Transcript marketing the school library /media center

MARKETING THE SCHOOL LIBRARY
/MEDIA CENTER
Ways to promote the use of the
library media center, connect with
faculty members and improve
student achievement
M.A.I.S. Conference
November, 2002
Rome, Italy
• Linda A. Vretos, Head Librarian
• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science
and Technology
• Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S.A.
• [email protected]
Workshop Goal
Participants will gain ideas on how to sell the
value of the school library/media center
program.
Workshop Objectives
• Review the five features needed to run a
successful business
• Apply the five features to the school
library/media center
• Review the research: what students want
• Successful marketing features at TJHSST and
beyond
• Discussion of techniques
• Future planning
Think of a company that made it “big” - a
small company that grew and prospered and
changed their market?
Why?
Starbucks
•
•
•
•
Personal touch/encounter
Knew their coffee/product
Knew their customers
Understood that service and customer
satisfaction were linked
• Workers in the company are responsible
for marketing
Let’s apply these five marketing basics to the school
library/media center and the library “workers”
• Do we use personal touch with our patrons
- a touch that allows them to savor the
experience ?
• Do we know our product ?
• Do we know our customers or patrons ?
• Do we understand that our library services/
materials and customer satisfaction are
linked ?
• Does the entire library staff know that the
marketing of the school library is the
responsibility of the entire staff ?
Review the Research
“Teenage Users of Libraries” by David V. Loertscher
and Blanche Woolls. Knowledge Quest, May/June,
2002.
“Pew Study: Students Prefer the Virtual Library.”
School Library Journal, October, 2002.
Teens use the library for four reasons: research,
volunteering, use of the internet, and to meet
friends
Do your own research
• Freshman orientation, September, 2002
430 graders at TJHSST answered the
question: a librarian should be……..
Answers: helpful, knowledgeable, nice,
organized, kind, friendly, patient
Other Good Comments
Teenagers want:
cool, helpful and friendly librarians
good books
access to technology and training to use the
internet
welcoming spaces
organized trips to the library from classes
Fact: trips to the library increase student
reading=higher scores on reading tests
“Behavior of Librarians in School and Public
Libraries with Adolescents: Implications for
Practice and Library Education”
Quote:“Most librarians enforce rules and the
pass system, with little time left to help
teens with research. The researcher
wondered how people could teach when
human relations skills were so poor”
Journal of Education for Library and
Information Services, Spring, 1999: 99-111
Pew Study
“The internet made looking for these poems a
whole lot easier than having to go up to
some strange librarian who was enjoying
her Diet Coke and would do just about
anything to get these people out of the
library to go on her break. The internet is
like having a virtual librarian without the
bad attitude.”(student)
Successful Marketing Techniques
• Personal
touch/encounters
Book club
No passes/No cards
No fines
“school store”
reference books
checked out
• Knowledge of the
Product
Databases
Research skills
Scanners
Copier
Printers
Books
More Marketing Techniques
• Knowledge of
customers
Students
Teachers
Administrators
Parents
Visitors
• Customer Satisfaction
linked to services
Surveys
Suggestion Box
• Staffing
Hire with the students
in mind - kid loving
people
Summation
Don’t wait for others to notice that you have a
good library program. Create marketing
strategies and sell the program yourself.
The End
Marketing the School Library/Media
Center
Based on the five points of good
marketing grade yourself
• What is your weakest marketing strategy?
• What is your strongest marketing strategy?
Create a plan for your weakest
marketing strategy