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Depository Promotion

from the Fall 2003 FDLC

Two very enthusiastic librarians gave lot of useful tips on ongoing depository promotion. The first was Paula Singleton from Xavier University in Louisiana. She suggested that you decide what in particular to promote and who the target audience is to be, then choose a combination of types of outreach: print, letters, posters, exhibits, voice. Some specific suggestions:

• Print: web site (!), ad in campus newspaper or library newsletter, ad in local newspaper, story/ad in HR newsletter, bibliographies/pathfinders
• Letters: to promote certain titles, agencies, people, historical periods, subjects, etc.
• Posters: not just for the library, but also dining hall, main building, other libraries, other institutions, etc.
• Exhibits: again, not just in the library, but also other campus buildings, other institutions; coordinate with campus events
• Voice: speak at luncheons, service clubs, training classes; get on speakers lists at the admissions office, public relations, local school districts

She also did some really elaborate things in conjunction with GPO Access training which came to her library--she even had a raffle. She asserts that it is important to evaluate your marketing plan, but that if even one additional faculty member, student, etc., is introduced to documents, you've had some success.

The second presenter was something of a celebrity at this meeting, Suzanne Sears, the documents librarian at Tulsa City/County Library, the Depository Library of the Year. She gave us four "P's" to effective outreach: Passion (if you think your collection is important, others will, too); Promotion; Pro-active Reference (watch for items in the news); and Presentation (since patrons don't always come to us as they used to, we have to pull them in).

Her main points were that promotion can be ongoing and daily, and can be accomplished simply by being enthusiastic about your job, maintaining your collection properly and making sure documents get good word-of-mouth (her point: 1 bad experience for a patron takes 10 good ones to erase). She also advises us to "take control of what you can control and don't sweat the rest." Some specific suggestions: displays don't have to be on a separate table, you can just put stuff out at the Reference Desk; get bulk materials from GPO, and other agencies such as FTC; route shipping lists to interested persons with relevant docs highlighted; email about current news items (but don't overdo--make sure they look forward to emails from you, not dread them); staff tutorials, workshops and cross-training; both internal (to the rest of the staff) and external (to the public) promotion are important.

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