It's a sticky subject in the library world: is it appropriate for public libraries to charge a fee for patrons to participate in programs?
I'm not trying to take sides, but rather illuminate some of the reasons why libraries might charge fees and to start what I hope will be a productive dialogue about this emerging dilemma.
âStudents are too busy nowadays.â Iâm sure weâve all heard it. So here are a few tips â from my own experience and crowdsourced from other very helpful librarians â to break through the haze of busy-ness and reach students.
Last year, I wrote about how you can use conditional formatting in Excel to track important deadlines for promoting library programs. In order to ensure that I remember to send something out to the more than 14 communication channels that we routinely utilize at the William H. Hannon Library, these customized spreadsheets have been indispensable.
At a small, rural library with no paid staff, one person (me) is in charge of all library operations: collection development, program implementation and marketing. I make use of as many free resources as I can to keep our library relevant.
With a scarily accurate algorithm, TikTok will fill up your âFor You Pageâ with an endless scroll of videos tailor-made to your interests and humor. Chances are, if you keep scrolling, youâll come across a library TikTok.
Library workers need to be skilled in outreach and marketing so they can promote their librariesâ programs and services and advocate for their organizations. But in many MLIS programs, skills like outreach and marketing â things that many programming librarians do every day, but that fall outside the âtypicalâ librarian job description â often go untaught, leaving workers to learn on the job.
The theme for National Library Week (April 4-10, 2021), âWelcome to Your Library,â promotes the idea that libraries extend far beyond the four walls of a building â and that everyone is welcome to use their services.
Your community is full of influencers who are fantastic advocates for public library services at many different levels, including elected officials, business leaders, local celebrities, and power users from your own patrons. We decided to cash in on this market and help use their personalities and library passion to advocate and promote our library for National Library Week 2020.
As 2020 begins to wind down, we can reflect on all that weâve learned about virtual programming. Many of us entered the year as novices, but we're leaving it with some serious skills â whether from wrangling a boisterous virtual book club or shifting a cultural heritage festival from stage to screen.
But have you mastered the art of marketing your virtual programs? Or are you still struggling to get people to log in?
Librarians are well aware of the importance of advertising for programs â after all, our program attendance depends on it, and there's no motivator like the fear of an empty room.Â
Above my desk at work is a postcard from the local grocery store.
When Palos Verdes Library District was charged with creating a large-scale, grant-funded program series for older adults, we knew we would have to be at the top of our marketing game. After all, big programs call for big marketing.Â
As much as we love fliers and posters, we knew that this time, they weren't going to meet our marketing needs. Your marketing plan really needs to match the size and amount of programming youâre doing, and it needs to be tailored to the audience you're trying to reach.
Librarians have always been seen as great sources for information. So when the quarterly community newspaper of Weare, a small New Hampshire town 70 miles outside Boston, closed in 2016, the residents looked to Weare Public Library Director Mike Sullivan for a solution.Â
Youâve spent months planning and putting in the hard work to ensure youâre delivering a quality program for your community. Donât stop there! Adding a few steps to your to-do list will increase your program's reach and impact.
Marketing can be tough in any library, but in a school library, where we are often solo librarians, it can be particularly difficult to fit it in. Here are three easy and cheap ways to market your school library and let everyone know about the fantastic things youâre doing!
A surprising amount of graphic design goes into a programming librarian's job, from creating signage for upcoming programs to repackaging photos you took at an event. Navigating these tasks is easier when you have plenty of free tools at your disposal.
There are a lot of great free photo editor tools available, but it can be hard to find one site or program that will do everything you need. Below, I outline three different tools that have helped me with display signage, web content creation and photo repackaging.
The elusive Facebook event. Who sees it? Do people actually use Facebook events anymore? Is it worth your time?
Determining whether your event is reaching your target demographic and getting people into your door can be a bit of a mystery. The good news is it's a low-cost mystery.
Designed to help bring people together, Meetup.com can be a useful tool to market your programs and develop a micro-community.
