Working with Legislators

As part of Illinois Snapshot Day, the Illinois Library Assocation is encouraging libraries to develop a relationship with their local legislators.

Here are tips to get you started:

1.  Determine your local Representative and Senator.  You may have different ones for your library and your residence.  If that is the case, establish a relationship with all of them.

2.  Find the phone numbers and addresses for their legislative offices both in Springfield and locally.  Read your legislators’ biographical information and learn which committees they serve.

3.  Share your “Snapshot:  One Day in the Life of Illinois Libraries” information about your library with your legislators.

4.  Check for any legislation that may impact libraries and be prepared to tell them how that would affect your library.  This Spring Session will most likely focus on budget issues. In the FY2010 state budget, the Illinois General Assembly cut general revenue funding for all state library and literacy grants by 50%.  At a time when library usage is at its highest, Illinois libraries are being asked to face tomorrow’s needs with yesterday’s resources.

5.  Buddy up.  Call neighboring librarians who are in the same legislative district and make your visits together.

6.  Call the local office and make an appointment to visit your legislators.

7.  Visit the legislators, be on time, and bring your “Snapshot” information, library newsletter, and summer reading program information to keep them informed of what is going on at your library.

8.  Write a thank you note and send it to your legislators after your visit.  Briefly remind them of what you discussed.

9.  Invite your legislators to your library for an open house, celebrations, etc.

10.  Offer your library as a place for them to hold office hours or meetings with constituents.

11.  Watch the paper for local appearances of your legislators.  This could be a community breakfast, office hours, local parade, or a special meeting or hearing they are holding.

12.  Attend these types of events mentioned above and introduce yourself to your legislators, reminding them of the library.

13.  If you happen to get an extended conversation with them at one of these events, follow that up with a thank you note.

14.  Should your legislators be appointed the chairmanship of a committee or given a significant honor, send a short note of congratulations.

15.  During the legislative session monitor their votes on library legislation.  Thank them for votes in favor of library legislation.  If they voted no, explain how the vote could be detrimental to libraries and how you hope that they will support library legislation in the future.

16.  Be positive and courteous in any correspondence that you have.

17.  Once is not enough.  Don’t make one call or one visit.  Establishing a relationship with a legislator is an ongoing process.

*** These same steps can be used in building a relationship with your federal legislators.  Locate biographical information and committee assignments. You will also find a link to their congressional Web site that will give you more information.

Illinois Snapshot Day

The Illinois Library Association is asking all libraries  to participate in Snapshot Day. Get creative and ask local media and businesses to help you support Snapshot day.

Here are the details:

Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Snapshot: One Day in the Life Illinois Libraries

Please join us on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 and participate in “Snapshot: One Day in the Life of Illinois Libraries” by collecting statistics, comments, and photographs from your library.  The purpose of this event is to provide indisputable proof that libraries consistently provide invaluable services to our community.

To collect the comments from the public, a “Patron Survey” form will be available shortly.
Click here to download the “Library Statistics” form that you will use to track general library activity.

Follow this link to an “Online Survey” form where libraries are requested to record their statistics by Monday, 15 February 2010.

Also included in this survey, ILA requests that you to submit your Top Five Comments from Your Library Users. Photos are being collected at this Flikr page.

After all this data is collected, ILA will create a Web site similar to this one created in New Jersey, where state wide results will be displayed.  ILA will also create templates  which will assist you in presenting this information to your local elected official.

Got Questions in organizing your Snapshot Day, please contact Denise Zielinski at the DuPage Library System.

Marketing vs. PR vs. Advertising

Here’s a fun way to explain the difference between marketing, advertising, and public relations. Thanks to Peggy Barry of the Naperville Public Library for sharing this.

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying, “Circus coming to the fairgrounds on Sunday” -
that’s advertising.

If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and have him walk through town -`                                                                               that’s promotion.

If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed and it makes the morning paper -
that’s publicity.

If you can get the mayor to laugh about it -
that’s public relations.

And if you planned the whole thing -
that’s marketing!

Social Media Marketing

So is one of your marketing goals for the new year to get your library on this Social Media bandwagon?

Here are three resources to get you started:

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel -This is an accessible book about not only why companies/entrepreneurs should be paying attention to social media, but also how to effectively use these tools to build your business (or your brand). Written almost like short blog posts, but put together in a logical way, this is easy to dip in and out of and quite thought provoking.

How to create the perfect Facebook Fan Page by Jesse Stay on Techipedia – recommended by the Librarian in Black who says, “The guide is short and pretty straightforward.  Stay offers not only practical tips about things like custom tabs and search engine optimization for Facebook pages, but also provides code snippets for stealing (err, borrowing) for your own page.  Nice!”

Remember Seth Godin says, “Social Media is a process not an event” Think it’s too late to start? Read this post by Seth.
Seth’s the guru of permission marketing, so if you’re not reading his insightful posts, add him to your reader.

Rewards Cards

In two sessions I attended at ILA, the idea of a rewards cards for regular customers was mentioned. I find this idea intriguing. It’s a bit more difficult to implement in libraries due to our “free” product, but what could we do to reward a frequent customer?

Here are a few ideas: longer check out dates, fine forgiveness/waivers, automatically being first on a list for their favorite author’s new book, free coffee. During National Library Card Month some libraries in the Chicago suburbs have been quite successful with a Show us your card program, where local merchants offer discounts and incentives to library card holders. PLA has the “Smartest Card” campaign, but what can we do fulfill the promise of this message? What makes your library card the most valuable card in your wallet?

Seth Godin said, “All real loyalty programs start in the same place: creating an experience or a product that is its own reward. We’re loyal because it makes us feel good, not because we’re being bribed.” (Blog, Jan 18, 2005)

Based on this Godin’s thought it seems we need to work first on what Omar Wassaw said during the 2009 ILA Conference opening session – libraries need improve the physical experience of the library. “The library needs to merchandise the reading experience – we are the public park for your brain.”

Tom Galante, from the Queens Library, talked about (you can listen to the complete podcast) their Blue Sky initiative where they are  re-imagining customer service – looking at policies from a customer focus, getting rid of the word policies (tools instead of rules), empowering the staff with on the spot decision-making and more flexibility by doing a lot of education and training to get staff to understand the values and intent of policy.

It would seem we need to continue to focus on customer experience and perhaps offering rewards doesn’t matter as much as designing a hassle-free user experience. Thoughts?

Investigating the Case for the 4Rs sent to libraries and schools

The Illinois Dept. of Commerce & Economic Opportunity sent 10 kits called “Investigating the Case for the 4Rs” to various libraries throughout the state. These heavy duty plastic cases, suitable for K-Adult, are loaded with a variety of hands-on educational tools emphasizing the importance of the 4Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink. The cases include videos, educational resources, and wide variety of products made from recycled materials such as aluminum, steel, paper, plastic, rubber and glass. Information about renewable resources like corn and soy are also included. The cases provide a great opportunity to introduce the fourth “R” – Rethink. Rethink means looking at products and purchases in a new way, and considering whether a product is made with recycled content or is recyclable. Rethinking helps make everyone make smarter consumer choices.

There was a tremendous number of organizations that indicated an interest in the kits, so the kits were sent to large organizations located centrally in areas of many requests. Here is a list of those receiving kits. Please contact them about borrowing.

1. Alliance Library System
Kitty Pope
600 High Point Lane
East Peoria, IL 61611
kpope@alliancelibrarysystem.com

2. Prairie Area Library System
Rockford Service Center
Jane Lenser
4863 American Road
Rockford, IL 61109
janel@palsnet.info

3.Crystal Lake Public Library
Cynthia Lopuszynski
126 Paddock St.
Crystal Lake, IL 60014
clopuszynski@crystallakelibrary.org

4. Cook Memorial Library
Colleen Koebel
801 Technology Way
Libertyville, IL 60048
ckoebel@cooklib.org

5. Mount Prospect Public Library
Erin Emerick
10 S. Emerson
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
eemerick@mppl.org

6. Bellwood Public Library
Kristin Schultz
600 Bohland Ave.
Bellwood, IL 60104
schultzk@bellwoodlibrary.org

7. Blue Island Public Library
Jim Deiters
2433 York St.
Blue Island, IL 60406
jdeiters@blueislandlibrary.org

8. Wentworth Intermediate School Library
Nancy Mackrola
530 Superior Ave.
Calumet City, IL 60409-3439
nmackrola@calumetcity155.org

9. Crete Public Library
Tiffany Amschl
1177 N. Main St.
Crete, IL 60417
amschlt@sslic.net

10. Orland Park Library
Nancy Heuser
14921 Ravinia Avenue
Orland Park, IL 60462
nheuser@orlandparklibrary.org

Word of Mouth Marketing

“There is no more powerful communication technique than the simple act of one person talking to another” – Peggy Barber and Linda Wallace in The Power of Word of Mouth Marketing, American Libraries, November 2009.

Word of Mouth Marketing is not simply talking about the library, it’s a organized, focused and consistent approach to how and what we communicate. And getting other people to help deliver our message.

North Suburban Library System and the DuPage Library System received an LSTA grant to provide training on WOMM. You can view the grant and project information here.

Here are few things this article made me think about:

-how is my library harnessing the power of our passionate users? Can I use our Facebook page more effectively to encoruage people to share our posts?

-the article cited Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District’s project to promote its online resources. They used their circulation staff. This made me think more about how I can give our library staff messages to “upsell” the library. It wouldn’t just have to be circ staff, but any public service desk staff member. We have done this to some degree when it comes to summer reading sign up, asking each person who comes to a service desk, “have you signed up for summer reading?” This has really increased our adult participation in the last 2 years.

What is your library doing to increase the buzz?

Tips to Entice People to the Library

The November 1 issue of Library Journal has a great article about what Academic Libraries are doing to draw in first year students. Some of the tips would be applicable to public libraries as well.

MIT used a puzzle advertising campaign (drawing on its reputation as home to the oldest and largest puzzle hunts in the country). University of Illinois Undergraduate Library is using Twitter to reach users and Penssylvania State University Libraries used interatctive games instead of the traditional open house to introduce students to the library. Read the full article here.

Moline Wins Frommer Display Contest

The Moline (Ill.) Public Library won the grand prize in Wiley’s 2009 Frommer’s Library Display Contest. The library transformed itself into a train station, complete with a cardboard Arthur Frommer as the train conductor collecting tickets (right) and Pauline Frommer waiting next to the “Frommer’s Express” train. Watch the video (4:57) or view more photos.

Using Op-Eds

From the M Word blog comes this information shared by Tom McNamee of the Chicago Sun Times at the ALA Annual Conference:

The term “op-ed” means opposite the editorial. In newspapers, an op-ed piece is usually placed on the page opposite an editorial.

• Keep them to  400- 500 words ( I suggest you call your editor and ask them or do a word count in the paper you are sending it to.)
• Have something worth saying
• Tell a story
• No matter how important your story is, remember that people will only read it if it entertains them

We’ve also learned that you need to plan your op-eds because chances are your paper isn’t going to publish your op-ed every month (they call those columns). My departments plans on two op-eds a year and try to connect them to both a major campaign we’re running and larger issues facing communities. Our larger papers want responses or solutions to problems and won’t even go near anything that sounds like an infomercial, even for National Library Week.

Make sure the topic is relevant to the paper’s readers. A great place to start is by reading the the headlines, knowing what discussions are taking place at council meetings or just listening to what your customers are talking about when they come to the library.

Keep your op-ed customer centric

Tom talks about incorporating stories in your op-ed. I couldn’t agree with him more. Make sure your are writing about your customers and how your library is solving problems for them.  Be sure to stay away from stories that simply praise your library like, “I couldn’t live without my library!” Instead find stories about your customers where the library has solved a problem like “I lost my job and the new career center helped me fill out applications online.”

1. Introduce your character

2. Tell the problem he or she is facing

3. Show how the library resolved the problem

The full video is posted on the M Word blog.