Library Revolution

Copyblogger had an interesting post yesterday about indirect selling. (Read the article!) The main idea is that blogs promoting products and services (such as your library’s blog) are the most effective if they aren’t always in heavy sales mode. As the article points out,

“…if you spend all your time relentlessly pitching your wares, you’ll find that you alienate a good portion of your prospective audience.”

Using a set of “prospect awareness categories” first introduced back in 1966, the article gives some  sound advice and strategies for reaching different parts of your readership and “sell” your business (or library) to them in a more subtle way. I thought this was an approach that lent itself particularly nicely to public library bloggers, who often grapple with the challenges associated with communicating with a widely diverse potential audience.

The bottom line, though?

“The blogs that attract audiences in the first place offer valuable content—it’s as simple as that. While pitching relentlessly from your blog may work for a limited group of Internet marketing types, it likely will ruin your blogging effectiveness for most businesses.”

Got that? Offer valuable content. Maybe that’s easier said than done (OK, definitely that’s easier said than done!). But it’s key. If your blog isn’t worth reading, no one will read it. And that doesn’t convert your effort into use by your community of the services you’re trying to promote. Then it’s just all a big waste of time.

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Wow, I wish I could have gone to this!!!

Reading the summary (thanks, Laura for posting it!), I was really struck by just how much I could identify with the comments of the panelists. I can’t even tell you how easily they could have come from my own family and friends… and some of them even from myself! My husband and I are really the only active library users among our immediate family members and in our social circle. And it’s not always easy to find incentives to stay active library users.

Yes, I am a librarian. But I’m also a busy working mother, and I do not work in a library. A lot of the time using the library is something I have to really make a conscious effort to do. And it’s often something that takes a pretty signifigant amount of effort, based on library hours (limited on the weekend), distance from my house (it’s FAR! and in completely in the wrong direction!), and program schedules (why, oh, why are there no weekend toddler programs??).

Of course, I do make an effort to use the library. But it’s not always easy to get what I need. Even as a fellow librarian, I often have a hard time figuring out the cryptic rules and regulations most public libraries (at least in this area) like to enact. You know: You can take out three dvds for seven days, unless they are new - that’s three days. Plus the fine rate for a late return on those is higher. Except for the foreign films. Take as many of those as you want. And that dvd owned by another library… that one is a 10-day loan but you can’t renew it and the fine is half as much as ours. Have a nice day!

The panelists in the session I linked to above also mentioned the issue of being intimidated by the library. I think that crazy confusing rules play a big part in creating a sense of intimidation, at least for me. For others less familiar with public library practices, I can only imagine that being confronted with a two-page handout outlining the rules for registering for children’s programs would make one’s head spin even more. Why do we wonder why folks find libraries intimidating when we make things so hard???

Another thing that makes using the library less than convenient for me is the utter lack of information about the library and it’s offerings that reaches many patrons. I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. The three public library newsletters that clutter up my mailbox go directly into the trash can with the rest of the junk mail. It’s jsut so much noise competing for my attention. And it loses every time. I’m not alone - I asked my neighbor the other day if she reads the library newsletter. She couldn’t really remember off hand if they even get one. When I told her that we get three on our street, she was confused… if she did pay attention and read it, which one would she read?

What’s really too bad is that so many public libraries depend entirely on a newsletter, a bulletin board in the library and Web site (I also do not go to the library Web site) to communicate their offerings to their patrons. But for many of us, this misses the mark entirely. The panelists suggested reaching out through the local pizza place… now that’s an idea. No matter how busy and distracted I am, there’s always time for pizza. Or the supermarket. Or Starbucks. That’s where I am. That’s where you’ll reach me. (Don’t make me come to you!!)

Librarians are always complaining about image problems faced by the library, and I’m not going to say there is a simple solution to this. But I really think that the problem lies less with the message the library tries to communicate with the community and more with the way that they try to deliver the message. You can have the coolest, hippest library with the greatest services in the world. But if whole segments of your community toss your primary mode of communication directly into the trash without even looking, what good does it do?

OMG! Am I talking about marketing?!?!?!?

For me, the bottom line is convenience. I’ve got 24 hours in my day, and if I take the whole “librarian” aspect of my life out of the equation, going to the library really falls into the “errands I have to do” category — like picking up the dry cleaning, going grocery shopping, and getting the dog groomed. So, for library services to fit into my lifestlye, they need to be fast. Easy. Convenient.

I shouldn’t have to put a lot of effort into informing myself as to what the library has to offer. Because I won’t.

I shouldn’t need a MLS to be able to find something on the shelf when I get there. Because I’d rather sit on my butt and have Amazon or Netflix deliver to my door.

I shouldn’t have to deal with a labyrinth of rules and regulations to sign my kid up for a 30-minute program. “Hi, Gymboree? We’ll be there on Saturday at 10.”

Free is not enough.

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She** is frustrated. She and her colleagues spent a lot of time designing their library’s blog, determining content, establishing tone, making sure that every aspect projected the correct image for the library. It was supposed to open up communication with the patrons. It was supposed to bring in new users and make the community more aware of the library and its services. It was supposed to just work.

When I spoke to her the other day, she was ready to throw in the towel.

“Nobody comments. Nobody reads. I don’t think anyone even knows it’s there.”

And I know that she isn’t alone… I’ve heard the “Library Blog Blues” many times before. Unfortunately, there isn’t one single answer. Does blogging work for businesses and libraries? Yes. Is it easy? NO. Creating a “successful” blog is an extremely complex endeavor, and I think that too many libraries are suckered by the myth that if you put a blog together for your organization, the right people will just find it and use it. But in real life it’s not nearly that easy.

We discussed this, and talked about some of the thing she might experiment with to jump start things a little. We talked about the blogs we personally liked to read, the things we perceive as making a blog “successful.” We talked about some of the things other libraries are doing that they felt were really working for them. She still seemed daunted.

Then I mentioned marketers and how they always talk about “telling a story.” You know, presenting something authentic and compelling that your readers can identify with. Not necessarily a narrative (or maybe so!), but writing something your readers can connect with emotionally and that will engage people.

“We don’t really tell stories,” She said with a thoughtful expression, “We just tell people what’s new in the library. Maybe there’s something to that…”

So we brainstormed.

Instead of a post like this (I see these posts every day!):

“XYZ Public Library has just expanded their collection of knitting books. If you are interested in learning more about knitting, take a look at these new titles: (List Of Books)

Also, out Tuesday Night Knitting Club is always looking for new members. Contact the Reference Desk for more information – XYZReference”

What if the post read more like this:

“Not long ago, while doing my regular Wednesday night reference shift, I realized I had helped seven different patrons that week track down books about knitting. As I was helping them, I realized that only one of the seven knew that our XZY Library has a knitting group that meets on Tuesday evenings!

As an avid knitter myself, I helped coordinate this group about four years ago. We have about 9 men and women from all over CommunityXYZ who just love getting together each week to knit and talk. It’s a great social experience and the members are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to knitting. Just last week, one of our members had a problem with an afghan she was working on, and the rest of the group put their heads together to help her get out of the jam. Just look at the beautiful finished product! (Picture of afghan)

This group is always ready to welcome new members, and since it looks like we may have a knitting craze going on, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some new faces! Drop in on Tuesday evening around 6 pm, or for more information, make sure to contact us at xzylibraryreference@xzylibrary.com .

With the run on our knitting books, I also thought it might be time to refresh our collection a little and add some more current books to interest knitters. Here are just a few of the books we now have to offer our growing population of avid knitters. (List of titles with links to catalog – maybe a short blurb on each?)

Don’t worry about availability on these books. Put one of them on hold if it is checked out!

–Emily the Librarian”

OK, OK. It’s not the perfect post. And it took a lot longer to write. But this is the sort of thing we brainstormed that day, and it definitely tells more of a story. A story about the library, the community, the individuals involved, and the resources available. (Plus, if I’m a knitter in XYZ Community and I Google XYZ knitting, maybe just maybe I’ll come up with this!!)

She and I brainstormed what other kinds of stories her current library blog might tell, and I think something clicked. She was excited again.

I got an email from her today:

“I got 6 comments yesterday!!! :)”

Does your Library’s blog tell a story?

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** This librarian didn’t want to be identified… yet.

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Ellen at Half Hollow Hills Library (one of our local Long Island libraries)sent me a link to their Flickr photos showing a recent in-library publicity project. To promote their new video on demand service, they used movie star cutouts holding bookmarks. I really got a kick out of the pictures of Johne Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, etc. hanging out in the stacks and with the staff. It’s nice to see them promoting a fun service in a fun way.

While I was looking at these pics, I also saw some of their children’s program photos. Loved the pics of the kids reading to the dogs.

Thanks, Ellen, for making me smile.

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