Move the message beyond library walls

MY JOURNEY into librarianship was a bit unusual: Unlike those who began as a page or in an LIS role fresh out of grad school, my library career started in marketing. It was my job to understand the many ways the library brought value to the community and to develop stories and campaigns that shed light on the best aspects of our work. I was so inspired by what I saw in our branches that I eventually pursued a library degree. And as I deepened my knowledge, I saw that libraries could benefit from more attention to external communication.

Fortunately, my system recognized the value of marketing and prioritized its investment—not something every library has the funding or commitment to undertake. Madeline Brookshire, my predecessor at Cuyahoga County Public Library, was a pioneer in library marketing, building out a fully resourced department. When she retired after 30 years, the editorial board of Cleveland’s major newspaper, The Plain Dealer, wrote, “Even Cuyahoga County Library, one of the highest-rated library systems in the country, needs someone to toot its horn.” They were right. All libraries need those people.

Far from merely “icing on the cake,” library marketing is an essential ingredient that makes the cake rise. As libraries evolve and services become more customized to their unique community contexts, their need for marketing becomes increasingly acute. Marketers can help present contemporary libraries and librarians in ways that resonate with their intended audience. Old narratives bathed in nostalgia often describe the library story almost exclusively in terms that are book-centric instead of people-centric and building-focused instead of community-focused—a story that is not fully reflective of the myriad ways libraries bring people together and address everything from low literacy to AI to workforce development.

We need only look to the responses in LJ’s annual Placements and Salaries survey (pp. 28–33) to see how library roles are changing and contributing to a more complex story. Nearly 10 percent of newly employed librarians characterize their work as “emerging” library services, and those reporting that they work in digital content has quintupled over the past decade! Someone needs to tell that story.

For every library visitor who exclaims, “I didn’t know the library offered that!”, there are countless others who haven’t visited a library to discover new services, which is a missed opportunity. Marketing raises awareness of library offerings and encourages more people to use them.

LJ’s annual Marketer of the Year award recognizes the creativity and strategic insight that goes into library marketing communications. In celebrating the team at Wilmington Public Library, DE, for their marketing prowess, we’re celebrating just how effectively they see and know their community—and how that helps position WPL as a critical asset that has earned its community’s support. Their marketing savvy is building a network of advocates who amplify the library’s message.

In today’s highly connected digital world, the marketing “rule of seven”—the principle that suggests consumers need to hear or see a message at least seven times before it sticks—has evolved. By one estimate, Americans spend more than 11 hours consuming media each day, which means they are bombarded with messages, making it tougher than ever for libraries to break through the noise.

What’s more, our message is expansive. How do you fit story times, digital literacy training, ebooks, online research databases, and even possibly 3-D printing into a snappy soundbite? Making people aware of the breadth of library services requires audience analysis, targeted messaging, creative print and digital collateral, and a budget to deploy advertising in key outlets. In short, libraries need expert marketing support.

To all the library marketers out there, keep pitching your wild ideas (if it involves cats or Taylor Swift, it’s almost a guaranteed win), hold firm on your brand standards, and don’t stop advocating for investment in your work. Marketing isn’t just homemade flyers (iykyk) and Facebook posts; it’s thoughtfully translating the power of library work into messages that meet the mark.