Blowing Our Own Horns: Library Marketing as an Essential Management Skill

This New and Noteworthy review column presents a few recent, representative books and articles on library marketing and public relations, focusing on the importance of these areas in the library manager\u27s skillset

Making It Prosper: The Role of Marketing in Developing a Successful Virtual Reference Program

Designing and developing a service is only one part of the implementation process. Equally important to the successful execution of any service is marketing, making the service known to potential users. For members of the Michigan Research Help Now Virtual Reference Collaborative, marketing Ask-A-Librarian has involved group efforts by the collaborative as well as individual efforts at each institution. This presentation begins with a rationale for marketing, explaining why it is necessary and what it accomplishes. It then focuses on the multi-faceted marketing and promotional needs of Virtual Reference whether the institution is large, small or in between. The audience for Virtual Reference is diverse and successfully reaching this audience requires an on-going strategic and focused effort, a marketing plan. The presentation includes discussion of the ways members of the Michigan collaborative have worked together to market the service as a whole, looking at how this has evolved and changed over the 10 year history of the collaborative. It also outlines the marketing strategies used at different institutions. Traditional methods of marketing will be explored as well as the use of social media such as Facebook. Along with looking at differing marketing strategies, the presentation will review ideas on reaching varied audiences: faculty, on-campus students, off-campus students, online students, and those at satellite campuses. Format for the presentation involves lecture and small group discussion. The presentation seeks to challenge participants to develop a marketing plan and to consider new and creative means of outreach

Analyzing Library Marketing and Communication Efforts at Liberal Arts Colleges

Academic libraries are constantly changing in response to advances in technology. One facet of this is how libraries are promoting and marketing themselves to patrons. Social media has become a tool many businesses use to promote themselves, and libraries have started to use it to connect with patrons and educate them on resources. There is currently a limited amount of literature on how smaller academic libraries are approaching social media as well as how they are generally marketing themselves to the campus community. We conducted a study to determine how other small liberal arts college libraries are using social media and other promotional materials for outreach, communication, and marketing as well as the staff involved in this process. We surveyed participants (N=33) and asked them questions regarding their usage with social media, newsletters, and marketing material for promoting their library. Our data was then used to assist Hope College Libraries in their marketing efforts

Analyzing Library Marketing & Communication Efforts at Liberal Arts Colleges

Marketing & communication in academic libraries is an area that has received growing attention in recent years, with many institutions devoting increased staff time to these efforts; however, most literature focuses on projects at larger institutions. This study surveyed small liberal arts college libraries’ usage of social media & other promotional materials for outreach, communication, & marketing, as well as the staffing levels needed for this work, & documents how it impacted practice at one liberal arts college

Library Marketing: Education & Practice

Abstract: Marketing and outreach services are an increasingly important part of library services. The main objective of this research project was to study library marketing and outreach, both in education and in practice, and to propose changes to the field at large and in the sub-field of library marketing to ensure a more sustainable future for library and information science institutions. The key questions of this project are: what is the demographic landscape of public library marketers; what is the ideal educational and professional background for public library marketers; what processes and methods are used by public library marketers; and what institutional setup, framework, and support helps facilitate successful library marketing. For the purposes of this project, successful library marketing is defined as library marketing activities performed by library professionals who: (1) engage their patron base in an active dialogue; (2) demonstrate the value and importance of their library to their community & stakeholders; and (3) use innovative and creative methods for promotion and outreach. This project was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Certificate of Advanced Study in Library and Information Science in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015. CAS Project Committee: Associate Professor Terry Weech, Chair; Assistant Professor Nicole Cooke; Peggy Barber.Ope

An Historical Overview of Marketing in U.S. Libraries: From Dana to Digital

This paper explores the past and present of library marketing in the United States. While library marketing’s foundations were established by John Cotton Dana more than a century ago, not every library is up-to-speed in its knowledge or practice. Today, there are "Haves" with plenty of space, staff, and money, and "Have Nots" that lack some of those necessities. In the midst of this uneven landscape, this article discusses the organizations and publications that support marketing, details library marketing trends in four categories (Using data; Successful strategies; Technology; Relationship marketing), and lists national campaigns and awards for effective library marketing campaigns and collateral. In this broad overview, attention is also given to the continuing challenges facing libraries as they undertake new or expanded marketing programs, including likely future scenarios

Joplin Public Library community analysis

This community analysis was conducted by the 9410 Public Library Communities in Context class in the University of Missouri's School of Information Science & Learning Technologies. The research team consisted of one professor and six students, each of whom contributed various types of expertise to the project. The course was primarily intended as an active and hands-on learning experience. The enrolled students developed, tested, and refined their ideas for community analysis.University of Missouri, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, 9410 Public Library Communities in ContextIncludes bibliographical references

Information Outlook, December 2010

Volume 14, Issue 8https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2010/1007/thumbnail.jp