Josephine Community Library

In 2012, Josephine County’s library system hired Sheepscot to develop a communications strategy and a suite of supporting creative materials. We've been serving them ever since, evolving our support to meet the library’s needs over a decade of growth and change. 

In 2017, county residents voted to fund a permanent public library district, and in 2018, we updated the library’s brand for this exciting new era. What had been a personalized campaign grounded in individual testimony (“My library works for me”) has evolved to reflect the collective spirit that energized JCL’s successful campaign (“Together we can”).

In 2019, Sheepscot worked with the library foundation that now serves as JCL's fundraising arm to rebrand. See our work for Josephine Community Library Foundation.

In 2024, Sheepscot worked with JCL and the Josephine Community Library Foundation (JCLF) to develop strategies for just about every kind of communication challenge. We provided them with a messaging grid to distribute to staff and stakeholders, and a video illustrating the positive impacts that JCL and JCLF continue to have on the community.

BUILDING A BRIGHT FUTURE (2024-Present)

JCL’s efforts to build a new downtown library has become a flashpoint for criticism along what these days are all too common cultural divides. As JCL faces threats of defunding from a small but vocal political faction, its leadership enlisted Sheepscot to help devise strategies and talking points that will equip staff and volunteers to respond to and cope with public accusations, and provide tools for those who want to advocate for the library and its rightful place in the community.

In 2024, Sheepscot visited Josephine County to interview community leaders and local business owners about the anticipated benefits of a proposed new library in downtown Grants Pass. Less than two weeks after its premiere at a City Council meeting, library leadership reported, “The video has had an incredibly positive impact on our communications with the city.”

MY LIBRARY WORKS FOR ME (2013-2017)

Sheepscot's original campaign let patrons speak for themselves: neighbors talking to neighbors, sharing the simple slogan “My library works for me.”

We produced print and digital ads, in-library materials such as signs, flyers and bookmarks, and templates for staff and volunteers to continually refresh assets with a minimum of training and design expertise.

THE NEW CHILDREN’S LIBRARIES (2016)

When the libraries received funding to upgrade amenities for children, Sheepscot Creative produced a fresh new sub-brand and a playful set of icons to assist patrons in wayfinding between tools and services available to different age groups.

VIDEOS

After voters approved a permanent library district, we introduced the new Josephine Community Library brand with a short video for social media and YouTube. 

COMMUNITY PHOTOGRAPHY