2

Marketing your library

Abstract

This chapter discusses the need for marketing solo librarians' resources and services in order to maintain an important and continuing presence in their organizations and communities. Marketing strategies from different libraries will demonstrate the various methods and practices to enable solo librarians to meet this goal.

Keywords

library marketing solo librarians communication marketing strategies There are dozens, probably hundreds, of books and articles on how to market your library, as well as numerous workshops, webinars, and associated paraphernalia. You may have read them or attended them, or you may not have done so. But they all have one important component that might not be mentioned - the librarian's motivation to market the library successfully. If a solo librarian is motivated enough to want to market his or her library to be the best it can be (with apologies to the US Army's well-known slogan), then marketing the library is not an uphill battle. It may still be an enormous challenge, but with the proper motivation, successfully marketing a library can be accomplished. Many librarians, and those not involved in the marketing business, consider marketing a selling or, worse, a huckstering tool to get people to purchase items they don't want or don't need. Some people find marketing beneath them, and either loath it or ignore it as a library activity. Many librarians believe that if you passively offer resources, whether they are books, electronic databases, or other library materials, patrons will come and use them. But librarians who ignore marketing their libraries and their resources do so at their own peril - there are many choices and options for people to find books or other information on the internet (including the dreaded Google and Wikipedia!). Many people may ask "Who needs libraries or librarians?" But librarians perform a distinct and important service, providing people with the proper information and the proper resources that they may not know are available to them - they are truly the information gatekeepers. So library marketing is essential to ensure that your customers (or your patrons, if you prefer that term - to me, they are interchangeable) know what you have available for them to use. Garoufallou et al. (2013) provide a comprehensive literature review of library marketing services, convincingly demonstrating to the library profession that marketing for any type of library is vital and necessary. To begin with, let us clarify what marketing is. Marketing, according to Webster's College Dictionary, is "the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or a service" (Merriam-Webster, 2011). Many librarians will most likely blanch at the word "selling" in this definition: a task that librarians will not do. But let us think differently for a moment - does selling here have to mean earning a commission or coercing a customer or patron to purchase an item they do not want or need? Not necessarily; in this case, "selling" in a library sense could mean to sell the patron use of an online reference service to borrow a book that they may not have thought of reading before. Does that involve any huckstering? Yes, it does, but it doesn't have to imply that a librarian is trying to hoodwink patrons into using services they don't need. Robinson (2012) strongly demonstrates that the ideas of Peter Drucker, one of the best-known business thinkers of the twentieth century, can be used to create successful library marketing strategies. Librarians are using marketing ideas and strategies, as well as focusing on what their patrons need - and selling them those services, even if the services don't cost any money to use. So selling is an extension of marketing - but librarians need to market their services so that their patrons are satisfied with their experience in the library. And this satisfaction extends to more visits, more uses, and (not always, but usually) budgetary funds to increase library usage. Jose and Bhat (2007) stress the seven "Ps" of successful library marketing - product offer, price, place, physical evidence, promotion, processes, and people. And even if budgets aren't increased due to marketing, marketing is an activity that any librarian can and should do - it is the life-blood of why one is a librarian, especially a solo librarian. It is the means for our existence and our occupation. Now that we have defined what is marketing, and how crucial it is for solo librarians to practice it, how do solo librarians market their libraries successfully?

Resources and strategies

When people think of marketing, they usually think of large, expensive campaigns involving a lot of time and money and effort that a solo librarian usually does not have. Marketing products and some services generally does involve this effort, but library services usually are not in this category. In fact, marketing can be run on a very limited budget. How can this be accomplished? The simplest way that solo librarians can market their services is by word of mouth. Simply getting away from behind your desk or in your office and helping students on an individual basis is the best way that solo librarians can connect with their students, help them, and market their services. A solo librarian need not have all the fancy electronic databases or the most books available for checkout - a solo librarian need only possess the drive, the intelligence, and the passion to provide excellent services for patrons. Once patrons see that a librarian is helping them (or at least trying to help them), they should (but, of course, do not always) continue to use your library's resources (which include yourself!) and tell their colleagues the same. Successful word-of-mouth campaigns also extend to a solo librarian's presence in her/his institution or workplace (Barber, 2014). If solo librarians just come in to work and keep their heads down and sit in their offices, no one, including management, will notice them and use their services. It is imperative that librarians, in addition to helping their patrons, take an active role in their organizations. Volunteer your time on a committee or a charity that you enjoy, offer to conduct research for a department, and use your services resourcefully and successfully - these are simple, yet very effective, ways for management and the rest of your colleagues to take notice of your work. Granted, you may receive more work than you wish to obtain or can accomplish (don't take on too much that you cannot handle!), but assist your organization by offering your knowledge and your resources - doing so can only give you needed exposure and generate goodwill and (perhaps) financial benefits that will allow you to provide even more services, not only to your patrons but to your colleagues as well. Another way to raise your visibility is to go outside your library - actively educate your patrons, whether they are students or co-workers, about the resources you have available in your library (as well as your own expertise, which is a valuable resource in itself!). This education experience can consist of a short PowerPoint or Prezi presentation of available resources or can be a live tour of your library and its resources, yourself included (e.g. research consultations). The main point here is to get away from behind your desk and out of your office and connect with your patrons - they will put a name to the face and a face to what you have available to help them when they need assistance in their studies or office work. Here, action is an even more potent marketing tool than just word of mouth; actively demonstrating your resources to your patrons shows them what you actually do, as opposed to just handing them a brochure on your available resources. And it is important to maintain this relationship of connecting with your patrons on a regular basis: provide them with updated resource lists, new books available in your library, and specific, useful websites in their fields of study or work - this can easily be accomplished with regular emails to your patrons (made a lot simpler if you have a smaller library, which most solo librarians do have). This is one of the benefits of running a smaller library; you can personalize your service a lot more easily than a larger library. And a personalized reference or research service will usually result in your patrons turning to you again if they need assistance. If possible, given space and time constraints, make your library available to other groups in your organization; for instance, if you can hold a book group or studying or tutoring group in your library, do so. Libraries are (and should remain) havens of peace and quiet, but sometimes they can become too quiet and underused, and seen by many as a place not conducive to some interaction with patrons. Hosting these events will demonstrate to your patrons that a library can be a living place where they are welcomed (and those who may not have heard of your services and your resources may use them as a result of the library's openness to the organization). If at all possible, try to give the community access to your library; there may be impediments and reasons for not allowing the community to use your...