Brooklyn Public Library 2009 Annual Report
Theme, Content Strategy, and Copy
The 2009 annual report presented challenges. It was BPL’s first financial report following the 2008 Great Recession. Like most of the city’s publicly funded institutions, the library had been forced to lay off people and cut budgets for important and well-loved services. I needed to set a tone of hope while presenting reality. The second challenge was providing potentially dry information in an engaging and clear way.
I brought all my skills to the table for the project: creative writing, interviewing, narrative structure, and attention to detail. I came up with the theme, “Spirit of Resilience,” and structured each section around the theme, using “Spirit” as a through line. I wrote (with their help and approval) letters from both the executive director and board chair, all the content for the sections, and proofread the entire report, including charts, lists of donors, and contact information for 59 library branches.
