Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Growing up in Columbia, Missouri, Lili Pangborn visited her local library nearly every day after school.

“The library staff quickly began to recognize me,” recalls Lili. “They would offer to help me with homework or chat about whatever books I was reading at the time. I feel like this willingness to help others is common among library staff; libraries truly are a special place for community collaboration!”

Lili still spends nearly every day at the library. She’s now the Communications Coordinator at the Newberry Library, a non-circulating research and cultural archive library in Chicago.

The library has a diverse collection of rare books, manuscripts, maps, and secondary literature that can help researchers interpret and understand original source materials. It also offers programs and exhibits.

Lili works with the Director of Communications and two graphic designers to promote the Newberry.

“Much of our marketing is focused on promoting our public events,” explains Lili. “We frequently collaborate with the Public Programs, Adult Education, and Exhibitions departments to develop marketing strategies specific to each team’s needs.”

“I believe that to successfully promote our institution, it is imperative to fully understand all aspects of how the library functions. For that reason, I try to maintain working relationships with colleagues across all departments at the Newberry, even those with whom we don’t work as closely.”

Lili’s library is quite different from that of most of my readers, as are her marketing goals.

“As an independent library that is free and open to the public, of course, our overarching goal is to get people in the doors, engaging with the collection, learning, reading, and discussing,” says Lili. “However, unlike school and public libraries, our focus isn’t necessarily on literacy or early childhood education.”

“We are non-circulatory, which means library users cannot take collection items out of the library. Because of that, we aim to promote how users near and far can engage with the Newberry and promote the message that our collection is for everyone, not just scholars or research fellows at the library.”

“There are so many ways our collection can benefit personal or professional work, so one goal is to make sure our audience is aware of our collection specialties and how they can be utilized.”

“For example, if you are from Chicago and want to learn more about your neighborhood or a certain Chicago event, we have tons of materials on Chicago history, culture, and political movements. If you are curious about the Indigenous communities local to your area, we have a wide breadth of materials from various regions across the American continents. Or, say you are interested in building your family tree, the Newberry has a slew of materials relevant to genealogic research, not just Chicago specific!”

“Many of our audience members are interested in learning from the items in our collection but are not interested in conducting formal research. So, we also want to make sure people know about the wide breadth of opportunities available to engage with the collection in a less formal setting, through our public programs, adult education classes, and exhibitions.”

I came to know of the Newberry Library through one of my readers, who mentioned that they admired the Newberry’s Instagram account. Indeed, it’s a history and book lovers’ dream, with lots of photos and videos featuring historic books, albums, documents, and more.

Lili shares social media posting duties with the Director of Communications, Bob Dolgan.

“We prioritize Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, though we also have content on YouTube, Vimeo, and Threads,” says Lili. “Because each platform functions differently, I try to tailor the media we share accordingly.

“For example, because Instagram is visually oriented, I’ve found that our audience responds positively when we exhibit unique and interesting items from our collection in a visually appealing way.”

“Facebook is a text- and link-oriented site, we focus more on sharing relevant articles, blog posts, and events. Due to the character limit, Twitter falls somewhere in the middle, and YouTube is primarily used as a hosting site for free recordings of our public programs and video tours of our exhibitions.”

The Newberry also has an amazing blog, Source Material, which features in-depth articles about interesting sections of the Newberry’s collection.   

Lili says Source Material is a collaboration between departments. She’s never at a loss for blog ideas and sometimes gets to author the articles. For example, Lili wrote this piece about the five most-requested collection items of 2023, which was a huge hit with readers.   

“We try to schedule blog posts according to relevant dates or events at the Newberry, which allows us to cross-market each item,” explains Lili. “This is usually in the form of email campaigns and social media posts.”

“Our audience loves to learn more about the behind-the-scenes work at the Newberry and are curious about new ways they can engage with our collection. Our blog posts help inspire this!”

The Newberry also has very clear and recognizable branding. The font, the clean outline of their website, and the images they choose all convey that old-world, historical collections connection but in a modern way.

“I think that sometimes, even if people understand the value of studying the humanities, they struggle to connect that value to their everyday lives,” says Lili.

“As a humanities research institution, a goal of ours has always been to show how the study of art, music, literature, cartography, and history can inform our understanding of the contemporary world.”

“Our website and social media are often people’s first impression of the Newberry, so we want our online presence to reflect that.”

Lili says the communications team at the Newberry is focused in 2024 on positioning the Newberry collection and staff as resources to the community.

For inspiration, Lili looks to other special libraries, such as the Huntington Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Morgan Library.

“However, I personally admire the Milwaukee Public Library’s media presence,” says Lili. “They do such a wonderful job of tying traditional library goals to lighthearted contemporary media trends. This strategy seems crucial, given the current movement focused on defunding public libraries and limiting access to certain books/subjects. I also love the way they continuously engage with their community members, especially the younger generation of library users.”

P.S. You might also find this helpful

Library Marketer Shares Her Ingenious Trick for Making Sure Her Community Sees Her Social Media Posts

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms: