Eric DeHaan: The Promoter

Eric DeHaan: The Promoter
by Hazel Foster

Eric DeHaan, Communications Manager for the Kent District Library, spends most of his day in the office. Though he misses working with the public on a regular basis, he believes his current position has a larger impact on the library system. As Communications Manager, Eric coordinates promotion for the library: press releases, grant proposals for programming, promotional media, and outreach activities in the community.

Education
Eric began his post secondary education at Grand Valley State University, where he obtained a degree in marketing. At this point in his education Eric did not have a library career in mind; nonetheless, he would eventually find himself at Wayne State University in the Masters of Library Science program.

Entering the Library Field
What first steered Eric towards a career in the library field was a part time job as a circulation assistant he held while in school. With the completion of his masters, he became a reference librarian, but discovered there existed a greater need and opportunity for him in marketing the library. Wanting to stimulate interest in the library among the public, Eric took the webmaster position at the Kent District Library.

The Job
Under his direction, the library’s website was entirely redesigned just last year. The new website features clearer organization, a more professional appearance, and user friendly sidebars, linkage, and content. Eric was recently made KDL's Communications Manager, yet still holds responsibility for the website—he is currently searching for his replacement.
As is, most of the website’s content is his own, though others do contribute. When the new webmaster assumes Eric’s old responsibilities, Eric will still contribute content to the website.

Writing in the Workplace
Though most of Eric’s tasks revolve around promoting the library, he also invests his time in professional writing. He estimates that at least twenty percent of his job involves writing in some way. From writing promotional media and press releases to email correspondence and blog posts, Eric finds himself writing in a variety of contexts.
Writing is the aspect of his job that Eric feels allows him to be creative. He accepted his current job as Communications Manager because he believed it played to his strengths, one of those being his skill as a writer.

Writing Away from the Office
Between his life at work and his life at home—he has two young children with his wife—Eric is afforded litte time to write for personal enjoyment. If he ever finds the time, he would like to create his own website. On top of not having spare time to write, Eric has very little spare time to read. When he can find the time—usually right before bed—he reads mostly non-fiction, but when it comes to fiction, he prefers the work of Ray Bradbury, James Patterson, or Stephen King.

The Future
Eric looks to the future of his position within a library with optimism. Seeing the growing roll of technology in everyday life, Eric wants the library to have more hands-on computer classes for patrons and more staff who are equipped to teach them. Although the world of libraries is changing with the introduction of devices like Amazon’s Kindle, which allows users to download and read books from a single device, Eric believes the printed page will not be lost. If anything, the new devices will make Eric’s promotion even more necessary and his impact on the Kent District Library even greater.

Visit the Kent District Library's website