Mark Aaron Polger has been working at the College of Staten Island since 2008. As Coordinator of Library Outreach, their responsibilities include promoting library services across campus, working with the Office of Admissions and Recruitment, the SEEK office, the Center for Global Engagement, and other campus units. Additionally, Mark provides library instruction classes to first year students. They are also responsible for coordinating CLUE library workshops and they teach LIB 102 (Beyond Google: Research for College Success), the Information Literacy course taught in the department.
Polger's research interests include library marketing, outreach, and user experience design. They are most interested in how users interact with library web site vocabulary, library signage, and library promotional materials. They have written and presented on topics ranging from library marketing strategies, faculty outreach, information literacy outreach, library jargon, and library signage.
Mark is active in the American Library Association’s Core division as the chair of the PR Xchange Committee, and the co-chair of the Annual PR Xchange Awards Competition. This competition is a library public relations contest, sponsored by the Awards and Scholarships Subcommittee.
Regionally, they are an active executive board member of ACRL/NY (Association of College and Research Libraries, Greater Metropolitan New York Area) where they serve on the Symposium Planning Committee, the Executive Board, and a co-chair of the User Experience (UX) discussion group.
Locally, they co-chair meetings in New York City for ACRL National's Library Marketing and Outreach Discussion Group (ACRL LMODG). They were also a member of the planning committee from 2015-2020 of the Library Marketing and Communications Conference (LMCC), an annual conference sponsored by Amigos Library Services.
Currently, they are the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the open-access, peer reviewed journal Marketing Libraries Journal, which was launched in Fall 2017.
Degrees
MA, University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)
MLIS, University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada)
B.Ed., Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada)
BA, Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
DEC, Marianopolis College (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Books
Polger, M.A. (2021) Library Signage and Wayfinding Design: Effectively Communicating with Your Users. ALA Editions.
Polger, M.A. (2019) Library Marketing Basics. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Polger, M.A., & Sheidlower, S.A. (2017) Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians. Libraries Unlimited.
Book Chapters
Sich, D., & Polger, M. A. (2018). How to Assess Students’ Social Media Preferences: A Comparison at Two Academic Institutions. In Nina Verishagen (Ed.), Social Media: An Academic Library Perspective (pp. 3-14). Oxford, United Kingdom: Chandos Publishing.
Chao, S., Evans, B., Phillips, R., Polger, M. A., Posner, B., & Sexton, E. (2017). The CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange Program: Remembering, Reflecting, and Reshaping How We Do Our Jobs. In C. Constantinou, M. J. Miller, & K. Schlesinger (Eds.), International Librarianship: Developing Professional, Intercultural, and Educational Leadership (pp. 27-40). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Polger, M. A. , & Okamoto, K. (2012). Selective (and Subtle) Marketing of Library Instruction. In C. Smallwood, V. Gubnitskaia, and K. Harrod (Eds.), Marketing Your Library: Tips and Tools That Work (pp. 183-191), New York: McFarland & Company.
Polger, M. A. (2005). Degrassi.ca – Building a Fan Community On -line. In M. Byers (Ed.), Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity, and Youth Cultures (pp. 255-271). Toronto: Sumach Press.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Polger, M.A. (2024). The Information Literacy Class as Theatrical Performance: A Qualitative Study of Academic Librarians’ Understanding of Their Teacher Identity. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 65(2), 137-162. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis-2023-0009
Polger, M.A. (2024) Reflecting on 10 years of the PR Xchange, Public Services Quarterly, 20(1), 68-75, https://doi.org/10.1080/15228959.2023.2294018
Polger, M. A., & Sich, D. (2019). Are they even following us?: Using market research data to understand students’ social media preferences. Library Management, 40(8-9), 503-517.
Polger, M.A., & Stempler, A.F. (2014). Out with the Old, In with the New: Best Practices for Replacing Library Signage. Public Services Quarterly, 10(2), 67-95.
Polger, M.A.(2014). Controlling our vocabulary: Language consistency in a library context. The Indexer: The International Journal of Indexing, 32(1), 32-37.
Polger, M.A., & Okamoto, K. (2014). Blending, mixing, and processing: Strategies used to engage students in the classroom. In Proceedings of the 40th Annual LOEX Conference, 3-5 May, 2012, Columbus, Ohio.
Chao, S.J., Evans, B., Phillips, R., Polger, M.A., Posner, B., & Sexton, E. (2013) Developing Sustainable International Library Exchange Programs: The CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange Model, Metropolitan Universities Journal, 24(3), 102-123.
Polger, M.A., & Okamoto, K. (2013). Who’s Spinning the Library? Responsibilities of Academic Librarians who Promote. Library Management, 34(3), 236 – 253
Stempler, A.F., & Polger, M.A. (2013). Do You See the signs?: Evaluating Language, Branding, and Design in a Library signage Audit. Public Services Quarterly, 9(2), 121-135.
Okamoto, K., & Polger, M.A. (2012). Off to Market We Go: A Content Analysis of Marketing and Promotion Skills in Academic Librarian Job Ads, Library Leadership and Management, Volume 26, Issue 2, 1-20.
Polger, M.A. (2011). Student Preference in Library Web Site Vocabulary. Library Philosophy and Practice, 2011 annual issue, 1-16.
Polger, M.A. (2010). The Informationist: Ten Years Later. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, Vol. 10 Issue 4, 363 – 379.
Polger, M.A. (2010). Information Takeout and Delivery: A Case Study Exploring Different Library Service Delivery Models. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, Vol. 10 Issue 1, p3-22.
Polger, M.A., Okamoto, K. (2010). Can’t Anyone Be a Teacher Anyway?”: Student Perceptions of Academic Librarians as Teachers. Library Philosophy and Practice. p. 1-16.
Popular Publications
Polger, M.A. (2018). Thoughts From Toronto’s Think Tank Conference, Marketing Library Services, Vol. 32 Issue 6, 4-6.
Polger, M.A. (2008). The Danger of Google Health, Access: The official publication of the Ontario Library Association, Vol. 14 Issue 4A, 30-31.
Polger, M.A. (2008). Doctors Using Google: What Happened to Quality Assurance? , Access: The official publication of the Ontario Library Association, Vol. 14 Issue 3, 49-50.
Polger, M.A. (2008). A Librarian in Transition, Access: The official publication of the Ontario Library Association, Vol. 14 Issue 3, 51-52.
