I am so interested in seeing other people’s responses to
this one. I am always interested in learning new, exciting, or even successfully,
tried and true ways of marketing in the library. I also feel, that as someone
who works in the admin area of the library more so than circulation, I don’t
have a true grasp of what marketing methods are successful, or how to think
about them, which makes me all the more enthusiastic to read the reviews of my
peers. I feel like my list is unoriginal, but in my limited experience, these
are the methods which I have found to be successful.
1) Wowbrary
We use this newsletter service to send a weekly update about
what has been added to our Fiction collection. It also includes additional
information, but the focus is always on new additions. We get a lot of
subscribers to this service as well as a lot of positive feedback regarding it
being helpful and informative. Whenever Wowbrary goes out, our Holds go up!
2) Trendy Book Club(s)
We have two book clubs at our library, one in person, which
is combined with an appreciation of brewing, and another, which is in person.
Both book clubs utilize and promote usage of our fiction collection. We also
use the contacts created through these clubs to share information about our
fiction collection throughout the month. This includes sending lists of books
that are organized based on genre, or perhaps if you liked this read this, as
well as, alerting our readers to new fiction titles available.
3) Original, Exciting and Eye Catching Displays
Displays are what our patrons see when they enter the
library! They look to displays for reading suggestions and eye catching titles
that they might not find otherwise. These need to be more than “our staff
suggests” and instead be more creative! Displays of Romance Books with a
Watch-A-Like film for each book. Date night movies from the DVD collection
which were made from fiction titles, and perhaps even combined with a bag of
microwave popcorn. The possibilities are endless, and they provide fun, new and
engaging opportunities to entice our patrons and help them to discover new
reads while appreciating their library.
Book clubs do utilize & promote book reading. Wowbrary is a great title, newsletters are of core importance, especially to those that gravitate to newspapers. Having said that, the older generations, as well as the younger generations need to see that we are editorializing the world of our library. It matters, because thoughtful articles communicate a caring about reading & content...
ReplyDeleteWe use our blog a lot to write quick blurbs about the importance of reading, to share book lists, to share fun exercises like reading with a specific subject, etc. We actually get a lot of interaction with that as well! I think we have crossover with people who get the newsletters, but it's also great for people who don't want to commit to a full inbox but can pop in and catch up when they are interested.
ReplyDeleteWe use our blog a lot to write quick blurbs about the importance of reading, to share book lists, to share fun exercises like reading with a specific subject, etc. We actually get a lot of interaction with that as well! I think we have crossover with people who get the newsletters, but it's also great for people who don't want to commit to a full inbox but can pop in and catch up when they are interested.
ReplyDelete