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What We Talked About

Library News: A civil California Grand Jury decides that the Santa Cruz Public Library’s potential use of a data analytics tool would threaten patron privacy. The library ended up not using the tool, but it’s an interesting conversation about how much data we can use to market to our cardholders without threatening the sacred privacy of a cardholders’ data. I feel very conflicted about it. Read the article and let me know what you think!

Reader Question: Lori from the Nicolet Federated Library System in Green Bay, Wisconsin asked us to discuss web accessibility basics for library websites.  Thank you for this very important question, Lori! We know web accessibility is important. Some of our cardholders may not have full use of their hands. Others have a vision disability. There is a tool you can use to audit your website so you can see where accessibility is an issue and correct it. The tool is free and was developed by the ADA. You can get it as a Chrome extension here. You could also hire a web accessibility expert. They can do a hands-on audit of your site, identify problems, help you to fix them, and keep an eye on your site to make sure you stay in compliance in the future. This company has good reviews. I hope this helps!

Kudos: To the Pima County Public Library. They got media coverage of an overdue postcard notice sent back to them after 40+ years. The story had all the things our cardholders love–mystery, nostalgia, and it reminded the community of the length of service and commitment of the library in the community. It’s hard to get media coverage so kudos to them for finding this unique pitch! Watch it here.

Stay in Touch

I’m speaking at two conferences this fall and you can register for both on the Upcoming Events page. If you come to OLC, you’ll be able to tour the Downtown Main Library where I work! I’m getting ready to add new events soon so check back.

Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show? Submit it now.

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