Talk:Marketing for Libraries

A few questions to get the discussion going:

What sorts of marketing have you seen in academic libraries? Did any of them entice you to try a service or simply catch your attention?

What methods do you think are the most effective for reaching academic library users in general? Specific groups of users, such as faculty?

Ask a librarian.

When I was doing my undergraduate work at UCLA the library had someone hand out tiny little key chains along the main pathway. The tag said "Ask a librarian" and included that web address for the live chat portion of the library's homepage. It was something fun and different (as opposed to yet another flyer shoved into my hand) that interested me and encouraged me to visit the site.

Academic Library Marketing

This is a great way to "market" your presentation. Academic libraries have not been a leader in the marketing arena, but they are getting better. I'm pretty sure that I mentioned already the Librarian Trading Cards at Gettysburg College.

One of my colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University was the first documented librarian to go outside of the library to find users. About 6 years ago she took her laptop and a sandwich board to the academic department to which she was affiliated and answered reference questions on location.

Some academic libraries have PR practices for serving snacks late at night during exam week. One library had a counselor available during exam week to help stressed out students.

You know my favorite academic library in Oklahoma has a rich history of marketing and pr to the university community.

Sue

Social networking

I've read several articles recently about how academic libraries are using Facebook and MySpace to engage students. Students who join a group are "invited" to special library events, such as art receptions, meet-the-author nights, etc. Some libraries are getting a larger turnout sor such special library events using this method.

~Amy

Surveys

I have seen some academic libraries provide surveys for their students. The surveys were multiple choice

-strongly agree -agree -neutral -somewhat disagree -disagree

and written responses. The surveys included library and reference hours, ILL, course reserves, and special collections. Suzie

Faculty Orientation

In some schools, the librarian is part of new faculty orientation activities and meet with them as well. Once the faculty brings the class to use library services, a partnership is created with librarians.

Ethel

Trading Cards

Columbia College in Sonora California has created a unique method of providing the information the library offers its customers. With pocket sized cards of the services offered by the library, the interim library director, Brian Greene, began strolling through the campus, passing the cards out to the students. The cards were developed by a local graphic designer and are proving to be very succesful.

Lynn

Information Literacy Classes

I think information literacy classes are a very effective way to market the academic library to university students. As an undergrad, I did not use the library ever before attending an information literacy class conducted by the library in conjunction with an English literature class. I learned how to use various library resources, plus I learned about the library and its benefits in the process. After that, I started actively utilizing the academic library on campus for its resources or as just a place to study.

Kien

While taking LIBR 210 we had an assignment to interview two librarians. One of the librarians I chose worked in the academic setting. I was very fortunate to be able to aobserve the librarian teaching an art class on information literacy. The professor of the art class stated that this was one of the most important topics his students should learn and that they were very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the librarian in gaining knowledge aout how to use the library effectively for their research. I do think that it is so important to get the buy-in from the faculty. Many instructors in education are unaware of the resources that the library offers. This can be especially true of small rural colleges.

Lynn

When I was an undergraduate at San Francisco State University, the university required all students to pass the Information Competence Requirement Exam (http://oasis.sfsu.edu). This examination test students on their abilities to utilize the academic library's online resources and other sources to find information. Because of this, I decided to take an information literacy class to help prepare for the exam. Looking back, I realized that the class was also a very effective marketing tool that has increased student's awareness of the school's academic library. The information literacy class encouraged me to visit the school's academic library more often and learn about all of its resources and services. Not only did this class helped me prepare for the exam, it also helped me to be more aware of the resources that the academic library has. As a result, I became a frequent visitor and user of the school's academic library.

Peter

Little experience with Academic Library Marketing

When trying to remember anything about my undergrad library experience in relation to marketing I really don't remember any clever tricks/promos they offered. I was already someone who loved the library and so didn't need to be convinced to enter, but think that some marketing/education would have been beneficial. It was before chat reference was supplied and I never had any information literacy classes. However, I think that the information literacy classes would have had the greatest impact on me had they been offered. Maybe it would have even saved me a few trips to Seattle (I went to college in Tacoma) to use the U of W resources as maybe I actually had access to them from my college's library, but was unaware of all the services offered. Seeing the resources/information presented in this wiki and thinking back to my academic libray experience really brings home the fact to me that marketing is highly important in an academic setting. - Geneva

Ask a Librarian

This is a nice touch. I like the keychain idea and by having it lead you to the live help it was a modern method instead of saying go talk to the librarian at the reference desk.--Rachel Wolf