The Web Junction course that I chose to take was Retailing Methods and Techniques in Libraries. The aim of the course was to teach the student how to market your library as you would a retail operation. The instructor claims that the mistake of many libraries is to not realize that they are in competition with other businesses for patronage, and lack a clear focus of the product that they provide.
He puts forth a narrow definition of the services that a library provides as a product (circulating material, programming, computer access, information [reference] services, and customer service) and goes on to stress how important it is to market those products to patrons as you would any other retail product. He highlights the mistakes that he claims that many libraries make, such as not keeping track of the exact dollar amount of fine transactions, lack of clear and effective advertising of the library's services, and not reacting swiftly to a community's changing information needs because "that's the way we've always done it".
He also stresses how a sense of urgency and a friendly and open attitude toward customer service is necessary, as is placing trained staff on the library floor outside of the circulation and reference desks to answer questions. He explains the importance of community involvement and creating a "tag line" associated with your library, as well as the necessity of making it known to "investors" how you are using their money to serve them. And he ends the course by showing how to use numbers to gauge productivity and efficiency, and how to set goals for constant improvement in the future.
Overall, I felt that this course did a fairly good job of highlighting the similarities between running a library and running a retail operation, and how to maintain a competitive mindset when it comes to organizing and marketing your collection to patrons. My only main complaint was that the introductory and ending videos the course featured were only able to stream sound, not images. Regardless, I still consider it a valuable course to take, especially as it relates to how we need to market our Special Collection projects to our respective communities.
This was one of the lessons that I signed up for. I too thought that it might be good to take to learn how to market the collection in the final project. Good customer service is necessary to keep the people coming back but marketing is key to getting them in the library in the first place. I'm sure many people don't know half of what the library offers and it is the marketing of the library that will inform them.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Any time you deal with the public, customer service is important, and in a library setting, satisfied patrons are a measurable way of determining the health of a library system. The community that doesn't know what services are offered (other than "just books")won't have access to those services, and certainly won't want to pay for unused services via tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteIt is so important to get the message out to the public that libraries are "happenin' " places. I'm finding ot just how important it is since I've starting doing programming for the teens. I can't just put flyers up in the library, I have to go to them in the schools and anywhere they hang out to promote my events.
ReplyDeleteIt is very correct that many people who work in libraries lose sight of what it is they are supposed to be doing. Marketing is important because although people know that libraries exist, they may often be forgotten. Instead of doing things the way we've always done it, it's more important now to look to the future. If people realize all the services you offer, they are more likely to support you as "investors." as you call it)
ReplyDeleteThat's a concept that I hadn't considered. That a library is in "competition" with other businesses. Barnes and Noble for instance Starbucks and wireless internet. Libraries need to have a draw too.
ReplyDeleteThis one looks very interesting and something that so far I don't think the LTA classes have touched on. At least not the ones I have taken. I think I will have to take this course too.
This sounds really interesting. Before I worked at libraries I worked in retail and I have seen the simialarities.
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