Published
by the State Library of
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The
Ruth Appelhanz,
Marsha Bennett,
Community Relations Coordinator,
Gary Hartzell,
Carol Ann Robb,
Joanne Sunderman,
Pioneer Memorial Library in Colby
Sandra Wiechert,
Harry Willems,
Public
libraries across the nation are short of qualified staff, resources and money
because most of the public has very little understanding of what libraries are
doing today or what they could do in the future. Librarians and trustees in
libraries of all sizes will have to take major responsibility for changing the
outdated perceptions of public libraries and winning support. Marketing and
public relations are among the biggest unsolved problems of the library
profession.
While
the basic problems are the same, marketing and public relations tend to be very
different in a small public library than in a large one. The small public
library has very little money to spare for community analysis or for marketing
campaigns. But in a small community, a library can take a very personal
approach to reaching community leaders, library users, video consumers,
audiobook consumers, parents of small children or any other targeted audience.
This
publication is written for public libraries that serve populations of less than
8000. While it covers marketing techniques used by libraries, it starts with
the essential preliminary steps of community study and library evaluation. It
also has a very heavy emphasis on using human resources to help market the
library.
A
distinction needs to be drawn between marketing and public relations. Public
relations involves making the library and its programs and services visible to
the community. Marketing goes beyond that. Marketing is the process of getting
the customers to place a high value on the services so they will want to
consume and/or support them. Marketing involves defining a target audience and
planning specific strategies to make them value specific library services.
Rural
library directors are the most likely to say that they have neither time nor
money for direct marketing to funding authorities and target audiences. Yet
rural library directors are also the most likely to say that inadequate
financial support is their biggest problem. Such a disconnect between cause and
effect is much less likely in a small business, where a lack of marketing leads
directly to a lack of profit and a speedy dissolution.
This
publication makes two critically important points:
1.
Effective marketing can be done on a shoestring and, in a small library,
usually has to be.
2.
In a small public library, marketing is an excellent use of library staff time
and results in better library service.
MARKETING
ADVANTAGES OF SMALL LIBRARIES
Directors
of small libraries are often very aware that they don’t have all the financial
and human resources of a major urban library. The look of glossy brochures,
professional newsletters and expert publicity can be intimidating. But urban
libraries do not have all the advantages. Small communities have the friendly
human intimacy of their small size and public library staff can learn to turn
this to their advantage.
1. Small communities can be studied physically.
A lot of information can be gathered simply by looking at the entire town. A
librarian who joins in the life of the community will come to know community
residents from all walks of life.
2. In small communities, the community leaders know
each other and see each other regularly at well-established events. Many
librarians come to know and be known by community leaders simply by taking it
for granted that they are a community leader.
3. In small communities, it is easier to ask for
assistance. A librarian who wants to work with local government, local
organizations or local media can ask for a meeting. Naturally, there are
rebuffs in communities of any size but a lot of business is conducted more
informally in small towns.
4. A rural library usually has less media to
utilize, but they are less dependent on the media. It is not difficult to move
paper publicity, or electronic publicity, out into the community.
MARKETING
DISADVANTAGES OF SMALL LIBRARIES
One
major disadvantage of small libraries in regard to marketing is the
disadvantage of an undeveloped field. Rural librarians do not have many
opportunities to be trained in current marketing techniques. If they develop an
interest in the topic and start to read, they will find that very little is
written about marketing that is intended for small libraries.
However,
if the dramatic growth of library marketing as a top priority continues, this
will change. Some historical perspective reveals that the whole field of rural
librarianship has won increased respect and received dramatically improved
study in the past twenty years. The development of information technology has
drastically changed the rural library field, allowing small libraries access to
materials that would have been out of their reach only a few years ago.
The
other great disadvantage of small libraries in library marketing is financial.
Most small libraries have highly inadequate funds to spend on hours, staff,
materials and electronic information access. To redirect slender funds and
limited time to marketing the library is very hard to do. It takes time and
training to develop the longer view that:
1.
knowing the community very well leads to visibly better service;
and
2. effective marketing of excellent library
services leads to better library support.
Many
rural library directors are indeed offering excellent service. But they haven’t
always given thoughtful study to where their existing and potential strengths
are
nor
determined the best way to showcase these services to the community so that
community residents will value them.
Marketing
a library is very much a matter of the individual style of the library’s staff
and trustees. Those who care about the library will have to pick and choose the
methods and projects that will succeed in presenting the library to the
community. They should also remember that, in