City of Johannesburg COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Library and Information Services Surviving an economic downturn: a COJ LIS marketing strategy 1 July 2009

2 WHO ARE WE? Community Development (10 Directorates) COJ LIS spread over 7 Regions, 84 service points plus various satellites Staff complement of 400+ Diverse community of 10.5 Mil (21.5% of the entire population with 1.4% land area ) from the entire Gauteng Profile of the city wide market - Townships, suburbs, newly developing areas- cosmo areas, informal settlements and foreigners in the inner city - Creches, primary & secondary learners, tertiary students, researchers, employed & unemployed individuals, old age homes, care centres, prisons etc - Community profile differs by region and within the regions -Differences in Demographics : Race, gender, language, -Differences in psychographics: life style analysis ( e.g.social group)

3 VISION, MISSION and OBJECTIVES Vision: “A network of vibrant African Libraries that are places of choice for knowledge, learning and leisure” Mission: The Library and Information Services exist – to develop and promote reading and learning for all through free and guided access to information focusing on literacy, early childhood development (ECD), youth empowerment and educational support. Objectives: Collect and maintain a collection of books and other materials; develop a database for the materials in order to locate information (bibliographic management); Provide a free/safe reading and learning environment for all; Provide free and guided access to relevant knowledge and information: Provide reading material and assistance to citizens of all ages to support their need for information, education, lifelong learning, and recreation; Develop, promote and maintain a reading culture: Implement reading development programmes

4 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES Guided by the COJ’s Growth & Development Strategy and Human Development Strategy Key challenges facing the COJ: - Poverty/ hunger - Unemployment - Homelessness Programmes/ projects to be directed towards the key priorities: - Poverty alleviation - Skills development - Job creation

5 APPROACHES TO MARKETING Marketing, advocacy, public relations, advertising, promotion – these terms will be used interchangeably in the context of this presentation Marketing is a process of tailoring products and services to meet the needs and wants of the customers/ clients (Kotler 2006) At COJ, marketing involves identifying the needs, prioritising needs, tailoring services and designing projects and programmes to cater for different communities

6 REINVENTING THE LIBRARY SERVICE Focus on the users to find out what their changing needs are Consider changes in the environment/ market- these lead to change in consumer /community needs. recession leads to decrease in consumer spending majority of our users are poor, cannot afford to pay for services Hence COJ strategy = free membership and free fine week on a monthly basis. Carefully relooked at the existing marketing strategy to determine whether it still addresses community needs in this time of economic downturn.

7 REINVENTING THE LIBRARY SERVICE Reinforce our Brand value - Tell the community especially decision makers why we should be given funds - Invite politicians and public to participate in library events and functions - Host community events in libraries - examples: Sandton Library, JPL, Jabavu

8 PROGRAMMES Reading development programmes - Ready to Read -Early Childhood Development (ECD) - Youth development programmes (Battle of the Books, Story Skirmish, African Literary development programmes - JoLife) Education Support programmes - Science awareness programmes (Psyched for Science, Scuffle, Model building) - Information literacy and homework support Skills development programmes - Adult literacy and family literacy - Career development (assessment, guidance and exhibitions\0 - Business/entrepreneurship skills - Information literacy skills - Satellites services- Prisons and Old aged homes

9 Integrated Marketing Communication Tools External Print media ( National and Local Newspapers, Magazines) Broadcast Media(Radio and TV) Electronic Media (Internet & Intranet) Promotional material (Pamphlets and brochures) Banners Word of mouth Community forums Direct communication and visit to communities Engage decision makers and community representatives Community based approach is the best when dealing with different communities

10 CHALLENGES Keeping abreast with the ever changing environment and community needs. Creating the balance between traditional library services and community outreach programmes Lack of a coordinated marketing strategy No proper market research has been conducted (scientific study) Branding still needs a lot of attention Delay in providing free Internet access to the community Staff capacity to deal with new demands Membership and Circulation statistics Funding to keep up with the ever increasing community needs Fund raising initiatives (time and skills) Funding! Funding! Funding!- need for more funds.

11 Successes or highlights Increased information resources budget Created awareness in communities hence increasing demands Contribute to skills development Dedicated marketing staff for the department and LIS Pockets of excellence -some staff excel and now identifying best practice We feel we add value to the communities- participation in our projects and programmes has increased and there is growing demand for more

Conclusion Questions! ! !