ALA partners with Safeway Inc. to launch cereal box initiative

Contact: Marci Merola
Director, Office for Library Advocacy
312-280-2431
mmerola@ala.org 

NEWS
For Immediate Release
October 27, 2009

Libraries are everywhere, rooted in nearly every school, campus and community, but they are are about to take front and center in a new place: the breakfast table.

The American Library Association (ALA) is working with Safeway Inc., on a roll-out of the first two of five Safeway-brand cereal boxes with back-panel content about libraries and librarians. The boxes will launch this October and will be available at Safeway’s 1,500 stores across the nation.

” We are proud to partner with the American Library Association and collaborate in the creation of educational panels for our line of Safeway Brand cereal. This is a way we can support the efforts of the ALA and bring education and enjoyment to our consumers,” said Mike Minasi, Safeway president, marketing.

“We want to thank Safeway for presenting us with a unique opportunity,” said ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. “The cereal boxes will bring information about some of the exciting ways to enjoy libraries – and about the value of libraries -- straight into people’s homes.”

The first boxes to feature the library-related content are Toasted Oats and Honey Nut Toasted Oats. There will be a staggered launch for the rest of the panels.

The panels focus on five content areas:

  • Get rich @ your library lists free resources available at libraries and encourages readers to add up how much they save by using the library’s resources;
  • Learn for a lifetime @ your library features the ways that school and public libraries encourage lifelong learning;
  • Great mysteries answered @ your library contains fun facts about libraries, including the number of questions answered weekly by reference librarians at our nation’s academic and public libraries;
  • Discover the world @ your library positions a library card as a passport to the world; and
  • Discover your family tree @ your library encourages readers to go to the library to research their family tree.

All feature the @ your library® brand of ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries and links to resources available at www.ilovelibraries.org, ALA’s advocacy and public awareness Web site for the public. The first panels focus on genealogy and international libraries.

Visit ilovelibraries.org/safeway to preview the back panels and learn more.

To find which Safeway stores are near you, visit http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Store-Locator

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 50 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,739 stores in the United States and western Canada. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY. Safeway supports a broad range of charitable and community programs and in 2008 donated more than $248 million to important causes, such as cancer research, education, hunger relief and programs focused on assisting people with disabilities.

The Campaign for America’s Libraries ( www.ala.org/@yourlibrary) is ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe - use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations that advocate the importance of the library in American society.