Telling Your Story

During these challenging times we hear how important it is to tell our story. We've been working on this for quite some time - using the advocacy toolkit by PLA; holding workshops and developing key stories. Recently one of our consultants compiled some key stats for our public libraries and used those stats to capture some interesting thoughts. I wanted to share some of them with you and encourage you to think of ways you could do this for your library.



North Carolinians visited public libraries 44 million times last year, which is equivalent to filling the Dean Dome 2,023 times, the RBC Center 2,231 times, or Carter Finley Stadium 733 times.



There were almost 5 times as many visitors to North Carolina's public libraries (44.1 million) than visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (9.2 million --the most visited national park in the coutnry.)



Fifteen times more people attended library programs than the record attendance at an ACC Men's Basketball Tournament.



So what community comparisons can you make in regards to your library services?

It's all in the name

Someone recently shared this website which I found responds to many questions we often address. The site is intended to help library web developers decide how to label key resources and services in such a way that most users can understand them well enough to make productive choices. It compiles usability test data evaluating terminology on library websites, and suggests test methods and best practices for reducing cognitive barriers caused by terminology. I think this is very applicable to building design and signage also. The usability studies were fascinating. Looking at terms we often take for granted and how little they are understood by the public. It offers some great alternatives. check it out.
Library Terms that Users Understand: http://www.jkup.net/terms.html

Verification of What We Know to Be True

ALA released their 2010 State of America's Libraries report this week. No surprises, but I thought some of the findings might be useful. Yes we all know libraries are busier than ever with less staff and less funding. But what was interesting was the amount of supportive data pointing to the importance of our libraries during the economic hard times.
"The report shows the value of libaries in helping Americans combat the recession. It includes data from a January 2010 Harris Interactive Poll that provides compelling evidence that a decade-long trend of increasing library use is continuing- and even accelerating during economic hard times. More than 223 million Americans feel thatt because it provides free access to materials and resources, the public library plays an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed. So check out the report - maybe you can use some of the stats as a comparison to your library. Your local newspaper might be interested! The full text of the report is available at http://tinyurl.com/State2010.

Marketing to the Hispanic/Latino Populations

Tomorrow I'll be presenting at the Summer Reading workshop in Charlotte focusing on marketing the summer reading program to the Hispanic/Latino populations. An overview of my thoughts: Before we can improve our marketing efforts we must understand our audience. Many Hispanic cultures view libraries very differently. There are several misconceptions that affect how Latinos use the library. In my presentation I share these six misconceptions.
1. Libraries are for the educated.
2. The English term for library is confusing.
3. Libraries cost money, you have to pay for service.
4. There is a huge fear that libraries will pass on Personal information to governmental agencies.
5. Libraries have only English books.
6. Library use only -materials cannot leave the library.

Taking this and some of the cultural differences into consideration we can carefully plan our marketing efforts to the Hispanic community.

Tips On Preparing Marketing Materials

• Emphasize the visual. Use color.


• Emphasize the 4 F's - Free, Family, Food, Fun
  
• Use their language


• Get it down to basics


• Get help reviewing translations
  

Much more information can be found on library services for the Hispanic/Latino populations in the Spanish outreach section at WebJunction. The attached poster was done by the Moline Public Library and does an excellent job demonstrating the marketing tips.

Money Saving Ideas at WomansDay.com - How Public Libraries Can Save You Money

Money Saving Ideas at WomansDay.com - How Public Libraries Can Save You Money

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Thought you might be interested in the recent article in Woman's Day magazine. It really exemplifies how powerful customer stories can be. I've seen some great newsletters in North Carolina that often include customer stories. Anyone have interesting ones they would like to share? Send them my way and I'll post. Remember most customers won't share until asked!

Social Media

Yes we all know that social media is essential in our communication efforts. I'll admit sometimes it's frustrating to find the time for social networking, but "The Social Pulpit" - how Obama used social media in his campaign is really inspiring. I really liked the way they combine social media with targeting audiences to get their message across. The spheres of cross-influence is a great public engagement model. So if you get a chance take a look at this, there are definitely some applications that would work in your library.

Electronic or Print?

Recently there were several examples on PR talk about annual reports. And the discussion centered on struggling with the issues of do we use print or electronic format. Personally I like the idea of using both. One can get great coverage with an electronic newsletter, but it's often nice to have some print copies. During my public library years, when I did a lot of speaking to community clubs it was always nice to have an annual report or some summary sheet to actually hand to participants. Check out these great examples, if you have others to share let me know and I'd be happy to post.



http://www.metrolibrary.org/annualreport



http://www.plcmc.org/About_Us/Insights_2009_fall.pdf