You MUST see this presentation!

I heard Alane Wilson, senior library market consultant, OCLC, speak at Ohionet's annual meeting today on "Understanding User Perceptions." It was a fantastic presentation and one that I think anyone working in or with a library should hear. Whether you've read the OCLC's "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Services" report or not (I must admit, I've done more skimming than reading thus far), you must see this presentation! Luckily, you can watch Alane do her stuff from the comfort of your home or office by watching the SirsiDynixInstitute archive presentation of her talk. Go. Go now.

Alane's presentation and the way she framed her talk really got my gears turning. I have so many ideas and thoughts now I'm not sure where to start. Hey, why are you still reading this? Go listen for yourself.

Want publicity? Don't do this...

This week's issue of The Publicity Hounds Tips of the Week by Joan Stewart has even more good advice than usual. When working with the media to try and get publicity you should not:

• Pitch a story to a new media outlet without first reading the publication, or watching or listening to the program and studying what the reporter covers.
• Ask a reporter to read their story before it's printed.
• Ask a media outlet to cover a story because "you've worked hard on it or it deserves coverage."

For more of Joan's good advice on mistakes to avoid at all costs, read the article (yes, you'll have to scroll down a bit to story #1).

Joan's third article in this issue, "Attract PR Clients" is also relevant to libraries. Yes, the article is about how to attract PR or any business clients by going on the speaker circuit, but someone or rather a lot of someones from your library should be regularly offering to speak to community groups in your area.

Do you offer to speaker to Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, special interest clubs, business people, homeschoolers, PTO groups, churches, campus groups, etc. about how the library can specifically help them?! Unfortunately, far too many people still think of the library as an antiquated place to pick up a classic novel or to take the kids to finish a report. Offer to tell groups how the library can help their members save time, win business, save money, get an A on their paper, etc. People I talk to are still amazed at the wealth of resources from today's libraries. There are still many people (too many!) out there who are shocked that they can read industry journals for free from the office via library-purchased resources, find information in consumer reports or other popular magazines from home while they're relaxing in their pjs, and borrow blockbuster movies from the library. Answer the WIFM (What's in it for me?) question and you just might gain a new user/patron/customer.

Looking for more publicity tips? Check out these past posts:

• PR Mistakes You Don't Want to Make
• Know What Your Reporter Wants
• Silverman Asks Do Journalists Read Press Releases
  

Don't have award winning library PR materials? Get a makeover.

Could your library PR materials use a little help? Now there is a makeover opportunity for your library’s PR materials! LAMA’s PRMS Swap & Shop committee is continuing the popular PR Makeover event introduced at last year’s Annual Swap & Shop. This year it will be even bigger and better with makeover tips and both budget and deluxe versions of the makeovers.

How does it work? You send three copies of a library brochure that you’d like to see made-over. The “PR Doctors” and library promotions experts, Linda Wallace and Peggy Barber of Library Communications Strategies will select three lucky entries to be “made over” in both a low cost and higher end format. The makeovers will be unveiled during the Swap & Shop event on Sunday, June 25, 2006 from 11a.m. to 1:30 p.m. during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans (check conference schedule for exact location). You’ll have a chance to see the before and after brochures as well as consult with the “PR Doctors” during the event.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to get expert advice and possibly raise your library’s promotional brochures to new heights.

To submit a brochure for consideration, email or mail three copies of each entry to: librarycomm@librarycomm.com or LAMA PRMS PR Makeover, 5109 North Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60640. Include the name of the library making the submission, library staff contact name, mailing address, email address and phone number. Short questions about your entry may be directed to Swap & Shop chair, Jennifer Keohane (jkeohane@simsburylibrary.info or 860-658-7663.) Entries should be sent to arrive no later than May 1, 2006.

Do you have award winning library PR materials?

ALA's Library Administration and Management Association is giving you a chance again this year to show off your marketing stuff and gain recognition for your PR efforts via the Annual 2006 Swap and Shop Best of Show public relations competition. Entries must be postmarked no later than May 1, 2006. Entry forms are available online. See the information sheet with FAQ for more information.

Links Worth a Look

One of my favorite reasons for reading blogs is that I find out about many articles, resources and tips I would have missed otherwise. So to continue that spirit of sharing, here's some items that caught my interest recently:

• HigherEdBlogCon is on, so check it out. (thanks to infOpinions? for the heads up). One presentation that especially caught my eye is "Using RSS to Increase User Awareness of E-Resources in Academic Libraries "
• Read Posters Pool - Have you seen the pool of librarian read posters on Flickr? I always find it fun to look the variety of Read (or Research which still seems to fit much better for academic libraries IMO) posters available. Check out the OhioLINK Idea Gallery's poster section for more good ideas.
• Alice at the It's All Good blog mentions some good program ideas for National Library Week, or anytime. I love the dinner and a movie night idea.

There's more, but it's getting late for me, so stay tuned...

Get a date @ your library?

Did you catch the American Libraries' story about speed dating in a Belgium library? The story is online in case you missed it. This is definitely one program I’d like to see a library try around here. It could be a great way to get college kids into the academic library on the weekend. I think it has great potential to catch on with the under 40 crowd and get some special attention.

Has anyone tried this in the U.S.?

Promotional Products: The Best and Worst

I think I've found the absolute worst promotional product ever: the antimicrobial light switch cover. Because everyone wants a company's logo on their light switch cover. And we're all tossing and turning over fears of germy light covers. Who would ever want this thing?

As to the best promotional products, well, that depends on the event, the audience, etc., etc. I generally prefer to give products that are useful (and hopefully won't go right into the trash) and will be seen by multiple people. If they tie into the theme even better.

It would be nice to always be able to give something new and exciting, but those items usually aren't so useful. Umbrellas were probably the most complimented item I've given out. When I'm on the receiving end I tend to keep the useful items like portfolios, bags, travel mugs and pens while the more flashy, but useless trinkets are purged.

What promotional products have you found to be most useful?

LibTalk is Dead, Long Live LibTalk

I checked this blog for the first time in months today to see that I haven't posted in more than two months, officially killing off my blog. Horrors! But fear not LibTalk fans (if there are any), I'm back and I have my typing fingers on.

I won't bore you with my excuses for my long absence. Suffice it to say life trumped blogging, or my cat ate my laptop, or you know *insert excuse here.*

Rx for Pitches

Publicity hound Joan Stewart is offering a free teleseminar to help solve your media pitch problems on January 25 at 1 p.m. eastern time. Joan will choose some submitted pitches during the call. Registration is required.

In related news, you can now get the Publicity's Hounds Tips of the Week newsletter online and via RSS.

Free Info to Go

Two upcoming seminars at the SirsiDynix Institute may be of interest:

1. Knowing Who We Serve - To Serve Them Better Geo-Marketing: Customer-Based Research - February 08, 2006
   
2. Weblogs & Libraries: Communication, Conversation, and the Blog People - February 15

Don't worry if you can't make the Webinar, you'll be able to view the archived Webinar online afterwards. And if you haven't seen it already, check out Pat Wagner's archived seminar "Marketing As If Your Library Depended On It."

Newsletter Tips from a Pro

Kathy Dempsey, editor of the Marketing Library Services newsletter, gave some great tips every library newsletter writer, editor and contributor should keep in mind today on ALA's ACADEMICPR electronic list. I've summarized her tips below, with Kathy's permission:

• Don't just send the newsletter to everyone. Although opt-in newsletters "make the start-up more complicated, that's what people usually prefer to do. Sending to everyone then saying 'you can opt out' can make people resentful."
  
  
• When it comes to newsletters, one size doesn't fit all. Consider different newsletters for each audience. As Kathy explained, "faculty and students have very different needs, so if you want to create something that really matters to your audience, you need to customize for each different group."

• Give 'em what they want! "Don't forget to ask: why would people want to read this? If you give people something they want, you'll be more successful than if you push them content that you think they need. If we connect with the people first, later in the conversations we could say, "you know what else might be of use to you?"
  

Want to sign up for ACADEMICPR? From ALA's site
"To subscribe, send a message to: listproc@ala.org. Leave subject blank. In the body of the message, type: subscribe ACADEMICPR your first and last name."

Go Where the Users Are

After reading this post in the OH!Libraries blog, I went to the LibraryLookup Project page and downloaded the bookmarklet so that now with just one click I can find out if books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sites are available at my library.

This is such a cool program! I know it's been around awhile and I've seen it mentioned in other blogs, but I didn't get it until I tried it. This is another functionality libraries need to promote to users and nonusers alike. At work, we're constantly talking about how to be where the users are. In real-life this means posting flyers and publicity for library resources and services outside the library. It means taking library services and resources directly to the user no matter where they are. Online, it means integrating with online services the users are already using, like IM, Google, Amazon, etc.

So, if you haven't already, try the LibraryLookup Project bookmarklet and after you see how cool it is, start spreading the word.

What else is your library doing to go where the users are?

Yes Virginia, You Are a Marketer

Some people have asked me, who's job should it be to market the library? The answer: It's everyone's job. Every person from the student worker to the reference librarian to the janitor, is marketing the library. And they're doing so every hour, of every day. So we might as well do it effectively.

Thanks to Jill and the Library Marketing-Thinking Outside the Book blog for pointing out the article "In Your Business, Everyone's a Marketer" by Matt Blumberg and for reminding us of this important point.

Market Research You Can Use

Others have already mentioned this (ResourceShelf, ACRLog), but after looking at OCLC's "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources" report, I had to write about it too.

The report provides the "findings and responses from the online survey in an effort to learn more about: library use, awareness and use of library electronic resources, the Internet search engine, the library and the librarian, free vs. for-free information and the Library "brand."

What's great for academic libraries, is that the report separates out the responses from college students. Some of the findings from the college students' responses:

• "College students have the highest rate of library use and broadest use of library resources, both physical and electronic."
  
  
• Only 10% of college students indicated that their library's collection fulfilled their information needs after accessing the library Web site from a search engine."
  
  
• Only 2% of the college students that responded to OCLC's survey typically begin their search for information on a particular topic at the library's Web site (versus 1% of total survey respondents)
  
  
• 89% of college students typically use a search engine to begin their search for information on a particular topic (versus 84% of total survey respondents)
  
  
• After search engines, 33% of college students learn about electronic inforation sources from a librarian (versus 8% of the total survey respondents)
  
  
• What's the first source/place college students will choose next time they need information? 72% - search engines, 14% - physical library, 10% - online library, 2% - physical bookstore and 2% - online bookstore.

See the report for much, much more including sample verbatim comments.

Library Marketing Resources from Elsevier

If, like me, you're always on the look out for new library marketing and PR resources, you may want to check out Elsevier's Library Connect Pamphlet, "Marketing Library Resources: An Annotated Bibliography".

The OhioLINK Marketing Idea Gallery is mentioned, but it's buried under the article "The OhioLINK-YBP road shows: A partnership for vendor/library collaboration." Go figure. Still, I'm glad word is getting out about our marketing resources, and I hope others outside of Ohio find them helpful.

The latest Library Connect newsletter, from October 2005, also has some good stuff, including the article "Can You Lead a Horse to Water? Teaching Users About Electronic Resources," by Scott Walter.

Need Wombat?

No, not the marsupial. In this case Wombat stands for thr Word of Mouth Basic Training Blog, which is a project of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. I just found it so am still exploring, but it looks like some cool stuff.

Library Survival Guides

Popular Mechanics has archived 17 ways to survive worst case senarios like how to survive a riot, airplane crash, sandstorm, etc. The situations are adapted from the popular "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook." (link via lifehacker)

What does this have to do with marketing libraries? Well, it got me thinking, what about creating brief snappy guides to using library resources to survive real life situations like, perhaps, "how to survive your first college paper" or "how to survive starting a business without going crazy"? Then give users simple, easy steps on how the library can help them. Bonus points if you can use some humor.

The point? Done right, these guides could help show users the library isn't the stuffy, over-serious organization the stereotypes portray. And they just might teach users something about library resources too.

$50M Business Launches from Library

The Kansas City Star fills readers in on the Johnson County Library's lesser known treasures:
"Library in Rare Company" (Bullers, Finn. November 30, 2005)

Words of Wisdom from Roy

Here, here to several bits of wisdom from Roy Tennant's November 15 Library Journal article, "What I Wish I Had Known":

-I wish I had known that the solution for needing to teach our users how to search our catalog was to create a system that didn't need to be taught

-Read outside of the profession. Libraries do not drive the engines of innovation. Libraries are part of a niche market that either rides the coattails of other markets or gets left behind.

-It's about the user, stupid. While we were focused on crafting integrated library systems that served our needs, our users got left behind. Is it any wonder that they can't understand why our systems aren't as easy to work with as Amazon?

Summer Reading Clubs - They're Not Just for Public Libraries

Show 'em that academic libraries can be fun too:

This Summer, Worship a Book

(Elisabeth Leonard, Allie Carr, & Katy Farrell, —Library Journal, November 15, 2005)

Many UCSD staff did not know they could borrow books, use research databases, or ask librarians for assistance. We needed to educate staff about library services in a way that would be enjoyable and encourage lifelong learning. With the words “Read Write Think Dream” echoing in our minds, we devised the summer reading contest. The objectives were to encourage recreational reading, increase use of the libraries' collections, heighten awareness of staff library privileges, and educate staff about how to use library resources such as the library catalog.