Elisabeth Leonard on Libraries

Coorientation

There's something in the PR literature called coorientation, which is when an organization looks for similarities and differences between the organizations' opinion about the public AND the publics' opinion about the organization.  Now, this is something I urge libraries to take seriously!  in LibQual, this happens some with gap analysis, but is rarely extended to be combined with a real and open discussion of how we honestly view our public.  Why?  Because there are stereotypes that we know we'll get bashed for sharing or even that we might get heat for voicing an opinion against the stereotype.  But, if you don't look honestly at what you think and compare it to what the public thinks of you, then you are shading all your actions with only your own perceptions.

Some questions to ask when tackling an issue:

1. What's our organizational view of the issue?
2. What do our stakeholders think about the issue?
3. Does our perception of the stakeholders' view match their views on the issues?
4. Do the stakeholders have a peception of the organizational view point on the topic, and does that match reality?

It's just a white house

I was standing in front of the White House yesterday.  Mostly I was surrounded by students.  While I was standing there, I overheard one very bored student say "I don't get why we have to be here.  It's just a white house.  What's the big deal?"  The group around him all shrugged.

OK...this is a blog about libraries.  Why mention the White House?  Well, on my flight home, I kept thinking about those kids.  If they don't understand the importance of the White House, what else do they not think about that we assume they do? 

When I taught an undergraduate class on information literacy, I struggled to find ways to present issues of intellectual property.  There were times when I thought I had managed to reach the class, but I never really found the magical formula. 

Libraries represent different concepts to different groups and individuals.  However, if we have not managed to communicate that to today's youth, what will we have lost?   At what point will we have lost our place in society?  I love youth services librarians.  They seem to know their patrons well and are enthusiastic about serving them.  I now wonder: are they getting enough support for reaching youth?  And are academic librarians doing enough to maintain the connection that YSL's created?  I want to see a more intense discussion and collaboration between public libraries and academic libraries.  I rarely see it outside of state library associations.  I want to see our internal dialog become action and I want us to really communicate who we are to our youth -- and communicate it in a way that they will understand.  Let us not just be a white house.

marketing universities

An article in the Chronicle highlighted a couple interesting points.  The article was an interview with AVP for External Relations at the University of Cincinnati, Mary Stagaman.  Of particular interest:

1. Involve all stakeholders.  Stagaman mentions talking to faculty, students, and campus leaders (no real mention of staff unfortunately!).  When talking about reaching faculty, she states: When we launched our first big ad campaign, we sent out a mailer to all employees and got some immediate negative feedback from some faculty about what we might be spending. But when we explained that the goal was to build a better reputation for UC and showcase the great work that our faculty and students were doing, they became our proponents.
2. My favorite quote is: Start with research to determine how your institution is perceived in
   key audiences you want to attract. Then you can build your plan based
   on what you learn. The tactical elements have to come out of that
   process and a realistic appraisal of what your budget can support. One
   caution: Make sure your leadership understands that they must make an
   investment. Too little money will not provide benefits. We have been
   successful in getting more funds by demonstrating the potential return
   on the investment.  It gets to knowing your market AS WELL as how to secure funding!
3. And even on the University-wide level, market research isn't expensive.  When asked how she fosters student input, she stated that she consults students frequently (and she includes high school students in the discussion -- after all, she is trying to recruit, so talking to potential students is important!).  Her favorite method is an informal focus group -- over lunch.  She conducts the focus groups herself and lunch itself isn't particularly costly. 

Link: Good Research and Faculty Buy-In: 2 Keys to Effective Marketing - Chronicle.com.

Logos?

Logos can be hard to create!  Think upon something as intangible as a logo for a listserv: Should it be with a focus on the name or something more funky?  Do we need an accompanying image?

I think I favor the first one...

Distinguish yourself from the rest of the market

According to AdAge, Jet Blue is responding to the airline crisis not by pursuing mergers (as the rest of the players in the industry are doing), but instead trying to set a tone.
From AdAge:  The move runs counter to the carrier's rivals, which have been directing their focus internally to investigate merger opportunities, cut costs, deal with spiraling fuel prices and generally avoid bankruptcy. Yet Andrea Spiegel, VP-marketing at JetBlue, said while the airline is dealing with the same problems as its competitors, the "need for optimism and a positive alternative in this negative category is more important than ever....A $15 million campaign is designed to differentiate JetBlue from its competitors by calling what it does "jetting" as opposed to flying."

Their campaign includes subway ads, a national TV spot, a microsite (http://happyjetting.com/), and even a book!  While I am fascinated by their media choices, I am intrigued at their product positioning.  They know what they stand for and how it might appeal to people who are frustrated with being treated like cattle (who have to pay for their feed).  Now that the flying experience has become miserable, will people pay more for JetBlue? 

It seems like they are in the same boat libraries are in, right?  Our threat is the pervasiveness of information in settings that are more comfortable than what we provide.  It is a more tempting competition than what JetBlue is experiencing, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take a hard look at what we have to offer and then package it in a tempting way.  The JetBlue microsite has a cute take on flying -- could we do something similar for surfing the web...something that doesn't sound as preachy as we normally do when we tell our patrons that they should use our services 'cause  we are better for them?  Rather than sound like medication, we need to find a message and a tone that are appealing -- and that builds on our true competitive advantage.

Looking for success stories

I just stumbled across Ebsco's free version of  Library Success: A Celebration of Library Innovation, Adaptation and Problem Solving.  Link:

Success Stories EBSCO Publishing has more than 70,000 customers, each with their own terrific story of success in areas from marketing initiatives to community outreach, fundraising to teacher collaboration. In an effort to recognize these best practice examples and help others to learn from these outstanding efforts, EBSCO has created a repository of customer success stories. See what your peers are accomplishing, then send us your story!

While I would really have appreciated an index by topic (like marketing) or even an indication in the title of the link what I might discover when I click on an institution's name, this free collection of success stories is a mini-treasure trove of ideas!