Getting essential information beyond the library's walls

This fantastic post from Stephen Abram hits the mark with ideas to get ALA's information beyond the library walls.

"If you’re in a public library with a web presence (and who doesn’t have a website, Facebook fanpage, Twitter, etc.?!) then what can you do with this information? Here are some ideas:

1. Tweet soundbites from the report, Encourage RT’s.
2. Write editorials from the library (CEO, ED, Director, Board chair) using these statistics.
3. Feature the report on your news section of your website. Seek comments.
4. Add the link to your Facebook page. Feature it on your wall.
and on and on.
5. You could even make Moo cards or bookmarks with this or your own data.

Get the message out. It can’t be said often enough! Why not advocate for ourselves and the positive impact we have on our communities?"

I'd also suggest posting soundbites to your press pages for reporters to use, adding one at the end of your email posts, as the introduction for a talk, presentation, etc. If you are in an active stage of advocacy you could encourage folks to make lawn signs with some soundbites. I love lawn signs, even though they may be the poor man's billboard, I think they are even more effective than the big expensive ones! I'm sure you all could name quite a few more places too!

Thanks for a great post Stephen! -Nancy

New York City's New Law Will Get Library Cards to More Students

I just saw this wonderful news: New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg just signed a law that "requires that his city’s Department of Education supply library card applications and information about how to obtain a card to students entering kindergarten, sixth grade, ninth grade, or when transferring into a new school." This "Library Card Act" could put cards into the hands of hundreds of thousands more school-age children.

The article, "NYC Mayor Signs Library Card Act into Law," is on the website of School Library Journal.

Kudos to Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, who introduced the bill that has now become law.

Article on Social Media Activism

Check out this good article that was posted for American Libraries this week: "Will Social Media Activism Rescue Besieged Libraries?" by Cindi Trainor. It's a brief overview of how librarians and their supporters have been using Facebook and Twitter to inform (and incite) the public about possible budget cuts. It has links to many of the major budget stories from the past few months.
If you're not using social networking sites in your library system yet, here's one more reason to try it out... building a following before you have a crisis is always a good strategy.

Marketing Talk from Texas

Last week I had the pleasure of taking part in the Texas Library Association Conference for the first time. I'd never been to San Antonio -- or anywhere in Texas, for that matter -- and I got a really warm welcome. Hats off to the folks who put on the TxLA Conference; it seemed very well-organized and there were lots of great things going on there.

I was there to do two talks, and I got to attend some other good ones. I started out on Thursday, April 15, in a session called Futureproofing Your Library given by George Needham (a strategist) and Joan Frye Williams (a futurist). Some of what this lively duo said relates to marketing, although it was largely customer service. They recommend (and do, as consultants) "secret shopping," where a stranger walks around and assesses your library--inside and out, staff and service, merchandising, everything. (See their Customer Service Walkabout info at their site, under Samples, then Tools.) They also urged the crowd to make use of patron data to study customers in order to understand (and serve) them better.

Needham and Williams talked a lot about signs, not using jargon, and having customer-friendly physical layouts in library buildings. If you don't focus on hospitality, they said, people may never get deep enough into the library to realize your full value. Another thing they wanted attendees to remember was "tools, not rules." Give people the tools to find what they want, and focus less on rules, which often drive people away.

Understanding what people want was one of the themes they repeated often, and that's also the first rule of true marketing. They talked about how "civilians" (as they often referred to customers) think of libraries, according to numerous studies they cited. One way they summed it up was that civilians often think librarians are hoarding information and dispensing it in bits, which doesn't sit well in today's self-service, info-hungry society. Some patrons feel like we try to make them feel stupid, using our complicated systems. People want to be able to figure things out themselves quickly and easily.

Whatever you can do to enable that will be well-received. Being able to change with patrons' lives is probably the best way to future-proof your library.


That afternoon, I gave my first presentation, Building Community Partnerships: 25 Profitable Ideas, in which I named (you guessed it!) 25 ways you can partner with various organizations in order to get extra money, to educate people about why your library matters, and to build advocates. Here are a few of my favorite suggestions for working with others:

* grocery stores (to hold storytimes there or to get healthy snacks)
* Girl and Boy Scout troops (they can build shelves or plant gardens to earn badges)
* videogame stores (can donate coupons to reward teens who read enough books)
* professors of marketing or graphic design (to assign classes to do projects for you)

My fun and engaged audience members also shared some of their successful cooperations:

* publishers (donating copies of books for author appearances)
* a forestry organization (donated tree seedlings in exchange for meeting rooms)
* Best Buy stores (discounts)

I also offered advice on how to approach people and why they should listen. Some info professionals don't feel as if they're equal to business people or that they have much to offer in an exchange. I reminded everyone that libraries' trustworthy reputations counted for a lot in and of themselves; businesses can benefit by being associated with trustworthy, respected institutions. What's more, libraries have been proven to have positive effects on their real estate markets (www.infotoday.com/cilmag/sep06/Baykan.shtml is one example). It also sounds impressive to use lines like "Libraries help level the intellectual playing field" and "Librarians defend the public's intellectual freedom."

In a forthcoming post, I'll talk about the sessions I saw on my second day in San Antonio. More to come!
Special thanks to Jessica Wilcox of the Plano PL for arranging my appearance and taking the photos of my talk!

Huffington Post Carries Positive Library Article to Kick Off National Library Week

Hooray for Huffington Post, which just published an article by Art Brodsky on the value of libraries. It's called "Our Public Library Lifeline Is Fraying. We'll Be Sorry When it Snaps." You might have already seen a clip of it shared on your favorite social network.

Looking for articles to help prove your value to people don't quite believe that libraries still matter in 2010? Add this one to your arsenal, along with the one from Forbes that I blogged about recently.

One of the lines that proves that Brodsky understands what's at stake here is this: "But it would be a mistake to say that the Internet replaces libraries. It doesn't. It's an adjunct." The whole thing is worth reading--and sharing.

BTW, if you're not reading the comments that are posted after articles like these, you're really missing out on a chance to study public opinion. If you want to know what you're up against as you try to educate the general public about the value of libraries, here's a free, open classroom to teach you. Yes, some of the comments can be upsetting b/c they're from closed-minded people who will never support libraries. There are also comments that question the value from people are are actually trying to understand.

These public comments are not only opportunities for us to learn, but for us to advocate as well. Don't be afraid to post your own replies to explain your point of view. If you do post, here are two very basic rules:

1. Don't hide the fact that you're a librarian. Be honest & open.
2. Don't be defensive. Be positive and thoughtful. If you do nothing but refute false claims with panicky words, you're missing a chance to turn the conversation back to goodness.

It's National Library Week, so what are you waiting for? Weigh in online, write a letter to your local newspaper, pitch to your radio and TV stations. Say something great (hopefully with useful numbers to quantify value) about libraries! (If you want help, ALA has promo materials and sample media materials here.)

Woman's Day Magazine's Essay Contest Deadline Is May 9

Two months ago, I blogged about seeing the issue of Woman's Day magazine that carried the library essay-contest winners. Now I want to remind you that it's time to ask patrons to send in their essays for next year's contest.

Here are the details from ALA:

Libraries have until May 9 to promote Woman’s Day magazine’s newest initiative, “why the library is important to my community.” The American Library Association (ALA) and Woman’s Day are looking for stories that showcase the importance and value of libraries within the communities they serve.

Women ages 18 and up are invited to send in their stories in 700 words or less to womansday@ala.org. Up to four stories will be profiled in the March 2011 issue of the magazine or at womansday.com.

Librarians can download free tools to help collect local stories from the Campaign for America’s Libraries Web site. Tools include a sample press release and newsletter copy.

A downloadable Web button that can be linked to the official rules on the Woman’s Day Web site is also available.

The initiative continues a nine-year partnership between the magazine and ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries that has generated millions of dollars worth of editorial coverage for libraries. Since 2002, Woman’s Day has asked its readers to write in about “how the library has changed my life,” “how the library helped improve my health” and “how the library helped me deal with the tough economy.”

Woman’s Day magazine is a Partner in the Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians.

Imagine the publicity and joy it would bring to your community if a resident was published in Woman's Day magazine! But that can't happen unless you publicize this contest and encourage your users to enter. The web button is ready for you to download... Why not go for it?

Last Chance to Enter the 'Best of Show' Contest at ALA's Swap & Shop

If you're into marketing and you go to the American Library Association's Annual Conference, then you probably know about the Swap & Shop event. It's a place where you can see what sorts of promotional materials are coming out of other libraries across the U.S. Any library can send in samples of its promo materials to be seen & picked up & taken home by other visitors. It's all about sharing ideas and successes.

There's also a promo-material contest that's part of the Swap & Shop. And if you want to enter this year's "Best of Show" contest, you need to send your entry by April 15.

Here are the details, from the Swap Committee:

We know your library has amazing promotional materials: Newsletters, program announcements, reading celebrations, websites, YouTube videos and more. Here’s your chance to show them off! It’s that time of year again—we are looking for entries for the LLAMA/PRMS Swap and Shop Best of Show competition!

How can you enter? Download the Best of Show entry form and FAQ (includes category options and submission guidelines) on the LLAMA web site at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/llama/awards/lamaprmsswap.cfm. Entries must be postmarked no later than April 15, 2010.

Promotional materials produced between January and December of 2009 are eligible for this year’s contest. All categories will be judged on content, originality, design format and effectiveness by a team of experts in public relations and marketing.

For more information, contact Jennifer Duvernay at Jennifer.Duvernay@asu.edu, 480.727.7636

This year's Swap & Shop will be Sunday, June 27, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The theme is "PR Xchange." The "Best of Show" winners, as well as the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award winners, will be on display at the Swap.

You can read about last year's Swap & Shop here and here.

Working to Save American Libraries

As many of our readers know, libraries all across America are facing funding cuts. There are many efforts now to support them, and a couple popular speaker / blogger librarians have made useful lists.

Hat tip to Stephen Abram, who scanned all 50 states and posted a list on Stephen's Lighthouse.

And Jessamyn West recently did a round-up that she posted on her librarian.net blog.

Anyone know of other lists, or other campaigns? The more we work together and learn from each others' efforts, the better of we'll be!