Does your library send a monthly email newsletter? If so, do you send your newsletter on the first day of the month?
I want you to really think about that strategy, and I have some pros and cons for you to consider when you send your library’s monthly newsletter. We’re going to talk about that in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus, I’m giving kudos to a library that created a special, memorable video to celebrate a big milestone.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
At the Library Marketing and Communications Conference this past November, I watched as Jody Lazar, Director of Community Engagement at Winter Park Library in Florida made half a dozen mouths drop to the floor.
Jody, I, and about 30 others were crammed into a little room for a round table session. We were seated with about six other library marketers, talking about stock photo use for library promotions. That’s when Jody revealed that her team got all the photos they needed—and more—by setting up a Stock Photo Day. Everyone wanted to know how they did it! So, I asked Jody to share with my readers.
Jody, in turn, connected me with two team members who organized their Stock Photo Day. Brianna Haufman is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Winter Park Library. Samantha Huntington is the Community Engagement Specialist. Brianna and Samantha are, of course, loyal, lifelong library users.
“One of my fondest memories is tied to the local library in Springfield, New Jersey,” remembers Brianna. My sister and I were avid library users, always checking out books and participating in children’s activities.”
“One summer, knowing how much we wanted a dog, my mom signed us up for a program where kids could read to dogs. I’ll never forget reading to a little Pomeranian—it felt like the storytelling performance of a lifetime! As a theater-loving kid, I embraced the chance to bring stories to life, and for an hour, it was as though we were dog owners. It was a small but magical moment that has stayed with me ever since.”
“I was born and raised in Central Florida,” recalls Samantha. “Before I was school age, my mom would take me to storytimes at our local library. My family didn’t have cable TV, so my most vivid memories of this time weren’t the storytimes but choosing movies and shows to borrow. Later, in high school, I volunteered at my local library. My favorite task was gathering holds and interlibrary loans from the shelves. It brought me to sections of the library I’d never been to. I loved reading the synopsis of unusual titles and discovering new types of books.”
Brianna and Samantha, along with Jody, make up the whole of the Communications Team at Winter Park Library, which is located about seven miles north of Orlando. They have one location and serve a population of 30,000 residents.
Like many of you, the Winter Park Library Communications Team manages a range of projects such as fundraising appeals, social media, newsletters, an annual gala, and more. They work closely with other departments, including children’s and adult librarians, archivists, and outreach staff.
To promote all that Winter Park Library has to offer, Brianna and Samantha need photos! In the past, they’d used a mixture of photos of past events and stock photos.
“The problem with stock photos is they can only communicate an idea of what we’re offering, not the actual thing,” says Brianna. “It’s more impactful when we show someone using our actual equipment instead of stock.”
When the library was moved into a new building in 2021, the Communications Team was allocated extra marketing funds to produce a professional video. During that shoot, they worked with the production team to gather stock photos and videos for future promotions. That’s when an idea formed for their Stock Photo Day.
“We began by identifying our biggest photo needs, from event promotion to donor outreach,” explains Samantha. “Library staff members with cameras volunteered to help, and we used a Signup Genius link to recruit participants in one-hour shifts.”
“To gather volunteers, we reached out to our existing library volunteers and shared the opportunity on local theater Facebook boards,” continues Brianna. “I also shared the project with my theater students at Central Florida Community Arts, which brought in families and even one of our photographers.”
Next, the team decided on vignette scenes for specific shots and used ChatGPT to generate a detailed schedule. They say the whole planning process took just a few hours, including assigning photographers to locations, creating a shot wish list, and organizing props.
Brianna and Samantha agreed to share their photoshoot day schedule for any library wishing to replicate this process, as well as their wish list of shots and their prop list.
Wishlist
Bookstore: photos of people with books, stacks, donation boxes, shelving, and kids in the kid’s area
Second Floor: Families using the play area, tables, reading, doing homework, collab rooms, stills of family, checking out/using youth laptop, pulling a book off the shelf.
First Floor: Computer lab, book return, reading, people checking out, getting library cards, leaving with big stacks, using printer and scanner, checking out a laptop, lecture/class, pulling a book off the shelf.
Makerspace: lecture/class, designing on the computer, using equipment
Memory Lab: studying, archives, shelving, using the converter/scanner.
The team held their Photo Shoot Day on a Sunday morning before the library opened.
“We had a staff member manage check-ins and release forms, while others helped stage scenes and distribute props,” remembers Samantha. “We used walkie-talkies for coordination and even staged a mock ‘Author Talk’ in our theater space. Thanks to careful planning and community participation, the day ran smoothly and yielded excellent promotional materials.”
“We had two arrival times for our volunteer models and when they arrived, we split them into one of three groups,” continues Brianna. “One group went with a teen volunteer photographer to the children’s floor. The other two groups went downstairs with one of the two library staff members who agreed to be photographers.”
Photo taken during the Stock Photo Day
“In the overlap time between the first batch leaving and the second batch arriving, we took large group photos in our theatre. We ended the day by taking all the photographers and remaining volunteers outside for exterior shots.”
“Members of our marketing team directed volunteers and helped set up shots. One member of the marketing team followed our photographers with a phone on a gimbal getting B-roll.”
Photo taken during the Stock Photo Day
If your library wants to plan a stock photo day, Brianna and Samantha advise you to be flexible and go with the flow.
“You may have more or fewer participants than expected, so having backup plans is essential,” advises Samantha. “Create a ‘wish list’ of shots but understand that you might not achieve everything—and that’s okay! Be open to suggestions. Once participants get comfortable, they might explore the space and come up with creative ideas for scenes or shots that you hadn’t considered. That spontaneity can lead to some of the best moments.”
Photo taken during the Stock Photo Day
“Don’t be afraid to make bold, fun choices—your participants signed up for this experience! Whether it’s recreating a TikTok idea you’ve been wanting to try or capturing close-up shots that require retakes, embrace the opportunity. This is your day to be creative and capture the content your library needs.”
“I’d add that it’s important to recognize how capable you really are,” says Brianna. “Many of us in this field experience imposter syndrome at times—I know I have—but pulling off something like this without a professional crew proves that you can do it. It’s a reminder to trust your skills and creativity.”
“Also, don’t underestimate the willingness of your community to help. People enjoy being part of something fun and meaningful, and their enthusiasm can make a big difference in the success of your project.”
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:
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
We’re going to start the new year out right! There are six common mistakes that I see libraries making in their marketing. In this episode of The Library Marketing Show, we will talk about how you can avoid them this year.
Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library that wrote a fun holiday survival guide and published it in the local newspaper.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Whenever I am handed a survey, I answer it.
As a marketer, I understand the value of surveys. For the respondent, they are a rare chance to voice their opinion about a product, service, or organization. For the organization, they are a way to gather valuable information and create a better user experience.
For the past 9 years, I’ve sent out a survey once a year filled with questions that help me better understand who you are, and how this blog and The Library Marketing Show can be as helpful to you as possible. The posts and videos directly respond to the questions and concerns you share. For example, the 2025 Social Media Guide to Libraries was planned and published based on the results of this survey.
The struggles and goals of libraries shifted in some major ways this year. As we begin 2025, here is the state of library marketing.
Basic methodology
The survey was conducted for two weeks in September 2024. The survey was a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. There were 109 responses.
Type of library
Respondents to the survey consist mainly of public library workers.
84.4 percent of respondents work in a public library.
11 percent work in an academic library.
The remaining 4.5 percent of respondents work in school, special, military, or state libraries.
Size of library
Respondents to the survey come mainly from small and medium-sized libraries.
33 percent serve a population of 25,000 or less.
19.3 percent serve a population between 25,000 and 50,000.
20 percent serve a population between 50,000 and 100,000.
14.7 percent serve a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The remaining respondents work at a large library.
Marketing experience
Most of the respondents are experienced marketers.
79 percent of respondents say they’ve managed promotions for a library for 3 years or longer.
16.5 percent have worked in library marketing for 1-2 years.
4.5 percent said they have worked for less than 12 months in library marketing.
Time spent on library marketing
Half the respondents to this year’s survey say marketing the library is their primary job function. The other half say marketing is just one of many responsibilities they must complete.
Top five most pressing questions or concerns
#1: Staff and library leadership buy-in
The survey respondents this year identified struggles with other staff members as the most common issue. Library marketers specifically report having difficulties in getting their supervisors and co-workers to understand their roles. They find it challenging to communicate the value of their work and their expertise in library promotions.
“I have to provide a lot of education/context for them to understand why they should take marketing seriously,” said one respondent. “I suspect that, because we are a small library/community, they feel it’s not necessary.
Another respondent asked, “One of the biggest challenges is staff expecting the level of marketing for something will dictate how successful it will be. Everyone (including the library board) has their opinions about how marketing should be handled and are constantly pulling us in different directions with their own priorities. We end up spending a lot of time doing things we don’t think is a good thing to focus on, leaving us little time to work on what we think or know will be better.”
And yet a third respondent told me, “Staff expect us to create posters and Social media posts for every program but they’re also creating programs that the community didn’t ask for. So, when no one registers, marketing gets blamed. You have to have some tough skin to work in library marketing because everyone thinks they’re a better marketer and everyone is a critic.”
An academic library marketer said, “The university marketing department has completely shut down the library social media accounts and we cannot send mass emails. All print materials must be approved and abide by the campus brand book. We use a university portal to post announcements of library events and highlight a library database subscription or collection. We are cultivating advocacy efforts among library student workers to use their own dept/program email groups to share library information.” Great idea!
#2: Budget
I’m not surprised that this came up as a frequent problem this year. In my conversations with libraries, the budget has once again become a critical worry, as local, state, and federal lawmakers cut money from public services in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia. (Jerks!)
One respondent said, “It’s always a challenge to get experienced marketing/graphic design professionals to work for a library salary.”
Said another, “We’re a small library and most of our promotional efforts rely on us finding ways to do it without cost or coming up with sponsors for special promotional materials.”
#3: Time
We never have enough time to do all the things we need to do to reach our target audiences. And for those of you who work at a small library, this is especially problematic.
“I’m pretty much a one-person team, with one part-time assistant who does most of the print promotions,” said one respondent. “So, trying to do everything (website, email, social media, graphic design, etc.) solo is challenging. Really hard to do a really good job at all the things at once.”
#4: Reaching non-users
The age-old problem of how to reach people who don’t use the library continues to perplex library marketers. Said one frustrated respondent,” It’s easier for people not to attend programs, it’s easier for people to stay home instead of coming to the library. How can we motivate them to want to come?”
Another told me they struggle with… “reaching people outside of the building and convincing them that they are missing out on wonderful free programs and services, great materials, and saving money.”
#5: Social media
Respondents shared frustration with changing social media algorithms and the lack of engagement on the platforms where they post.
“Facebook is better at reaching patrons in our specific area, but fewer people are using it,” said one respondent. “Instagram isn’t working for us at all. I don’t have the bandwidth for more social media platforms at this time.”
Said another, “There are now way too many social media channels while traditional media is shrinking. We can’t be on every platform and do it well.”
A third respondent said, “I find social media to be less and less effective for promoting events and general information so I’m posting less often, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing since I can then dedicate that extra time to other, more useful tasks.”
Other concerns
AI, project management, fighting for relevancy, and keeping up with trends were also mentioned by respondents as topics of concern.
Social media use
Here is the percentage of libraries using specific social media platforms, according to the survey respondents.
Facebook: 98 percent
Instagram: 97 percent
YouTube: 67 percent
LinkedIn: 40 percent
Twitter/X: 22 percent
TikTok: 20 percent
Pinterest: 7 percent
Threads: 7 percent
Of note: The number of libraries using LinkedIn for promotion jumped 19 percent. The number of libraries posting videos to YouTube rose by 13 percent. And the number of libraries using X dropped by 15 percent this year.
Email marketing
I asked my respondents how often their library sends promotional emails.
Once a week: 35 percent
Once a month: 33 percent
Several times a week: 14 percent
14 percent of respondents said their library doesn’t send any email at all. That’s an increase of 5 percentage points from 2023. I’m curious: If you are a library that doesn’t send email, can you share a little bit about why in the comments?
The most important library marketing goals
For this year’s survey, I made a list of the marketing goals I hear most often from libraries. I asked respondents to choose the one goal they most wanted to concentrate on over the next 12 months. Here are the top four answers with their corresponding percentages.
Driving visitors to your physical location, website, or catalog: 27.5 percent.
Reaching non-patrons: 23 percent.
Getting current cardholders to use the library more often: 16.5 percent.
Driving the use of services like databases, Makerspace, Library of Things, etc.: 9 percent.
Use of AI
This year, I added a question to see how libraries are using AI for marketing, if at all. Turns out that most library marketers are NOT using AI. Those who do use AI log on about once a month and get help with developing new ideas and producing or editing text.
Effectiveness of promotions
This year, I asked respondents to gauge how effective their library promotions are. Most respondents, 72.5 percent to be exact, rate their promotions as “Somewhat effective.”
When asked to give more specific answers about why their marketing is either effective or ineffective, I got lots of insightful and interesting responses.
Here is a sampling of answers from people who ranked their marketing as “ineffective.”
“Social media marketing is pretty much the only marketing we’re doing and that doesn’t reach enough people.”
“Timing of emails–too late for patrons to register for events because marketing is sent out the day before. Inconsistency in what is being promoted and what message is being given because of too many people on the team and no direction from leadership. Insistence on only using social media to market (to save money) even though most of our patrons don’t follow us online and many don’t even have internet access at home.”
“There has never been a marketing plan before. I am trying to establish one, but it is not valued.”
“Our Marketing Coordinator does not have a coordinated plan, use social media calendars, or know how to write for today’s audiences. We aren’t connecting with new or old patrons because there is no defined target audience for any promotions. They throw money at Facebook ads if things aren’t going well. We’re not sure how to teach that skill and keep them up to speed with the rest of the team, who come across as more experienced because they use social media daily.”
Here is a sampling of answers from people who ranked their marketing as “very effective.”
“Persistence, having time, knowing which audience is where (email vs. Facebook).”
“I think we are very intentional about our goals and how we are using our tactics to achieve those goals.”
“Academic library: Our promotional is a mix of information and fun things. Students, faculty, and staff seem very engaged with our content.”
“A highly skilled marketing professional leading all levels of communication is imperative to our success. We have a cash budget to purchase paid media and marketing placement.”
“We have consistent messaging and branding and a very supportive community.”
“We’ve been using special events to reach non-patrons. It’s been largely effective to just get them in the door, offering an experience, courtesy of the library.”
What to expect from Super Library Marketing this year
Readers asked for more examples of libraries doing effective marketing. I have a whole series of library profiles lined up for this year… so stay tuned!
Readers also asked for more profiles of libraries outside the United States. I will be looking to find those libraries. A reminder you can message me anytime with suggestions if you see a library outside the United States that would make a good profile.
One reader commented, “I’d love to see more ideas on how to translate general marketing strategies to fit library structures.” I will continue to try to do this during Library Marketing Show episodes this year.
A reader said, “I’d love for you to discuss WCAG 2.1 Level AA and the new ADA law that was passed. Like– how do we implement (beyond just alt text)?” I will be sharing information on that in the coming months.
And finally, someone said, “I always feel like I need to up my lip color game when I watch an episode of The Library Marketing Show. It’s inspiring!” Thank you! I wear Divine Wine #695 by Maybelline.
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:
Recording The Library Marketing Show does not always go as smoothly as planned. In fact, sometimes it’s downright messy.
And you wanted to see behind the scenes, so I’m showing you some of the biggest bloopers from recording sessions in 2024. Thank you for sticking with me, even when I’m not entirely polished. 🤪
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 