sugar-on-snow (hot maple syrup poured on well-packed snow), plain donuts,
hot coffee and pickles.
For the past twenty years, the Vermont Maple Industry Council’s Maple History Committee has revived this tradition, hosting
an annual Sugar-on-Snow party in front of Bailey/Howe Library to celebrate the Vermont tradition of maple sugaring with a
taste of the year’s first maple harvest.
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With the support of the Dean of Extension and the
Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,
the University of Vermont Libraries submitted an
application to become a member of AgNIC in April
2007, requesting to take on the responsibility of
creating a maple research website.
The application was accepted and UVM Libraries
became full members of AgNIC in May 2007.
The Agriculture Network Information Center
(AgNIC), sponsored by the National
Agricultural Library and the United States
Department of Agriculture, is an alliance of
land-grant universities and nonprofit
organizations whose mission is to preserve and
disseminate digital agricultural information.
AgNIC recognizes that agriculture impacts the
lives of individuals and communities around
the world, and believes the need and
importance of easily accessible agricultural
information enables sustainable and
prosperous communities.
Strategic partnerships with AgNIC mutually
benefit the National Agricultural Library and
the member institution by helping preserve
and promote local or institutional agricultural
information at a national and international
level.
AgNIC membership is organized around areas
of subject expertise; member organizations are
responsible for creating an agricultural
information portal on their area of agricultural
expertise.
Current AgNIC subjects include: agricultural
economics, water quality, geospatial data,
agricultural law, soybeans, cattle, forestry,
turfgrass, American cranberry, aquaculture,
entomology, farmland preservation, and home
gardening.
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AGRICULTURE NETWORK INFORMATION CENTER (AgNIC)
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The strategic planning culminated in Maple Week, a week of programming and
promotional activity developed to feature the Maple Research Website and
associated collections to campus and local community audiences. This week
included a Maple Cook-Off, which served as the flagship event; a lecture by
Middlebury College Professor John Elder on the relationship between maple
sugaring traditions and contemporary environmental challenges; exhibits
illuminating the history of maple sugaring in Vermont, cooking with maple, and
Vermont women’s contributions to the maple industry; a reception; and the
public launch of the website itself.
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STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLANNING
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MAPLE WEEK BUDGET CASH IN-KIND
Maple Cook-Off $886.80 Elizabeth Berman [75 hours] $2,115.75
John Elder Event $100 Selene Colburn [60 hours] $1,877.40
Exhibits $62.00 Prudence Doherty [50 hours] $1,420.00
Reception $100.83 Robin Katz [34 hours] $919.36
Publicity $172.68 Additional Personnel [8 hours] $117.36
In-House Printing and Mailing $423.90
Donated Prizes $150.00
Sub-Total $1,322.31 Sub-Total $7,023.73
TOTAL $8,346.04
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The strategic planning culminated in Maple Week, a week of programming and promotional activity developed to feature
the Maple Research Website and associated collections to campus and local community audiences. This week included a
Maple Cook-Off, which served as the flagship event; a lecture by Middlebury College Professor John Elder on the
relationship between maple sugaring traditions and contemporary environmental challenges; exhibits illuminating the
history of maple sugaring in Vermont, cooking with maple, and Vermont women’s contributions to the maple industry; a
reception; and the public launch of the website itself.
Campus and community audiences were categorized and sub-divided for the purposes of targeted outreach. Campus
targets included: relevant student clubs; students in the environmentally-focused GreenHouse residential learning
community; Growing Vermont (a cooperative student-run business featuring local products); faculty members with
curricular overlap; the Vermont Food Systems Collaborative; and the Center for Research on Vermont. Community
targets included: maple producers; farmers; chefs, critics, and food bloggers; local food enthusiasts; environmentalists,
educators, high school students, and the general public.
Goals of the Maple Week communications strategy were:
•to direct people to the Maple Research Website
•to secure attendance at Maple Week events
•to ensure consistent branding
•to promote the diversity of collections and services available at the Libraries, through the example of maple research
resources
•to bring together constituents who often function separately, thus highlighting the Libraries’ role as both a campus
and community resource
Measurable objectives included:
•media placement about Maple Week and the Maple Research Website
•attendance at Maple Week events
•participation in the Maple Cook-Off (e.g. the numbers and range of entries and attendees; the quality of entries; the
caliber of judges and other participants)
•Maple Research Website and Center for Digital Initiatives site traffic
As a result of our distributed, team-based approach, we needed a robust tool for project management and internal
communications. Basecamp, a software product already in use by the CDI, was used to set milestones, create
collaborative documents, track feedback on plans, and manage to-do lists.
External communications strategies were varied and included collaboration with University of Vermont Communications;
press release distribution; traditional print publicity such as posters, postcards, and direct mailings; in-person outreach;
aggressive and targeted email/listserv campaigns; a television appearance; promotion on library and campus websites; and
the use of social media. A detailed publicity plan, outlining communication action steps and responsibilities, was
incorporated into Basecamp.
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GOALS & OBJECTIVES
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GOALS
•to direct people to the Maple
Research Website
• to secure attendance at Maple
Week events
• to ensure consistent branding
• to promote the diversity of
collections and services
available at the Libraries,
through the example of maple
research resources
• to bring together constituents
who often function separately,
thus highlighting the Libraries’
role as both a campus and
community resource !
OBJECTIVES
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TARGET AUDIENCES
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CAMPUS AUDIENCES
• Growing Vermont, a cooperative student-run
business featuring local products;
• The Vermont Food Systems Research Collaborative,
a project of UVM’s Center for Rural Studies that
exists to join on-campus and off-campus
organizations in efforts to further food system
research;
• The Center for Research on Vermont, an
interdisciplinary network of scholars and
community members who share information, ideas,
and research on Vermont;
• Relevant academic departments including Plant
Biology, Geology, Rural Studies, Vermont Studies,
Geography, Environmental Studies, Nutrition &
Food Sciences, and Plant & Soil Science; and
• Approximately twenty relevant student groups,
including the Vermont Student Environmental
Program, Common Ground (student-run farm),
Horticulture Club, Campus Kitchens, Feel Good,
Dairy Club, Old Time Music Club, Slow Food VT –
UVM, Gluten-Free Club, and the Society of
American Foresters.
COMMUNITY AUDIENCES
• Maple producers (Chittenden County members of Vermont Maple Sugar Maker’s Association);
• Farmers (Burlington Farmers’ Market vendors, and farmers associated with organizations such
as the Vermont Fresh Network, the Northeast Organic Farming Association and the Center for
an Agricultural Economy);
• Chefs and restaurateurs (including all Chittenden County listings in the local Seven Nights
dining guide with email contact information);
• Food critics and bloggers (including food writers at the Burlington Free Press, SevenDays,
Vermont Life, Edible Green Mountains, and Local Banquet);
• Local food enthusiasts (including Community Supported Agriculture program members and
localvore clubs, including Green Drinks and Slow Food Vermont);
• Environmentalists;
• Educators (including regional representatives of Educational Service Agencies);
• High school students; and
• General public.
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COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES & TOOLS
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BASECAMP
Basecamp, by 37signals, is an online
project management tool. It allows
for teams to easily communicate,
share files, create to-do lists and
assign tasks, create milestones, and
collaborate on documents.
The CDI had a Premimum account,
which the Maple Week Committee
was able to use to coordinate the
promotion and planning for the
Maple Research Website Launch.
A detailed publicity plan was created and shared as a writeboard on Basecamp, so all team
members could edit and improve on it. When the plan was finalized, tasks were turned into
trackable to-do items in the program.
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BUDGET
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While the cash budget for Maple Week was relatively low, the in-kind contributions were
significant. If anything, personnel time estimates are on the conservative side. In-kind
contributions account for 84% of the final budget, and the bulk of these are faculty and staff
time. We learned that a lot can be done with a very small budget, but only if people are
powering the effort.
CASH
Maple Cook-Off: books [prizes] $49.27
Maple Cook-Off: musicians $225.00
Maple Cook-Off: Davis Center [space rental] $292.50
Maple Cook-Off: Davis Center [misc. expenses] $16.88
Maple Cook-Off: food and décor $235.88
Cash deposit for books $67.27
John Elder Event: honorarium $100
Reception: refreshments $100.83
Exhibits: Vermont maple giveaways $62.00
Publicity: postcard printing expenses $172.68
Cash Sub-Total $1,322.31
IN-KIND
Personnel: Elizabeth Berman [75 hours] $2,115.75
Personnel: Selene Colburn [60 hours] $1,877.40
Personnel: Prudence Doherty [50 hours] $1,420.00
Personnel: Robin Katz [34 hours] $919.36
Personnel: Sharon Thayer [4 hours] $78.36
Personnel: Ana Banu [4 hours] $39.00
Publicity: 200 color 11x17 posters $50.00
Publicity: 200 color 8!x11 posters $30.00
Publicity: 300 misc. black & white printing $30.00
Publicity: 50 color Maple Cook-Off entry signs $7.50
Publicity: 400 color Special Collections printing $60.00
Publicity: Special Collections mailing $232.00
Publicity: Mailing to maple producers $14.40
Donated Prizes $150.00
In-Kind Sub-Total $7,023.73
TOTAL $8,346.04
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The ambitious planning strategy included both general and targeted outreach across a variety of media.
Press releases describing individual events and the week as a whole were sent to approximately 75 local
media contacts. Print postcards and posters created to advertise Maple Week were distributed throughout
the local community by volunteer members of the library faculty and staff, and on campus by a student
worker. Targeted audiences received mailed invitations to John Elder’s talk and the Maple Week reception,
including 500 friends of Special Collections. Blog postings about individual events and the website launch
were featured prominently on the library homepage, and were distributed via the Libraries’ Facebook and
Twitter accounts, as well as by individual library subject liaisons.
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IMPLEMENTATION
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Maple producers across the state were holding open houses the
weekend of the Maple Cook-Off and we sent participating producers a
letter about the Maple Research Website and Maple Week, and asked
them to share promotional postcards with visitors. We attended the
Burlington Winter Farmers’ Market and shared postcards with
vendors and attendees; multiple vendors agreed to share postcards
throughout the day. The website and Maple Week events were
featured on an episode of Across the Fence, a local television program
that is the longest-running daily farm and home television program in
the country and that has an estimated daily audience of 25,000
viewers. A robust email outreach effort formed a big part of our strategy. We sent email notices to maple producers,
multiple local foods groups and non-profits, Front Porch Forums (a local neighborhood-based community
organizing listserv, http://frontporchforum.com/), educator networks, community-supported agriculture
programs, organic farming organizations, food bloggers and critics, and scores of local restaurants. Student
and faculty networks targeted on campus included multiple academic departments, individual faculty
members, residential learning programs, interdisciplinary centers, and about twenty student groups ranging
from the Horticultural Club to the Food Salvage Club. This was a low-cost and effective way to efficiently
reach prospective audiences.
Campus and community partners recruited for participation in the Maple Cook-Off also
helped recruit attendees . These partners included: popular local restaurants which
donated pizes and judges Suzanne Podhaizer (food critic for Burlington’s alternative
weekly paper), Sue Bette (owner of the Bluebird Tavern, a James Beard-nominated
restaurant), Sarah Lyons (a maple producer), and Kate Turcotte (undergraduate
majoring in ecological agriculture). We also worked with students from the GreenHouse
residential learning community who gave a maple taste-testing based on the sediment of
nearby soils; representatives of Growing Vermont, a student-run business featuring local
products; and Island Homemade Ice Cream, who heard about the event and asked to
distribute free samples of their new maple-bacon ice cream.
The Maple Week activities and targeted promotional campaign were designed to showcase the Maple
Research Website and to draw attention to the unique special collections; promotion of the website’s URL
was a consistent element in promotional materials and at the actual event.
Posters and postcards were designed in-house and featured elements of the Libraries’ recent branding efforts,
such as our logo and official fonts, while creating a distinctive and elegant look and feel for Maple Week.
These design elements then carried over into other materials, such as Maple Cook-Off registration forms and
exhibit signage.
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PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
March 11, 2010
Contact: Selene Colburn, 802.656.9980, [email protected]
Maple Madness: A Week of Celebration at the UVM Libraries
The University of Vermont Libraries are celebrating the creation of a new Maple Syrup Research Website
(http://library.uvm.edu/maple) with a week of programs, exhibits, and food, beginning March 28th
, 2010.
A Maple Cook-Off will be held at UVM’s Davis Center on March 28th
, from 4 to 6PM, featuring a buffet of maple
delicacies, music by acoustic trio The Growlers, maple displays, children’s activities, and prizes of gift certificates to local
eateries (awarded by food critics, activists, and producers). The event is free and open to the public. For more information
or to register: http://maplecookoff.eventbrite.com
John Elder, a Professor at Middlebury College, will present “A Party in the Woods: Sugaring, Community, and Celebration
Under a Changing Sky,” on maple sugaring as a traditional rural lifeway that both illuminates contemporary challenges like
climate change and exemplifies the need for celebration within environmental thinking today. The talk will take place in
Bailey/Howe Library’s Special Collections on March 31st, at 5:30 PM, and is co-sponsored by Special Collections and the
UVM Libraries.
Elder’s talk will follow a 4:30 PM reception to celebrate the launch of the Maple Syrup Research Website in the
Bailey/Howe Library lobby.
Maple exhibits in the Bailey/Howe Library are based on materials selected from the Wilbur Collection of Vermontiana, the
Maple History Collection, and the collections of UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center. The featured exhibits (“It’s
Always Maple Time in Vermont,” “Sweet and Savory: Cooking with Maple,” and “Women’s Contributions to Maple”)
include images of sugaring-off parties, historic recipes, the story of Helen Nearing, and much, much more. The exhibits are
located in the Bailey/Howe Library Lobby and in Special Collections. They will be on display through June 2010.
This Maple Syrup Research Website (http://library.uvm.edu/maple) is a comprehensive subject guide in the field of maple
syrup, touching on all aspects of maple syrup and sugar maples: maple syrup history, collection and production, marketing,
nutrition and recipes, sugar maple cultivation, environmental issues and pests and diseases. This website also includes
historical publications and photographs related to maple syrup research at the University of Vermont.
This project is a collaboration between the UVM Libraries, the Department of Special Collections, the Center for Digital
Initiatives, and the Proctor Maple Research Center, with support from UVM Extension, the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, and the Center for Research on Vermont. It was funded in part by the Agriculture Network Information Center
(AgNIC), in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Agriculture Library.
For more information, please call 802-656-9980 or e-mail [email protected]
See the Bailey/Howe Library on a campus map: http://www.uvm.edu/map/?Page=MAP&Building=51
Information on visitor parking at UVM: http://www.uvm.edu/tps/parking/?Page=visitors.html
Press release distributed in collaboration with University Communications to over
75 regional press contacts at print, radio, and television outlets.
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MAPLE WEEK POSTCARD & POSTER
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DISTRIBUTION
"#$%&'()$!'*)!+#$%,($!-,(,!).$%(./0%,)!-.),12!%3(#043#0%!%3,!&'5+0$!'*)!Ȧ*.%2!/2!%3,!6'+1,!7,,8!7.%%,,!
'*)!/2!9#10*%,,(!1./('(2!:'&01%2!'*)!$%'::!5,5/,($;!!!
<'5+1,!1#&'%.#*$!:#(!+#$%,($!'*)!+#$%&'()$!.*&10),)=!
• %3,!>'9.$!<%0),*%!?,*%,(!#*!@A6!&'5+0$B!
• (,1,9'*%!'&'),5.&!),+'(%5,*%$B!
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• '%!$,(9.&,!+#.*%$!'*)!/.11/#'()$!%3(#043#0%!%3,!@A6!C./('(.,$B!
• &'5+0$!/.11/#'()$B!
• $%0),*%!)#(5.%#(.,$B!
• 1#&'1!:##)!$%#(,$!'*)!/0$.*,$$,$B!
• 1#&'1!3.43!$&3##1$B!
• &#::,,!$3#+$B!'*)!
• %3,!D0(1.*4%#*!7.*%,(!E'(5,($F!6'(8,%;!
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"#$%,(!'*)!+#$%&'()!-,(,!),$.4*,)!.*G3#0$,!/2!H#/.*!I'%JK!>.4.%'1!L*.%.'%.9,$!M0%(,'&3!
C./('(.'*K!0$.*4!N)#/,!?<O!L110$%('%#(;!>,$.4*!,1,5,*%$!.*&10),)!@A6!C./('(.,$F!/('*).*4K!
$0&3!'$!%3,!1#4#!'*)!:#*%!&3#.&,$K!-3.1,!&(,'%.*4!'!).$%.*&%.9,!1##8!:#(!6'+1,!7,,8B!%3,!
.110$%('%.#*!#:!%3,!%'++,)!%(,,!.$!'*!#(.4.*'1!.110$%('%.#*!/'$,)!#*!+3#%#4('+3$!:(#5!%3,!
?>LF$!6'+1,!H,$,'(&3!?#11,&%.#*;!
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LIBRARY WEBSITE BLOGS
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Blog postings about individual events, the website launch and the digital collections were featured
prominently on the library’s homepage and the CDI’s homepage in the weeks leading up to Maple Week.
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LIBRARY WEBSITE BLOGS
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CDI BLOG: “THE MARCH SUGARMAKING TRADITION”
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EMAIL AS AN OUTREACH TOOL
Recipients included: localvore clubs, Chittenden County restaurants, Community-Supported Agriculture
(CSA) programs, agricultural non-profits, neighborhood community organizing forums, maple producers,
local educators, UVM academic departments and programs, and student clubs.
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Email figured prominently in our promotion plan. It was a
great way to target very diverse audiences with consistent
messages, and to direct them to online actions they could
take, such as registering for the Cook-Off or visiting the
Maple Research Website. Following mass emailing on March
17th, we saw a spike in traffic to the Center for Digital
Initiatives Maple Collections.
Our email strategy sought to get the message in the hands of individuals who would redistribute
it to their own networks (e.g. presidents of student clubs, academic department administrators,
coordinators of local food clubs, and representatives of educational service agencies), thus
maximizing return from our efforts.
SAMPLE EMAIL TEXT
!"!#$%&!'$()**!+#,-&!./0$-1,2.$/!,3$(2!2#&!456!7.3-,-.&+)!6,%*&!8&&9!:.2#!'$(-!*$;,*<$-&!/&2:$-9+=!!
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!"#$%&!"'(%))*&+&,%%-&./&0%$%12"34.(&"3&35%&67!&8412"24%)!!
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#22%IJJ1,%*&;$$9$00=&<&/23-.2&=;$1!!!
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+&:"23<&4(&35%&,..')!!
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7.3-,-.&+=!!
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8&3+.2&!./!2#&!_,.*&'J`$:&!7.3-,-'!*$33'=!!
!!!
!"#$%&=>54143)!!
!!!
6,%*&!&M#.3.2+!./!2#&!_,.*&'J`$:&!7.3-,-'!./;*(D&!.1,C&+!$0!+(C,-./CR$00!%,-2.&+L!#.+2$-.;!-&;.%&+L!2#&!
+2$-'!$0!`&*&/!c&,-./CL!,/D!1(;#L!1(;#!1$-&=!!>#&!&M#.3.2+!,-&!*$;,2&D!./!2#&!_,.*&'J`$:&!7.3-,-'!
7$33'!,/D!./!F%&;.,*!?$**&;2.$/+=!!>#&'!:.**!3&!$/!D.+%*,'!2#-$(C#
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TARGETING PRODUCERS: MAPLE OPEN HOUSES
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One of our most effective strategies was to target local maple and
agricultural producers.
Maple producers across the state were holding open houses the
weekend of the Maple Cook-Off and we sent approximately thirty
participating Chittenden County producers a letter about the Maple
Research Website and Maple Week, and asked to share promotional
postcards with visitors.
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TARGETING PRODUCERS: WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET
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Selene Colburn visited the Winter Farmers’ Market
and approached each vendor, leaving postcards for
them to share with visitors to their stalls. A number
of vendors featured maple baked goods, or maple
syrup, and were eager to hear more about Maple
Week. Many of the vendors had already heard about
the programming, via other networks, and agreed to
help promote it.
Burlington is a relatively small town and the team
member, a native Burlingtonian, was able to
effectively promote the Maple Cook-Off to a number
of shoppers and acquaintances.
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“ACROSS THE FENCE” TELEVISION APPEARANCE
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“Across the Fence” is the longest-running daily farm and home television program in the country. On March
25, 2010, science librarian Elizabeth Berman appeared on the episode “UVM Libraries: Research and
Records on Maple Sugaring in Vermont,” to promote the Maple Research Website, the digital maple
collections and Maple Week events. The show has an estimated daily audience of 25,000 viewers in the
greater Burlington area.
Watch the video online at: http://vimeo.com/12059071
SAMPLE SCRIPT Intro... Maple syrup. Everyone loves it.
Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup in the U.S., accounting
for approximately 35% of all U.S. maple production and distribution
(7% of the world’s maple syrup supply).
At the University of Vermont, basic and applied maple research began
in the early 1890s and continues its strong tradition today. The
Proctor Maple Research Center, established in 1946, is an Agricultural
Extension Field Research Station of UVM and has published seminal
maple research in areas such as: sap and syrup production, maple
physiology and genetics, forest ecology and health, and sap and syrup
chemistry…
We have with us today Elizabeth Berman, UVM’s Science &
Engineering Librarian and project manager for the development of
this maple syrup website. Welcome…
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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The UVM Libraries
promoted the Maple Week
events and the Maple
Cook-Off using the social
media tools Facebook and
Twitter.
The UVM Libraries
Facebook profile has 232
friends; the
UVM_Libraries Twitter
account has 559 followers.
Special Collections contributed to the Maple Madness promotion with
exhibits in the Bailey/Howe Library’s three exhibit venues. At each
exhibit location, we promoted the Maple Research Website and Maple
Week events. Design elements used in the exhibit were derived from
the maple website template.
Because we know that library patrons and visitors often look at only a
portion of an exhibit, we decided to tell three different stories, each
with sections and items that could easily be viewed and appreciated
individually. Each exhibit contained some items now available in the
Center for Digital Initiative’s Maple Research and Maple Recipe
Collections.
The largest venue contained material about maple sugar and syrup
production through time, with a focus on Vermont producers, inventors,
and researchers. One section highlighted the social aspects of sugaring
season, foreshadowing the Maple Week lecture and Maple Cook-Off. In
addition to the traditional Special Collections exhibit materials (photos,
ephemera, maps, books, manuscripts, etc.), this exhibit included
artifacts from the Proctor Maple Research Center.
In an alcove near the main entrance, maple cookbooks and recipes from
the Vermont Cookbook Collection were displayed in “Sweet and Savory:
Cooking with Maple,” to generate interest in and provide inspiration for
the Maple Cook-Off. Takeaway items available at this exhibit included
postcards for Maple Week, copies of the Official Vermont Maple Cook
Book obtained from the Vermont Maple Foundation, and copies of the
“Vermont Ski Resort and Year-Round Maple Syrup Guide,” published
by Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing and the Vermont
Sugar Maker’s Association.
The display cases in Special Collections featured the accomplishments
of women in the Vermont maple industry, including the Maple Grove
candymakers, back-to-the-lander and maple entrepreneur Helen
Nearing, and UVM scientist Mariafranca Morselli.
A slideshow of the entire exhibit can be viewed on Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/askmapleuvm.
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SPECIAL COLLECTIONS EXHIBITS
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EXHIBIT: IT’S ALWAYS MAPLE TIME IN VERMONT
Joseph-Francois Lafitau, a French
Jesuit priest who traveled among
the Iroquois from 1712-1717
recorded his observations about
maple production in his Moeurs
des sauvages americains compares
aux moeurs des premiers temps
(1724). According to Lafitau, the
French learned to make syrup and
sugar from the Indians.
Lafitau’s 1724 book includes a
European engraver’s illustration of
the Indians gathering sap and
making syrup or sugar.
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Selected images from the “It’s Always Maple
Time in Vermont” Special Collections exhibit.
“In the month of March, when the sun has taken a little strength and as the trees enter
into sap, they, the Indians, make with their hatchets transverse incisions in the trunk
of the trees, from which trickles in abundance a water which they receive in large
receptacles of bark. They afterwards cause this water to boil over the fire, which
consumes all the watery matter, and which thickens the rest into the consistency of
syrup, or even into cakes of sugar, according to the degree of heat to which they
subject it.…”
Joseph-Francois Lafitau
Joseph-Francois Lafitau
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EXHIBIT: IT’S ALWAYS MAPLE TIME IN VERMONT
“I learn that you deal largely in maple
sugar and syrup. If so I would like to
engage all you have this year at a fair
market price. I want to get 10 tons per
week to ship to New York City. How much
of that amount could you furnish?
MAPLE EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY
The invention of the tin can during the Civil War helped
initiate the maple equipment industry. With the
availability of sheet metal, specialized companies emerged
to manufacture maple equipment, which had previously
been made by general metal workers. Vermonters patented
and produced spouts, buckets, evaporators, cans, and other
equipment. Some prominent Vermont firms included A.H.
Soule (St. Albans), Leader Evaporator (Enosburg Falls,
1888), G.H. Grimm Mfg. Co. (Hudson, Ohio and Rutland,
Vermont), and Vermont Farm Machinery (Bellows Falls,
1868). During the second half of the twentieth century,
technological advances such as plastic tubing, vacuum
pumps and reverse osmosis systems resulted in much more
efficient sap gathering and syrup production.!
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Maple sugaring was a standard subject for many of the stereoscopic series that
documented life and work in the northern United States. These views were
produced ca. 1869 by the Kilburn Brothers of northern New Hampshire. !
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EXHIBIT: IT’S ALWAYS MAPLE TIME IN VERMONT
RESEARCH AND SUPPORT
Vermont’s maple industry has been supported through basic and applied research at the University of
Vermont’s Agricultural Extension Service and Proctor Maple Research Center. C.H. Jones began research
on maple chemistry and physiology after coming to UVM in 1896. UVM researchers James Marvin, Fred
Taylor, Fred Laing, Mariafranca Morselli, among many others, conducted research that has greatly helped
maple producers in Vermont, the northeastern United States, and Canada.
In 1888, members of the Vermont Grange organized the Vermont Maple Sugar Exchange to ensure strictly
pure Vermont maple products and promote maple consumption. The Vermont Sugar Makers Association,
founded in 1893, continues to advocate for the maple industry and its producers. Through an active
branding program, the VMSMA promotes and protects the highest quality Vermont maple products. To
inform producers, VMSMA holds maple schools throughout the state.
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EXHIBIT: IT’S ALWAYS MAPLE TIME IN VERMONT
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EXHIBIT: VERMONT WOMEN CONTRIBUTE TO MAPLE
THE BUSINESS
WOMEN OF MAPLE GROVE
HELEN NEARING, SUGARMAKER AND PROMOTER
MARIAFRANCA MORSELLI, SCIENTIST
Maple production may be an important part of Vermont’s agricultural
economy, but for most of us, maple is about food.
The Bailey/Howe Libraries Vermont Cookbook Collection documents
the richly varied and creative maple dishes that home cooks and
professional chefs make to delight family members and restaurant
guests.
The sample of cookbooks and recipes displayed here range from an 1888
promotional publication to a 2009 cookbook that celebrates fresh
interpretations using Vermont ingredients. There are recipes for
dishes that are well-loved and familiar, such as Beatrice Vaughan’s
Maple Bars, as well as those that are unusual and intriguing, such as
Edith Foulds’ Black-Peppered Maple Cream Pie. Despite maple’s
expense, cooks appreciate its unique flavor and local origin, and it
continues to make an important contribution to Vermont’s evolving
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EXHIBIT: SWEET AND SAVORY, COOKING WITH MAPLE
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MAPLE COOK-OFF
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On Sunday, March 28, from 4-6pm, the University of
Vermont Libraries hosted the “Maple Cook-Off” at the
Davis Student Center. Registration for the event was
handled by the free event-hosting website, Eventbrite; the
interface was easy to use and allowed for easy
customization, allowing us to add information about the
judges and prizes, as well as the rules of the competition.
Registration for the event was free and open to the public.
27 competitors entered dishes, with 16 Sweet entries and
11 Savory entries. Entrants were required to incorporate
100% pure maple syrup or sugar into their recipes, and
were asked to bring at least two dozen tastings of their
dish for judges and attendees to enjoy.
Community members did not need to enter a dish in order
to attend.
The doors opened at 4pm, with The Growlers, an energetic
acoustic trio, providing musical entertainment. There were
several additional activities for attendees, including:
• Students from the Green House, the environmental
residential community on campus, hosting a maple
tasting where they presented several different types
of maple syrups they made alongside Log Cabin
Syrup. They provided information about different
production techniques and how terroir (the “taste of
place”) affects maple syrup.
• Growing Vermont, a student-run store, set-up a
booth where they were able to sell locally produced
maple related products, including maple edibles
(cotton candy, popcorn, and candies and maple
hardwood frames, ornaments and decorations.
• Island Ice Cream, a local ice cream manufacturer,
gave out free tastings of their maple bacon and
maple walnut ice creams.
• Maple trivia cards were placed on every table,
highlighting facts and interesting information and
directing people to the Maple Research Website.
• A children’s table, with coloring activities and
maple-related children’s books.
Judging was based on simple evaluation criteria: 25% (5
points) for appearance, 50% (10 points) for taste, and 25%
(5 points) for use of maple.
Prizes were awarded at the end of the event, with winners
being selected in five categories: Best Sweet Dish, Best
Savory Dish, Best Overall Use of Maple, Best Traditional
Maple Dish, and Best Complete Meal.
The Maple Week committee was very hands-on in
organizing and implementing the Maple Cook-Off. The
event coordinator at UVM Conference and Events helped
secure a venue and basic amenities, including tables and
chairs, but the set-up and decoration was done by the
committee and a number of library staff volunteers.
Elizabeth Berman served as emcee of the event, while
other staff ran the check-in booth, coordinated the maple
buffet, and assisted the judges.
JUDGES
The Maple Cook-Off recruited a number of impressive judges:
• Suzanne Podhaizer, food critic for SevenDays,
Burlington’s alternative weekly newspaper;
• Sue Bette, owner of Bluebird Tavern, a James Beard-
nominated restaurant;
• Sarah Lyons, maple producer, Square Deal Farms; and
• Kate Turcotte, ecological agriculture major and
organizer of the Vermont Food Summit.
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MAPLE COOK-OFF: ACTIVITIES
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The Growlers; Island Ice Cream;
Maple Cook-Off attendees
GreenHouse syrup tasting;
Growing Vermont
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MAPLE COOK-OFF: ENTRIES
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PRIZES
A number of local eateries donated
$150 worth of prizes, including:
• Magnolia Bistro
• Penny Cluse Café
• August First Bakery
• Hen of the Wood
• Shelburne Farms, 2 copies of
“Cooking with Shelburne
Farms” cookbook
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Maple Beef Explosion – Best Savory Dish
Maple Pulled Pork –Best “Complete Meal”
Maple Cheesecake Bar – Best Sweet Dish
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MAPLE COOK-OFF: WINNING RECIPES
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RECEPTION
A reception was thrown to celebrate
the launch of the Maple Research
Website, and to thank the numerous
individuals and groups who had made
the project possible. The reception was
held in the Bailey/Howe Library H.
Lawrence McCrorey Gallery.
Over 30 guests sampled maple-themed
hors d’oeuvres, including maple
samosas, balsamic-maple salmon on
toast, and maple cream tarts.
A PARTY IN THE WOODS: SUGARING, COMMUNITY, AND CELEBRATION UNDER A CHANGING SKY
Following a reception to celebrate the Maple Syrup Research Website, John Elder, Professor of
English and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, presented “A Party in the Woods:
Sugaring, Community, and Celebration Under a Changing Sky.” The public talk was co-sponsored
by the UVM Libraries and the Department of Special Collections.
Elder, an accomplished writer and professor whose work marries literature and environmental
studies, discussed maple sugaring as a traditional rural lifeway that both illuminates contemporary
challenges, like climate change, and exemplifies the need for celebration within environmental
thinking today. In the talk, Elder wove together and reflected upon excerpts from his book-in-
progress, In Hardwood Groves.
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RECEPTION & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LECTURE
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In 2007 and 2008, the UVM Libraries Communications Team engaged in branding activities resulting in the
creation of a logo and tagline, designed by the Scoula Group (a local graphic design firm) with significant
input from Libraries faculty and staff, library users, and University administration. Many adaptations of the
logo were created for individual libraries and for various uses (e.g. black and white, vertical orientation, on a
dark background, etc.).
With the Communications Team, the Scoula Group designed templates for common in-house publications,
such as temporary signage, informational handouts, special reports, newsletters, brochures, and power point
presentations, incorporating the logo and associated design elements.
Standard fonts and color palettes now serve as the basis for in-house print and electronic designs. While
there is still a learning curve “on-the-ground” for how strictly to adhere to guidelines for individual
publications, the overall structure has resulted in more consistent and effective library communications.
Maple Week branding laudably took these guidelines as a starting point and incorporated the Libraries logo
and prescribed fonts. In-house design of posters and flyers, postcards, and Maple Cook-Off registration
materials provided elegant and immediately recognizable messaging about the programming – especially
useful in tying together multiple related collections and events.
Exhibit design echoed the look and feel of the Maple Research Website and a Special Collections mailing
proved more consistent with departmental branding. One of the things we learned from the collaborative
cross-departmental approach was to work toward even more consistent branding and future efforts building
on the Maple Week model, such as promotions for CDI’s KakeWalk at UVM collection, incorporated that
feedback.
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UVM LIBRARIES & MAPLE WEEK BRANDING
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Trade Gothic LT Std Bold
CenturyStd-Book
VARIATIONS ON THE UVM LIBRARIES’ LOGO
SAMPLE MAPLE WEEK PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL
APPROVED FONTS
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Approximately 150 people attended the Maple Cook-Off and 27 dishes
were entered into the competition. According to our Maple Cook-Off
evaluation, our promotional strategy was effective and efficient:
nearly half of the respondents heard about the event through word of
mouth, while an additional 20% heard about it through our posters
and postcards. Press coverage, emails, and social networking also
resulted in Cook-Off attendance, demonstrating the effectiveness of
multiple approaches.
The event drew in a diverse crowd, attracting students and faculty,
local chefs and food enthusiasts, and maple producers and community
members. In the evaluation, a number of attendees commented on the
strength of the cook-off as a “community event,” bridging the various
constituents we had hoped to target. The quality of the event was
highly rated by attendees, with comments praising the maple tasting,
the music, the maple trivia, and above all else the variety and quality
of the food entries.
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EVALUATION
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Approximately 50 individuals attended John Elder’s lecture on the relationship between maple sugaring
traditions and the environment (typical Special Collections events average anywhere from 25 to 50 people).
The individuals in attendance drew from campus and community populations not traditionally in attendance
at Friends of Special Collections events, indicating a successful outreach strategy.
The reception celebrating the website’s launch was attended by approximately 30 individuals, including the
Dean of the Libraries, the Dean of Extension, the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the
Director of Proctor Maple Research Center, and the Director of the Center for Research on Vermont, as well
as a number of faculty and maple producers.
Exhibit viewership is difficult to measure, but appeared to be high, based on the numbers of individuals who
helped themselves to accompanying take-aways; over a hundred copies of a free maple cookbook disappeared
during the course of the exhibit.
Since its launch in March, the Maple Research Website averages 350 monthly visitors; in the month
following Maple Week and the promotional events, there were over 800 visitors, suggesting a successful
promotional strategy incorporating the website’s URL. The Center for Digital Initiatives maple collections,
also launched in March, average about 250 visitors a month, but saw a significant peak in the weeks leading
up to Maple Events. On March 18th, there were 387 visits in a single day, likely a result of mass emailings to
targeted listservs on March 17th.
The Maple Week press release appeared in a number of campus and local publications. Most notably, two local television crews came and
filmed a segment of the Maple Cook-Off, which aired as part of the evening news. A local food blogger wrote a post about the event and
participants shared details of their experience via social networking sites such as Facebook.
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One of the biggest lessons we learned is to tie programs even more directly to related resources by providing
handouts, following up with emails when possible, and driving home the action step of visiting the website at
live events.
The week of programming and promotion, in particular the Maple Cook-
Off, was successful at directing campus and community users to the
Maple Research Website and at positioning the UVM Libraries as the
essential resource for maple related information. The collaborative and
wide-ranging approach to promoting related programming and resources
was a first (in scope, if not in theory) for the UVM Libraries and now
serves as a model for future efforts. The CDI has already incorporated
this model and used it to promote events related to the launch of their
KakeWalk at UVM collection in the fall of 2010.
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Included are website analytics for the Maple Research Website and the CDI Maple
Research Collection and Maple Recipes Collection, and the AskMaple reference
service statistics. !
MAPLE RESEARCH WEBSITE & ASKMAPLE REFERENCE SERVICE Statistics from March 1, 2010 to December 1, 2010
MONTH VISITS ASKMAPLE
March 381 5
April 801 5
May 334 0
June 339 0
July 105 2
August 101 4
September 167 2
October 248 2
November 379 3
TOTAL 2,855 23
CDI COLLECTIONS Statistics from March 1, 2010 to December 1, 2010
MONTH PAGE VIEWS
March 820
April 508
May 317
June 231
July 486
August 207
September 408
October 546
November 437
TOTAL 3,960
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WEBSITE USAGE STATISTICS
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EVENT ATTENDANCE
! MAPLE COOK-OFF
Approximately 150 people attended the Maple Cook-Off. According to the event coordinator
at the Davis Student Center, similar events draw an average attendance between 75 and
100.
The diverse crowd included UVM students and faculty, local chefs and food enthusiasts, and
maple producers and community members. 27 dishes were entered into the competition, with
17 entries for “Sweet Maple Dishes” and 10 entries for “Savory Maple Dishes”.
JOHN ELDER SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LECTURE
Approximately 50 individuals attended John Elder’s lecture on the relationship between
maple sugaring traditions and the environment. Typical Special Collections events average
anywhere from 25 to 50 attendees.
Individuals at the lecture drew widely from campus and community populations not
traditionally in attendance at Friends of Special Collections events.
MAPLE RESEARCH WEBSITE RECEPTION
Approximately 30 people attended the reception celebrating the launch of the Maple
Research Website. Attendees included a number of campus partners who were instrumental
in the development of the website, including:
• Jeffrey Marshall, Acting Dean of the Libraries
• Doug Lantagne, Dean of Extension
• Thomas Vogelman, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• Timothy Perkins, Director of the Proctor Maple Research Center
• Kristin Peterson-Ishaq, Director of the Center for Research on Vermont
• Rachel Johnson, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and former Dean of the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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MAPLE COOK-OFF EVENT EVALUATION
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With the support of the Dean of the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Dean of
Extension, the University of Vermont
submitted an application to become a member
of AgNIC in April 2007, requesting to take on
the responsibility of creating a maple research
website. The application was accepted and
UVM Libraries became full members in May
2007.
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!What did you like best about the Maple Cook-Off? I met new people from Winooski – thank you for bringing the
community together.
I liked that there were a lot of entries
Food
Being able to taste a variety of foods
Nice job – great idea and presentation and tone
The growlers were great!! Maple-bacon ice cream… mmmmm….!
Diversity
Theme
Free food!
Beautiful presentation
All the great dishes! (participation) and the music was lovely !
Live band very good
Sampling new ways to use maple syrup products
Really nice environment, also amazing food!
Lots of participants, good turnout
Laid back event and criteria for food submissions as well as east in
registration and that it is FREE! AWESOME!
Food
The variety of goods being tasted and the round tables with the
factoids/trivia
Signage on foods very helpful – will recipes be available online?
The food and music – the band was fantastic!
Sampling foods – maple chicken pate, maple bacon ice cream – who
knew?!
Trying all of the foods
The food of course!
Innovative recipes, ease of entering, good. communication by organizer
(Elizabeth) via email regarding submission
requirements
Free food
Great people and great food and great spirit
The variety of dishes, the music.
Food!
Music, food, maple 4 sale
The whole package. Great Vermont event. Also a good time of day and
week.
Lots of fun, casual.
The harmonica playing and the food tasting! Ice cream vendor!
The buffet and the band
Great food! Awesome maple facts. Maple bacon ice cream – Island rocks!
The maple deliciousness
The variety of food, the maple syrup samples and facts
Tasty, the good food, seeing friends
A large # of entries, and variety. Room was set up nice, and location
Maple syrup taste of place test, all the food sampling, music, prizes
Tasting the food, great music
What could have been done better? Not much. A pretty spiffy community event all in all. Well done!
More food
More seating, good turnout though!
Advertize! No signs outside!
Announced the winners sooner. !
Charge admission of keep free-loading students out.
Charge admission; tell contestants small servings; have someone dish
out to make servings small
More food
Keep food off limits before tasting, but available for viewing. Kids were
touching the food beforehand. Have two sides so the line moves faster.
Not enough seating/tables for people to sit at.
Maple leaf plates!
Told chefs to cut smaller pieces of dishes
Provided recipe cards for each dish. Better organized event (directions
from someone – the scene inside was kind of confusing). More apple
cider (maybe hot cider?)
More food!
Provided better space for the entries
Just expand – please continue, very good!
Don’t know how or why I thought it started at 4 (cooks here at 4)
Included more interactive maple activities
More chairs
Advertise a few more rules such as – does your recipe have to stand
alone (i.e. salad dressing) or can it be served in combination with other
food (i.e. salad)?
Not everyone knows that appearance is part of the judges score so the
components of the scoring could be better advertised.
Raffles, more maple products/sizes 4 sale.
More info on the website this is celebrating the launch of…. Not much to
improve on though, thanks!
Food may have run out too fast (yum.) If you do it again, you may have
even bigger crowd and food will go even quicker. A good problem!
Had contestants make smaller portions. Recipe cards available. Made a
general informational announcement at the beginning.
Supply recipe cards for each recipe
A few more tables – quite crowded
Encourage those bringing tastings to make bite-sized samples – it’s a
tasting not an eating (everyone wants just a bite)
A few more chairs would have been good. Announce winners earlier – at
time of opening food? A little better organization with serving food – one
long line doesn’t work well in this format.
Music too loud earlier in the afternoon. Really it was a fun afternoon.
If the UVM Libraries were to hold an event like this in the future, how likely would you be to enter a dish and/or attend?
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An estimated 150 people attended the Maple Cook-Off; 41 people submitted an evaluation form of the event.
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The feedback about the Maple Cook-Off was very positive,
with all 40 respondents ranking the overall event as
excellent or very good. Evaluations indicated that 40 out
of the 41 respondents ranked the location as excellent or
very good; all 41 respondents ranked the food as excellent
or very good; 38 out of 40 respondents ranked the
entertainment as excellent or very good. Many of the
comments highlighted the community-orientation of the
event, and noted the excellent quality of food presented.
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The UVM Libraries received information evaluation about Maple Week, and the
Maple Research Website, through a variety of resources – including letters, emails,
and blog posts.
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INFORMAL EVALUATION
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ANDREA TODD, MAPLE COOK-OFF PARTICIPANT
"I loved that event, because it made
me go to the Davis Center, a place I
would never go, and I got to meet a
whole bunch of people -- UVM
students and people from the
community, together. That never
happens! Are you doing it again?"
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CREATIVITY & LESSONS LEARNED
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Though cook-offs are typically the domain of county fairs and other public rural traditions, the UVM
Libraries – by thinking outside the box – effectively tapped into local, non-traditional networks. We could
have contented ourselves with reaching out to faculty, students, and scholars, but we chose to let the Maple
Research Website launch serve as the basis for celebration – a reason to bring campus and community
partners together around local foods, while positioning the UVM Libraries as a valuable resource for the
community.
We were able to accomplish a lot for very little money by drawing together library faculty members from
across departments to work collaboratively. Relying heavily on online tools such as email, blogs, and social
media helped get the word out aggressively, while keeping costs down.
A week of intense activity around related resources helped raise the visibility of each individual event or
program, and successfully drew visitors to the online resources. This model was a first for our library, and at
times felt akin to a performance or athletic competition.
At live events, always drive home the action step of accessing related online or physical resources through
verbal communication, providing handouts, and following up with emails when possible.
This lesson has been applied at more recent library events including:
! Vermont History Expo
! Green Mountain Club Gala (Long Trail digital collection launch)
! Kake Walk at UVM lecture and film screenings
! National Day on Writing
! Blackboard Jungle Symposium on multiculturalism in the classroom
Ensure consistent event-specific color/branding in all print publicity, while fitting into the
libraries’ general identity.
This lesson was visible in the yellow and black theme of the Kake Walk at UVM digital
collection launch print publicity materials. The fonts were consistent with library branding,
the publicity materials incorporated the UVM Libraries logo, yet the look of the entire
marketing plan was unique to the theme.
The UVM Libraries have a particularly flat hierarchical structure that can make collaborative project
management across multiple units (and among equals) challenging; clear communication and tools to track
and monitor responsibilities are a must (e.g. Basecamp).
The UVM Libraries can target on- and off-campus groups simultaneously; in fact, as a “bridge” resource in
the community, the Libraries are particularly well-suited to do this.
Plan early. When orchestrating a week of events, it is crucial to have a clear plan for deadlines and
milestones, so there is no last minute scrambling.
We learned that a lot can be done with a very small budget, but only if people are powering the effort.
The Maple Week programming
provided a model for future library
collaborations and marketing
strategies. Some of the lessons we
learned to incorporate in upcoming
efforts include:
