marketing in the library and beyond joe marquez, mlis sonoma state university library

MARKETING IN THE LIBRARY AND BEYOND

JOE MARQUEZ, MLISSONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Marketing of the Library

mar-ket-ing \ˈmär-kə-tiŋ\ n.Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

—American Marketing Association website

What are we selling?

Access to information in a friendly environment

Books, DVDs, CDs, place, librarians/staff, computing, databases, journals, newspapers, lectures, workshops, galleries, archives, children’s story time

A sense of place. A part of the community. Service to the community.

How & why do we market our services?

Demonstrate our worth, especially in economic times like these

Play on patron interests, key library collections, and focus on the local community

The tools focused on in this discussion demonstrate how the library has evolved

Where to Start?

Library as Place Services Collections Community

What tools do we use?

Web 2.0 (Twitter & Facebook) Mashups & Timeline Library Homepage (slideshow, In Focus) Mobile website Google Calendar QR Codes

Web 2.0: Twitter and Facebook

Facebook

Twitter

Rodney the Rooster

Rodney the Rooster was a stray bird that walked around campus. The students wanted to change the mascot from a Sea Wolf to a Fighting Cock. One day Rodney was eaten by a raptor.

Fox

Mashups & Timelines

Your archives/special collections/history desk is marketing’s best friend

People love seeing B/W photographs

People love seeing what their town used to look like

Mashups & Timelines, cont.

Make everyday items more useful by joining like items electronically

Showing off the archival or special collections not only demonstrates the library’s value as a repository of physical items but also a holder of community memory

Mashup: Geologic and Topo maps

• SSU covers 6 services counties (Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Marin, Solano)

• Mashup combined all topo maps for 6 counties and placed them in geographic context

• Maps are now electronic and can be accessed from off-campus

• Serves the geology dept AND the local community

http://goo.gl/K13Kh

Timeline: Sonoma County History

• Created with funding from grant to show local history timeline

• Images are from Archives

• Created using MIT’s SIMILE Exhibit

• Very little coding• Easy to update• Simple interactive tool

to show historyhttp://goo.gl/RSTci

The Library Website

Best place to market the Library is on its own website – specifically the homepage

The only part of the library that is open 24 hrs/day

The only way to search the library’s collections

The library website is the other front door and probably the one most often used

The Library Website: Homepage

Previous Library website

- no global navigation- no visible “end” to the page- html only- marketing elements below the fold- 7 software packages, lacking uniform branding

The Library Website: Homepage, cont.

Current Library website

- global navigation- page has a border- php- easy to update- visible marketing elements- outreach to campus and community- uniform branding

http://goo.gl/Kp5bI

Slideshow: Homepage

• Slideshow allows for ease of updating

• Not necessary to alter homepage when updating

• Slides are uniform in size• What do we display:

• Events (lectures, workshops, music)

• Gallery exhibits• Student help• Technology• Archives/Special Collections

collection

Slideshow: Regional & Special Collections

• Highlights Regional & Special Collections

• Same size as homepage slideshow

• Focus on various collections

• Same widget as Library homepage

http://goo.gl/eD1yH

In Focus

• In Focus allows us to connect the Library with our patrons

• I will send out emails to faculty and staff to participate

• People LOVE being on the homepage

• Provides an opportunity to show the various faces on campus and learn about what people do (for work or research)

Mobile Website

Google Calendar

• Google Calendar is free• Easy to update• Students now have google email accts and calendar can be integrated into their school calendars• The calendar works on the mobile site and is easily embedded

QR Codes

QR codes are the latest and greatest technology that allows you to capture data via a 2D code with a handheld device

The data can be text, links, even contact information

QR codes are appearing everywhere We currently use them in our catalog

and in the stacks for point of reference

QR Codes: In The Catalog

Our QR codes in the catalog provide the name, author, call number, location, and availability

http://goo.gl/cKoED

QR Codes: In the Stacks

QR codes in the stacks link to a webpage with basic how-to instructions on finding books in the stacks.

QR Codes: Where Else?

How to Create a QR Code

Create your content (webpage, image, contact info)

Go to a website like qrcode.kaywa.com Enter information in space provided Select size of QR code Click “Generate” Copy embed code into your webpage

Things to Keep in Mind

Keep committees small and nimble

Design with the user in mind – “Cool” can be fun, but always question whether or not it is appropriate for your library

Don’t over saturate your library with a single technology

Wrap up

Big question to ask in thinking about marketing the library:

Can we afford it? And then, can we sustain it?

Whenever possible, reuse technology across the website.

We reuse slideshow and QR code technology

And always assess to see how it worked

Resources

How to create a mashuphttp://goo.gl/Ou9z5

How to create a timelinehttp://goo.gl/7Rhpu

How to create a 2.0 presence

http://goo.gl/qMsLhHow to create a QR

code

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Contact

Joe MarquezWeb Services LibrarianSonoma State Universityjoe.marquez@sonoma.edu

Library: http://library.sonoma.edu

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/joughm/