The Weekly Blurb

Selling Your Library – Promoting E-Resources One of my projects for the month of March is to update all of our brochures, including the brochure on E-Resouces, also known as databases.  In preparation for this Herculean task, I’ve been talking to other consultants in the province, as well as asking questions of the marketing librarians in the large city libraries.  They have provided me with some really good ideas, many of which I hope to pass on to ... More...

Selling Your Library – Creative Displays I was in downtown Edmonton last week for an APLEN meeting at the Stanley Milner Library.  While waiting for the elevator, I had the opportunity to glance at some of the display cases.  Like my hometown library, which, as a child, I visited weekly and during the summer daily, the displays did not have a single book in them, but they inspired me to read.  The passing glance before the elevator doors shut off my v... More...

Selling Your Library – On the Phone I have a confession to make: I wasn’t always the sweet, gentle, polite woman that you know today.  In fact, while in college the phrase used to describe me was, “bold, brash, rude, crude and socially unacceptable.”  A lot of this was due to my telephone manner.  One of my favorite lines when picking up the phone was “City morgue: you stab ‘em, we slab ‘em.”  One day I a... More...

Selling your Library – Using Screen Savers and Desktop images. When I come into work in the morning, the image that greets me when I start up my computer is that of a white cat, glaring at me.  It’s like it’s goading me to get to work.  When I step away for a coffee, a message dashes across the screen: “Caroline’s Computer.”  Not that I need a reminder of which desk is mine, but it’s a friendly statement that I be... More...

Selling Your Library – Updating Your Website When it comes to promoting your library, your website is prime advertising real estate.  Are you using yours to its fullest potential? Consider this: when someone goes to your library’s website to access the catalogue, what do they see and what impression does it give them of the library?  If your website’s home page hasn’t changed in over a year, a patron may get the impression that the lib... More...

Selling Your Library – Patron Presentations As part of my job I get to read all of the publications put out by all of the systems.  I was reading through the Marigold Library System’s Newsletter this week, when I came across a brilliant idea.  At the Rockyford Municipal Library, a patron, Gary Billings, gave a presentation on astronomy.  This struck me as being remarkably clever on so many levels. By calling on library patrons to provide progra... More...

Selling your Library – Newspaper Articles   This week I received a press release from OverDrive, which I’ve included in this blurb.  What appears in red should be filled in with your library’s information, before sending it off to your local paper.  I’ve been informed that libraries submitting “press releases” will most likely be charged to have them appear in the newspaper.  However, if the information is submitted... More...