Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Libraries Should Embrace Feedback Marketing

Are you paying attention to feedback marketing about your library?

Gary Stein includes a definition of feedback marketing:

Feedback Marketing (n): 1) a marketing approach where consumer desires are directly connected to product development; 2) the communication of such a system.

Also see Canuckflack for more discussion. This seems especially critical for any library designing a new service, upgrading an existing service/ resource, considering a new resource, building a new library...the list goes on.

Today's Front Pages From the Newseum

The Newseum, the interactive museum of news, has an interesting online exhibit, called today's front pages. Every morning, more than 300 newspapers from around the world submit their front pages to the Newseum, located in Washington, D.C., via the Internet. Sixty-eight of those front pages are then selected for an outdoor exhibit. All the front pages received that morning are also posted on the Newseum's Web site.

[From Dynamic Graphic's Liquid Treat]

Marketing Tip From Toronto: Get the Spring Breakers!

March is the busiest time of year for the Toronto Public Library. The library helps draw in the crowd by offering two weeks of special events and programs at most of their 99 branches to help entertain the kids on spring break. The schedule of free events includes: storytellers, magicians, clowns, mimes, musical entertainers, puppet shows, and theatre. See the Library Hotline, volume 34, issue 12, March 21, 2005 for more details.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Attention Libraries: Why You Need Good PR

Head on over to WebProNews and check out the article "Why Good PR Warrants Your Attention" by Robert Kelly. Kelly discusses the importance of monitoring what your publics think about your organization. Research first, then plan. Easy to know, but how many libraries follow that advice?

And Then There Were Two Library-Marketing Blogs

Finally, another blog that involves marketing AND libraries. I couldn't believe that LibTalk was the first and only blog of this genre for so long. That's why I'm glad to announce there's a new blog in town: Library Marketing-Thinking Outside the Box, a blog written by Jill, an undergraduate services librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University. The blog "is a collection of resources, readings, and creative marketing ideas to help librarians communicate with their patrons about what they have to offer." Jill welcomes your ideas and contributions to this new effort.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Communicating the Financial Squeeze

It's a sad reality today that library budgets continue to be cut nationwide. How can we communicate the consequences of these cuts to our communities in hopes of creating a public outcry that prevents the cuts from happening afterall?

Ohio's public libraries are slated for another 5% cut this year. My local library system, the Columbus Metropolitan Library system, is asking users to contact their legislators. The Ohio Library Council is also working hard to change legislators minds, and they're providing a forum for users to contact the governor about the proposed cut.

Ohio's academic libraries are not immune to funding problems either. OhioLINK is currently facing yet another year of flat funding. For the first time creative solutions will no longer work and services will have to be cuts. We're communicating this with users electronically through the Support OhioLINK Web site. OhioLINK's member libraries are handing local communications on their campuses.

What strategies have other libraries taken to communicate financial problems? Has anyone gained funding or staved off a cut as a result?

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Emerald's Library Link Has Marketing Section

Resource alert: Learn more about marketing your library from Emerald's Library Link.

Need More Analytics for Your Web Site?

From time to time I check the Dynix Institute's seminar archive. Here's one that might be of interest to those who want to find out more about their Web sites statistics:



Issues and Opportunities in Web Site Analytics for Libraries
March 22, 2005 | 8 AM to 9 AM Pacific

by Stephen E. Arnold


For more information or to register go to http://www.dynix.com/institute/seminars.asp

You can also find a list the Institute's archived seminars. A few seminars of interest include: