Promoting online resources to staff and customers: public library examples

1
Promoting online resources to staff and
customers public library examples

• Kate DavisElectronic Services Librarian
• Gold Coast City Council

2
About the online collection

• 75 databases, covering variety of subject
  areas
• Art, music and culture
• Business and law
• Encyclopedias and general reference
• Family history
• Games and fun
• Health and medicine
• Leisure and lifestyle
• Library science
• News and popular press
• Reading and literature
• Science and the environment
• Social science and history
• Technology and computing tutorials

3
The challenge of promotion

• How to promote a diverse collection?
• How to increase usage of individual products
  across the board?
• How to create a clear and consistent message
  across 13 branch libraries, two mobile libraries
  and corporate library?
• How to communicate particular messages to the
  appropriate user group?
• How to promote efficiently, at minimal cost?

4
Strategies

• Prepare a marketing plan
• Segment target markets
• Create consistent messages, city-wide
• Make use of multiple communication channels

5
Promotional themes

• The finer things in life art, music and
  literature resources _at_ my online library
• Wikipedia and beyond encyclopedias and more _at_ my
  online library
• Tie-in with back-to-school
• Read all about it! Free online newspapers _at_ my
  online library
• Tie-in with Harmony Day and 21 Days of Harmony
  focus on promotion of materials in languages
  other than English
• Enterprising information resources for small
  business _at_ my online library
• Healthy, wealthy and wise consumer information
  resources _at_ my online library
• Tie-in with Councils Active Healthy program

6
Promotional themes

• In search of a good read readers advisory tools
  _at_ my online library
• Tie-in with city-wide Warm up with a hot book
  promotion
• Homework tips for cyber kids _at_ my online library
• Tie-in with Childrens Book Week
• Learn a new skill _at_ my online library
• Tie-in with Adult Learners Week
• Convict capers and family feuds family history
  resources _at_ my online library
• Tie-in with Heritage Week
• Welcome to my online library

7
Communication channels

• Posters
• Events, eg
• Youre in business! A practical workshop on
  getting started in small business
• Back to school with Encyclopedias 101
• Get the most out of your MP3 player
• Money matters (financial literacy workshop)
• eNewsletter (and NextReads newsletters)
• Online resource promotional space on front page
  of website and OPAC
• Face-to-face front line staff and point-of-need
  promotion

8
Promoting to staff

• Staff awareness of the collection is key to
  increasing usage
• Promotion to staff is just as important as
  promotion to end users maybe even more
  important
• Emphasis of promotion and training
• Awareness of collection
• Ease of use as easy as Google
• Noticeable shift in perception in last twelve
  months, but still more work to do in shifting
  (and maintaining) perceptions

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What else can we do to increase usage?

• Make it as easy as possible for customers to use
  online resources
• Offer basic computer training to up-skill
  customers (and surreptitiously promote online
  resources!)
• Seek advice from experts your organisation's
  marketing and communications people
• Identify useful staff skills and capitalise on
  them (eg graphic design, training expertise)