Category: Marketing

May 26, 2006

Perceptions. Libraries. Salesmanship.

If you haven't read the Perceptions of Libraries report conducted by OCLC (which analyzes and summarizes findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and preferences)then it might be the thing-to-do. I say this because with all this talk about libraries, technology, web2.0, social software etc. and librarians trying to stay on top of it, the whole idea may not take off if we don't make our libraries a more visible part of the communities we exist in.

The report is really long. I won't say I actually read the whole 290 pages but I did scan it. I also did the next best thing. I attended a very excellent presentation by George Needham (OCLC VP for Member Services) at the SJRLC 2006 Spring Membership Program and Meeting. Bruce highighted the main points and summarized the findings and got my psyched about some things I want to start thinking about.

The report surveys "information consumers" about their library use and their awareness of information resources. When people were asked about their information-seeking behaviors, libraries were not tops on their list. In fact libraries were often down at the bottom. When asked about visiting a library, 96% said that they had visited a public library in person. I am guessing this can be translated to mean--visited a public library --ever-- in person. Should we be encouraged? No. The picture is more dismal when looking at the numbers of people who have visited an online library web site. Only 27% had. When asked where they typically start their information search, not surprisingly, 84% said they start at search engines. 1% used the library web site. OMG.

So what good is all this work to take advantage of pricey databases, ebooks, RSS, podcasts and social bookmarking, when a huge percentage of users couldn't place us online? It's not so good. I think before we start creating all these great new add-ons to our sites, we need to create a presence first. An online presence and a community presence.

People associate libraries with books. And just books. This is not my observation. This is a finding from this study. The good news is that we have a solid message. We have market penetration. Libraries=books. We need to take advantage of the branding that already exists and take off on it. Librarians need to start reading books on selling. We need to be in the business collection more and less in the 000's.

At my library (The Burlington County Library System), our business librarian goes to local rotary club meetings, economic development offices and chamber of commerce events to talk about what we can offer the business community. She sells the library by telling people how we can make their jobs easier for them. Our children's librarians go to back-to-school nights to sell the library to parents and teachers. Our outreach coordinator sets up booths at local fairs and festivals. Outright selling is not in our genes but it is so necessary if we want to stay relevant.

And relevancy isn't just for search engines.

Posted by Ranjna Das at 10:37 PM | Comments (1)