Marketing Plan for Government Documents Collection

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Marketing Plan for Government Documents Collection

• Carol Conroy
• Dongun Ni
• Marsha Pauline
• Janet Swift
• LIS 650 Management of Libraries Information
  Centers
• Fall Semester 2003

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Strategic Plan/Marketing Plan/Action Plan

• Mission Statement
• Vision Statement
• Overall Goal
• Overview of the Future
• Goals and Objectives

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Mission Statement

• The mission of the Government Documents
  Department is to ensure and provide free public
  access to public documents, and to organize,
  record and house print these materials for public
  use.
• Emphasize people rather than objects

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Vision Statement

• Public documents, easy to access, available to
  all
• Providing exceptional customer service for
  access to government information

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Overall Goal

• Make Hamilton Librarys Government Documents
  Department a world class information and
  knowledge agency by providing exceptional finding
  aids and ease of access to public materials both
  tangible and digital

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Overview of the Future

• Our planning assumption must be that in the
  future more and more funds will have to be made
  available to provide electronic access to all
  government documents. How can we ensure that our
  goals are a prominent part of Hamilton Librarys
  priorities how can we best organize our
  information resources and technologies to make
  the strongest contribution to the identified
  priorities and how can we best deploy our
  limited human and fiscal information technology
  resources to provide the best service to
  customers of this university and of this
  community?

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Goals and Objectives

• Leadership
• Programs
• Human Resources
• Financial Management
• Facilities
• Plan short and long term, revisit the plan
  annually

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Leadership Goal

• Provide vision, policy, planning guidance and
  quality control for Department services and
  resources

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Leadership Objectives

• Develop Department handbooks for faculty and
  students establish a comprehensive collection
  development policy in partnership with the
  faculty explore establishment of formal/informal
  relationships with national and international
  (U.S.) government documentation libraries

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Programs Goal

• Deliver information resources required for
  successful teaching, learning, and research, to
  ensure library users have the services they need
  at a level of quality that consistently meets or
  exceeds their expectations

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Program Objectives

• Develop and provide library-skill enhancing
  training classes and increase customer access to
  the librarys web page, databases, and holdings
  participate in Hamilton Librarys web page
  development to allow customers to access the
  Departments reference and research services
  through Voyager participate in consortia of
  Government Documents libraries to share
  information and access strategies.
• Develop marketing plan to double customer usage
  after two years

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Human Resources Goal

• Ensure elements are in place to recruit, train
  and effectively use library personnel in a
  flexible manner that acknowledges both the
  changing nature of the library profession and
  demands of our users.

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Human Resources Objectives

• Investigate establishing longer term internship
  positions from the UH LIS program to develop a
  specialty in access to government/public
  information
• Provide professional library association training
  for library staff focusing on access to
  government information and resource sharing
• Create a career ladder for professional
  government documentation librarians

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Financial Management Goal

• Provide management with adaptable fiscal
  policies and controls to achieve accountable and
  equitably resourced library resources and
  services

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Financial Management Objectives

• Focus financial resources and personnel on
  digital collections
• Provide budget requests at several budgetary
  levels to match level of integration of
  department and its mission with mission and
  priorities of Hamilton Library

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Facilities Goal

• Ensure library facilities are maintained to
  support the materials and services for the
  present and the future

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Facilities Objective

• Plan for equipment and automation to provide
  optimal customer service

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Marketing Plan(s)

• Marketing strategies
• Tips from the Government
• Tips from Library Literature
• Quantifying Marketing Objectives

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Marketing Plan

• An important and unique collection such as the
  Government Documents Collection should not just
  use Hamilton Librarys Strategic Plan, it needs
  its own!

• A marketing Plan needs to be written and made
  part of a Strategic plan/Action Plan

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Marketing Strategies

• Marketing Strategies from the Government
• Marketing Strategies from Library Literature

• Marketing Strategies already identified and
  underway in the Government Documents Department

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Marketing Strategies from the Government

• Federal Depository Library Program Home page
  FDLP Desktop

• Federal Depository Library Manual Ch. 7
• Federal Depository Conference Materials

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Tips from the Government

• Invite local Congressional office staff for a
  visit
• Develop an online notification system for new
  depository acquisitions
• Make guide cards to subject headings

• Create a display of colorful, controversial,
  unusual or provocative documents
• Circulate posters, prints, photos, maps and
  brochures to schools

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More Tips from the Government

• Depository Resources on Cable TV Community
  Announcements
• Use depository materials to establish a
  Procurement Assistance Center

• Network to promote together with other
  depositories
• Review or list new documents for local newspaper,
  radio or tv
• Mention unique resources in brochures

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Even More Tips from Govt.

• Celebrate depository milestones
• Utilize resources of GPO marketing program such
  as packets of bookmarks
• Send photocopies of subject bibliographies to
  interested groups

• Circulate copies of recent shipping lists and
  U.S. Government Books
• Host government information seminars
• Visit other depositories

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Even More Tips, Cont.

• Share information
• Develop special alcoves in the documents area for
  heavily requested material such as statistics or
  CD Roms
• Invite groups for tours

• Network with all libraries in the area
• Develop a publicity package highlighting U.S.
  Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional
  Record, National Trade Data Bank
• Provide fantastic public service

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Tips from Library Literature

• Do marketing research - keep transaction logs,
  circulation records, user surveys do focus group
  interviews, information interviews
• Revise the mission statement, make it part of a
  strategic/action plan

• Emphasize customer service
• Develop niche markets
• Examine your actual cost of services to determine
  if a better mix of services would be more cost
  effective and better enhance your reputation

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Even More Tips from Library Literature

• Identify current users
• Network with other Gov. Doc. Departments
• Subscribe to technical journals
• Attend professional conferences

• Investigate Hoffstra Universitys Business
  Marketing Center, a combination of Gov. Docs.
  And Business Reference that helps create jobs!

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Even More Tips from Lib. Lit., Cont.

• Coordinate with local job creation agencies such
  as DBEDT, City and County of Honolulu, OHA, Alu
  Like, etc. to network and present materials
  helpful to entrepreneurs

• Ongoing dog and pony show to let all kinds of
  agencies know what you have available
• Contact existing businesses
• Provide newsclipping service

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And More Tips from Lib. Lit.

• Establish links with Community Colleges,
  especially business and economics classes
• Special interest seminars on topics government
  provides information about, such as health issues

• Information on Science and technology materials
  should be distributed to local colleges and high
  schools science departments
• Statistical information on higher education is of
  great interest to post-secondary administrators

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Still More Tips

• Make sure interested parties know about the
  availability of environmental impact statements,
  historical documents
• Make an easy to access Government Documents
  website

• Put as much information and links as possible on
  your website
• Use direct marketing if you can afford it -
  advertise in print
• Devise training programs

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And More

• Write articles on what you have to offer
• Visit one-on-one
• Make press releases
• Offer open houses
• Participate in trade shows
• Identify competitors

• Devise strategies to compete - for example,
  consortia for cost sharing of privatized Gov.
  Docs. Online services
• Develop a theme of open access to Gov. Docs.

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More Tips, Cont.

• Quantify marketing objectives - increase usage by
  some target percent within some target amount of
  time
• Monitor results carefully, talk to customers to
  get comments

• Make sure staff is well trained in all areas of
  Gov. Docs. And in customer service
• Utilize whatever resources you have to pursue
  your marketing plan ( including increased numbers
  of student interns!)

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Marketing Strategies Already Underway

• Gov. Docs. web pages are being redesigned to
  help users
• Professional Conferences are being attended
• Informational visits are being conducted
• Brochures are available

• Outreach to faculty for training in Gov. Docs.
  identified as a goal
• Goal to investigate more digitization along with
  cost strategies

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More Marketing Strategies Already Underway

• Goal to develop guides for online resources
• Networking is being done with other depositories
  and other agencies

• Improved signage a goal
• Goal to increase staff professional development

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Recommendations

• Build on what is already being done with limited
  staff and resources
• Refocus efforts by making a Strategic Plan/Action
  Plan for Gov. Docs. top priority

• Examine current mission statement in terms of
  various tips tips recommend putting users first
• Develop Excellent Government Documents Internship
  Program to help market the collection

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Recommendations, Cont.

• Concentrate on customer service
• Assume an environment changing to more costly
  digital resources

• Make marketing efforts a systematic part of the
  Strategic/Action Plan with specific goals and
  objectives with timelines

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Recommendations, Cont.

• Develop strategies to protect and foster public
  access in this changing environment

• Despite unique constraints, continue to align
  Gov. Doc.s unique mission and vision within the
  larger agencys overall mission

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Conclusion

• Developing a Strategic/Action Plan unique to Gov.
  Docs. that concentrates on excellent service and
  includes a systematic marketing effort will
  result in increased awareness of the Department
  and in increased usage of its resources

• Stressing excellent customer service, ease of
  access to materials, and above all, the mandate
  to preserve freedom of information for the
  public, Government Documents will weather
  financial storms and other changes in the
  environment of federal depositories

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Tips from the Government

• Chapter 7 of the Federal Depository Library
  Manual Depository Promotion to staff, to
  primary users, to citizens of the U.S.
  Congressional district or relevant region
• 22 practical promotional suggestions
• Visits, displays, tv promotions, notices when
  special information becomes available,
  establish business procurement center,
  consortia cooperation, network, handouts, special
  areas for much requested items, invite tours,
  publicity packages, provide excellent public
  service

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Tips from Library Literature

• Many ideas overlap with Government tips and have
  been done by our Government Documents Department,
  including brochures, training, visits,
  cooperating with other libraries. The emphasis
  in the literature is on providing excellent
  customer service and special programs.
  Transaction logs, user surveys, focus group
  interviews would be useful to help formulate a
  marketing plan examine services and costs of the
  Department identify current users network
  electronically subscribe to technical
  journalsestablish a Business Marketing Center
  to help create jobsstructure a visitation
  schedule to other interested agencies, groups,
  existing businesses provide online information
  news services put on seminars let the public
  know you can provide out-of-state tax forms
  distribute special information to schools and
  community colleges EIS statements to interested
  parties make historical documents prominent
  make sure the web site is good consider direct
  marketing identify competitors and compete
  promote open access to government information
  quantify marketing objectives.

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More tips

• The emphasis in the literature is on providing
  excellent customer service and special programs.
  Transaction logs, user surveys, focus group
  interviews would be useful to help formulate a
  marketing plan examine services and costs of the
  Department identify current users network
  electronically subscribe to technical
  journalsestablish a Business Marketing Center
  to help create jobs

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More tips, cont.

• structure a visitation schedule to other
  interested agencies, groups, existing businesses
  provide online information news services put on
  seminars let the public know you can provide
  out-of-state tax forms distribute special
  information to schools and community colleges
  EIS statements to interested parties make
  historical documents prominent make sure the web
  site is good consider direct marketing identify
  competitors and compete promote open access to
  government information quantify marketing
  objectives.

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Conclusion

• Focus on developing a strategic plan/action plan
  that includes a marketing plan to increase usage
• Concentrate on customer service in an environment
  changing to more costly digital services
• Develop strategies to protect and foster public
  access in this changing environment
• Follow the larger agencys lead and its
  strategies in digitizing