RICHLAND LIBRARY

PROJECT

DATE CLIENT10 OCTOBER 2014

RICHLAND LIBRARY RESEARCHAMANDA COYLE KELLY HOLCOMBE

Richland Library

“…a center of the community, providing resources and services

that help people find jobs, get ready for and succeed in school,

and access technology and resources for learning and

leisure…” -Richland Library Annual Report

Serves a wide variety of children, teens and adults

Serves cardholders as far away as Charlotte and Charleston

Currently serving 215,492 total registered borrowers

“…to provide the experiences that inspire,

inform and entertain…”- Richland Library Mission

Public library with 11 active branches across the county

Funded by taxpayers

Recently awarded a $59,000,000 bond referendum to renovate their locations and expand available services

Richland Library uses diversified functions to reach their goals, included:

informational sessions

tutoring

services to the elderly

educational and entertainment programs

family history center

job placement services

book lending (online and print)

magazine and DVD lending

music downloads

public programs

rooms for rent

There is something for everyone

Problem Faced

A library card is not scanned upon entrance to the building, nor is it checked upon entering one of the library’s programs

This may skew the non-user data

Target demographic: “non-users”

Cardholders who have been inactive for at least twelve months

Card use is measured:• Physically checking out print materials• Logging into their online accounts • Internet use on the premises• Use of the job or family history centers • Paying fines in person

Basic Research Questions/What We Wanted To Learn

We used our research to further our understanding of why non-users have been inactive, as well as other demographic information about them including gender, age, number of children, socioeconomic status and education level and priorities when it came to library services.

We also used research to find out how Richland Library communicates with its cardholders. It was important to know what the organization already did to engage with cardholders in order to determine what did and did not work, and what we should capitalize on or avoid in our campaign.

What, exactly, is offered to cardholders beyond just borrowing books?

What are the most common reasons behind library card inactivity?What attracts people to Richland Library?

How can we combat these reasons?

Secondary ResearchRichland Library’s website

Richland Library 2013 Annual Report

Access, the organization’s bi-monthly magazine

September/October issue

Gathered information by conducting online searches, visiting Richland Library’s main location and browsing the organization’s various social media outlets

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest

Secondary Research Findings

History, mission, values

Programs and events offered

Programs and services outside the realm of print book lending

The scale of the public served

Library activity for the last year (2013) including the number of items checked out, the total number of registered borrowers and number of attendees at outreach programs

Examples of the types of outreach programs it offers and the number offered over a two-month period thrives on the Internet with 1,976,717 website visits in 2014

From 2009 to 2013:

Door count is up 20 percent

Circulation is up 38 percent

Hours of access have increased by 2080 hours a year

Twitter: 4539 followersFacebook: 7314 page likes

Primary Research: October 10In-depth interview with Betsy Crick, the marketing coordinator for Richland Library

Goal: to understand the problems the library faces when it comes to their non-users in order to potentially identify ways to increase activity

We discussed the different services provided by the library and the statistical data of the non-users

2014 Year-to-date data

Could be compared to the 2013 Annual Report for a clearer picture of what programs and areas of the library were increasing or decreasing in use or popularity

Richland Library cardholder survey

Distributed to 84,042 cardholders

6,865 responses received

342 responses were from non-users

Demographic information, including reasons behind not using the library in the past year

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: CARDHOLDER SURVEY

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: CARDHOLDER SURVEY

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: CARDHOLDER SURVEY

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: CARDHOLDER SURVEY

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS:

CARDHOLDER SURVEY

BOOK PURCHASING HABITS

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS:

CARDHOLDER SURVEY

PROGRAMMING PRIORITIES (BY AGE)

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: CARDHOLDER SURVEY

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: CARDHOLDER SURVEY

Resident Non-Resident

Cardholders Total % Total   % TOTAL

Active 101,102 47 1,343 53 102,445

Inactive 114,390 53 1,175 47 115,565

TOTAL 215,492   2,518   218,010

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: YTD DATA

In-­‐library  Programs Year-­‐to-­‐date  (YTD)  2014

Community Engagement 108

Computers and Technology 347

Cultural and Arts 1,244

Early Literacy 1,369

Lifeskills 340

Literacy 777

Workforce Development 271

TOTAL 4,456

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: YTD DATA

In-­‐library  Programs  ABendees

0-­‐1 2 3-­‐5 6-­‐8 9-­‐12 13-­‐18 Adult TOTAL

Community Engagement

112 145 387 487 349 298 2,874 4,652

Computers and Technology 0 2 28 27 36 32 1,610 1,735

Cultural and Arts 274 904 1,851 2,181 1,631 2,111 11,999 20,951Early Literacy 3,379 4,791 6,045 1,957 1,199 160 10,569 28,100

Lifeskills 3 17 105 351 399 201 2,283 3,359

Literacy 294 541 2,135 2,581 1,688 793 3,831 11,865

Workforce Development 0 0 0 0 0 11 1,493 1,504

TOTAL 4,062 6,400 10,551 7,584 5,302 3,606 34,659 72,164

PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS: YTD DATA

Primary Research: Major FindingsJust over one third of inactive cardholders do not live in Richland County

The most popular reason for cardholders to not return to the library is that their schedules are too busy

When asked about purchasing ebooks, the most popular answer (42 percent) was that the cardholders never purchased them

Library card inactivity occurred most in the 25-34 years old age bracket

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

AnalysisIdentified many of the common reasons behind card inactivity, which will go a long way in helping us develop a campaign that can combat these reasons or offer solutions to circumvent them.

Richland Library has already begun trying to combat this by putting an emphasis on online resources and developing a hold program that requires nothing more than calling ahead and picking up requested materials at the front desk. These actions boost card activity with minimal effort and are a good foundation for our campaign.

Richland Library currently does not have a way to capture cardholder data for people who come to programs. The library’s programs are widely attended and it is likely that card activity numbers would increase substantially if there was a way to capture card activity upon entrance to those programs.

36.2 percent of non-users do not currently live in Richland County. Many of the cardholders actually live in the Charlotte or Charleston areas and have purchased library cards to gain access to online resources. Although these cardholders may not be able to come to the library, there are still ways to reach them and get them involved.

Richland Library’s Walker Local and Family History Center is also popular with out-of-county cardholders and can be accessed online; according to Ms. Crick, this is a widely cited reason for out-of-county residents to purchase a library card.

Identified the most common reasons that people are no longer using the library

!

Helped us know our demographic

How Our Research Helped Us

Our campaign will make it clear to our demographic that there is more to Richland Library than just books and outline the many ways to take

advantage of the library’s services, despite any personal conflicts

We have zeroed in on an age range within a broader demographic so that we may reach them more easily and effectively. We know their

habits, priorities, where they frequent and what devices they use. We will tailor our message so that it will be meaningful and more likely to be received. The information gathered will help us reach the non-

users with messages that will get through to them; we can meet them where they are and share information that is most relevant to their

wants and needs.

Objectives and StrategiesSeeing the YTD data helped outline our objectives

Have 50 current non-users engage in library card activity with Richland Library within three months

See a measured increase of 50 online resources checked out or downloaded

Have one article published by a local media outlet regarding the organizations’s programs and services

Media StrategyMonthly online newsletter

Local print organizations

The State

The Columbia Star

Free Times

Panorama

CRM system

Research Problems Although we were satisfied with the number and variety of the questions that were asked in the survey, we still were not able to create them for ourselves.

If we had thought up an additional set of questions that had not already been answered, we would not be able to distribute those questions to the same public.

Future SuggestionsCRM distributed survey to listserv of non-users when this becomes possible in December