MARKETING IN THE LIBRARY AND BEYOND JOE MARQUEZ, MLIS SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Marketing of the Library mar-ket-ing \ ˈ mär-k ə -ti ŋ \ 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

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 history

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

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

In Focus In Focus allows us to connect the Library with our patrons I will send out s 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 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

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 mashup How to create a timeline How to create a 2.0 presence How to create a QR code

Contact Joe Marquez Web Services Librarian Sonoma State University Library: Slides: