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How Storytelling Is Revolutionizing One Library’s Video Strategy

Photo courtesy of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

It’s not surprising that Tina Walker Davis and her communications team at Deschutes Public Library in Bend, Oregon, have a robust and interesting video strategy for YouTube. Tina, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and graduated from Washington State University, has a previous career as a television anchor and reporter.

“I left journalism to go into marketing and communications and owned my own marketing business for 10 years until I made the financially disastrous decision to open an independent bookstore,” explains Tina. “While the bookstore didn’t pan out, it did enmesh me in the literary community here, including the library system.”

Tina took a job at the library in 2012 in event planning and coordination. Now she’s Communications Manager for the library. She manages four people, including a Graphic Design Coordinator and Dana O’Connell, Keifer McCool, and Michael Rivera, who are all Digital Communications Coordinators.

“Michael almost exclusively does video work, and Dana and Kiefer both manage social media,” says Tina. “Dana also does all of our Spanish-language communications. I’ve told the team many times that I’ve never worked with such a collaborative group.”

“We have bi-weekly brainstorming sessions that are so fun. There’s no agenda. It’s just a time for us to come together and talk about what we’re seeing, what we’re excited about, and generally throw some spaghetti at the wall. A lot of our best content was conceptualized in those brainstorming meetings.”

Deschutes Public Library’s YouTube channel was already up and running when Tina began her job. At first, Tina’s team used it to share story time videos and videos of their marquee events, as well as a Why We Love the Library series in 2016 and 2017. At the end of 2019, they had 265 subscribers.

Then COVID hit. Like most libraries, Deschutes Public Library pivoted to online programs and saw its subscriber count grow to 14,500 at the time of this writing.

When Tina hired Michael in 2022, he “brought a wealth of professional video production experience—just phenomenal skills in shooting and editing, but also a fantastic eye and ear for storytelling,” exclaims Tina.

“The first video he did for us was promoting our Summer with the Library program, and I knew immediately that we were going places with our videos. He started another Why We Love the Library series, with this video being one of my absolute favorites.”

“I don’t know if it’s my background in journalism, but I’ve always believed in the power of stories to do the work that we can sometimes struggle to do in marketing.”

“We can run ads telling people how great the library is, but it’s so much more impactful when it comes from real people who truly believe in the power of libraries to change lives.”

-Tina Walker Davis

Dana says the library’s strategy, when it comes to producing videos for YouTube, is to strike a balance between the information the community needs to know about the library and fun or trending content.

“Everyone who comes into the library has a story,” explains Dana. “Some of our human-interest pieces come from referrals by our public services staff, in the form of kudos from our online web form, or a chance meeting while in one of our branches.”

“Staff, volunteers, and customers offer the chance to talk about the library in a unique voice where we aren’t necessarily promoting a product or service. For me, it’s about having a touch point with a customer and listening to what excites them about the library; no two answers are the same.”

“One thing we do every time someone is interviewed for a video, regardless of the topic, is to ask, ‘Why are libraries important?’” adds Tina. “The answer to that question is evergreen. We can pull the answer and use it along for a series of shorts, turn it into a graphic quote for social, or string together several answers for a stand-alone piece.”

Dana and Kiefer shoot and edit the short-form, vertical format for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube shorts. Michael uses videography equipment to do the longer-form and documentary-style videos.

“But rarely do they work alone,” explains Tina. “They’re writing together, and often Dana or Kiefer will act as Michael’s grip during shoots and take care of the interview portions. Michael is definitely a dedicated videographer, but it’s truly a team effort between the three of them—and it’s magical.”

All videos from Deschutes Public Library have captions for accessibility and clarity. They also have video thumbnails featuring a branded, consistent look. That helps to capture the attention of scrollers while making sure viewers know this content comes from the library.

“When I choose the image(s), I’m looking for a visually pleasing frame that tells the viewer just enough to pique their interest without giving away too much of the story,” reveals Michael. “The best images will also have some clean space in the frame that the title will naturally fall into.”

“The title in the thumbnail usually doesn’t match the video title, and that’s on purpose. The main title is always clear and matter-of-fact, while the thumbnail title often uses one of the most impactful quotes in the story. The key here is to be concise to maximize the size of the text in the frame, so the titles are usually no more than six words.”

Deschutes Public Library doesn’t rely on pure chance to get views on its videos. They promote them!

“Our flagship eNewsletter has 55,000 subscribers, and we’ll sometimes link to videos from the newsletter,” says Tina. “We embed some videos on our website. In particular, we’ve used our videos on our website to help inform the public about our bond projects.”

“I also do some paid promotion of videos on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram if I can see that a monetary ad boost is needed and will help us really target our Deschutes County residents.”

“So, with all that said, our investment in YouTube as a platform was very organic. It started slowly, but we saw real growth. But nothing happens on YouTube alone in terms of storytelling. Anything that is shared there is also pushed out on Instagram and Facebook, and some also make their way to TikTok if they’re humorous or have that viral potential.”

Tina and her team say the videos help boost awareness of the library and its services, and they’ve received a wealth of positive community feedback.

“Our recent viral video — where our director, Todd Dunkelberg, is giving a Gen Z-inspired tour of the new Redmond Library — was a great community experience. Between Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, we are now close to 5 million views on that video. But what I loved seeing was locals commenting amongst folks from across the country and the world — the locals took so much pride in claiming the library as their own (‘That’s MY library!’).”

“And Todd became a little local celebrity after it, with folks coming up to him in the community and telling him how much they loved the video. We immediately jumped on the ‘Slay’ and ‘So Julia’ lines and created stickers with the characters Todd points to in the video, and those were really popular with our customers.”

For inspiration, Tina and her team often look inside and outside the library world.

“I’m guilty of being an Instagram reels scroller,” confesses Tina. “My brain often goes to, ‘Could we put a spin on that?’ Often in our brainstorming sessions, we’ll bring forward videos that we’ve seen over the past two weeks, share them with the team, and see if there’s something we can do along those lines.”

“Library systems are really growing into their own niche on social. They’re funny, sometimes irreverent. People really enjoy watching library folks, who are perhaps historically thought of as buttoned up, be funny.”

– Tina Walker Davis

Tina says the key factors in the success of the library’s video marketing strategy are her talented team and library leadership that believes in the power of communication.

“I know that for a lot of libraries across the county, being able to spend this kind of time on video work is an absolute luxury,” says. Tina. “I feel very fortunate to not only have the trust from our leadership to do that work, but also lucky to work with a team of communications professionals who are passionate about the work and the message.”

“The goal is to remind our customers, the taxpayers who make the library’s work possible, that the library is here for them, in whatever way they may need, from checking out a book to finding a job. We’re here to meet people where they are and make their lives better.”

Need more inspiration?

From Shelves to Screens: How an Academic Librarian Captures Student Narratives for Library Marketing

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How One Library Marketer Transformed a Library Website: See the Stunning Before and After!

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Some of Megan Bratton’s favorite memories were made at the Forsyth County Public Library in Winston Salem, North Carolina.

“I went to a new concept charter school in downtown Winston Salem that was housed in the basement of an office building,” explains Megan. “The school didn’t have many amenities, like a gym or library.”

“This meant that we got to go on regular walking field trips to the main branch of the Forsyth County Public Library. We even got to decorate our own cotton tote bags to use carting our book finds back and forth. My dad worked in an office downtown and would often pop into the school or library for fun surprise visits.”

Megan went on to work in corporate marketing before getting her MLIS from the University of Denver. She initially intended to work in an academic setting but was more interested in the public library world. She ended up at the Natrona County Library in March of 2019, working as a part-time Children’s Librarian.

“I found it truly astonishing what all public libraries were able to do for their communities in response to immediate needs and in anticipation of future needs,” recalls Megan. “No other large organization can pivot and change that quickly. Plus, they were doing it all for free and for everyone.”

“As a marketer, I realized there was a major need here. Public libraries are these bastions of creativity, advancement, support, and acceptance, but not enough people know about these free services. I wanted to find a way to put my skillset to use promoting public libraries, and it wasn’t long after I started working at Natrona County Library that their marketer decided to move on to new ventures. In October of 2019, I stepped into my current role as head of Marketing and PR.”

Natrona County is the second-most populous county in Wyoming, with 80,000 residents. The library has a main branch in downtown Casper and a branch about 40 miles away in a small town called Edgerton. They also have a bookmobile.

Megan says nearly a third of Natrona County residents have an active library card, and the library enjoys high visitor and circulation rates and robust program attendance. That may be due in part to the work Megan has done in marketing.

At her library, Megan is a team of one, overseeing all social media, public relations, website development and management, advertising, graphic design, and branding.

“I do ask that our programmers and other library staff try to keep a ‘marketing mindset’ to help capture photographs at programs or throughout the library space that could be used for social media,” shares Megan. “I am all about efficiencies and delegation, so I have licensed programs like LibraryAware and Canva which come pre-populated with professional-looking templates that staff can use to make their own bookmarks, flyers, signs, handouts, and more.”

I reached out to Megan after seeing the Natrona County Library’s website. It’s clean and modern, with a thoughtful layout and what I can only describe as a “cool” vibe. I told Megan it doesn’t really look like a typical library website.

“The website (as I inherited it) was broken and battered. It had been built before mobile devices were a thing,” recalls Megan. “We needed to start fresh with a ‘mobile first’ mindset, simplify the navigation structure, integrate new event software that made our program calendar more visually appealing, and incorporate a blog to position ourselves as thought leaders in our community and the larger Wyoming library community.”  

A screenshot of the Natrona County’s website homepage before the rebuild.

Megan partnered with a local creative agency on the website rebuild in 2021, thanks to the generous support of her library Foundation.

“Because of my extensive web background, we had an unusual arrangement where I worked side-by-side with their web guy as we built it out,” explains Megan. “As you know, library websites have a LOT of pages, which can make a new website a costly build. Because I was able to tackle about 75 percent of the pages (using templates, structures, and design influence from the agency-built pages) myself, it cut the cost in half, which is how we ended up with such a professional-looking website on a public library budget.”

Natrona County Library’s website includes real photos of the library, conversational language, call to action buttons, and their newsletter signup is right on the home page.

For some libraries, the website can be a point of contention: everyone has different opinions about what should be featured on the homepage and drop-down menus. Megan needed to make decisions based on her knowledge of her customers. Later, analytics let her know if her instincts were correct.

“There are a couple of items that live in multiple places in the menu, like the Bookmobile, to accommodate multiple thought processes or visitor types,” explains Megan. “My goal, ultimately, is to put things that make the most sense to our staff, because they are the ones referencing the pages the most.”

“But we are all in agreement that the most important pieces of information are to be at the very top of the homepage. Static across the entire site is the search functionality for our catalog, log-in to one’s account, library hours, and our phone number. I treat our website like a database in that sense.”  

“Anecdotally, and through analytics, we’ve come to realize that our patrons don’t spend a whole lot of time on our website. They mostly come for hours, contact information, and to get to our catalog. They may also enter through digital ads, social media, or from other places directly to landing pages, but don’t tend the linger.”

The website is also the home of Natrona County Public Library’s blog, Library Stories.

“Our blog is a byproduct of our bygone print newsletter,” explains Megan. “It was important to me that we have a way to not only highlight that content for larger audiences but also share it differently, as blog articles can be interacted with much differently than print pieces.

“The blog is a great place to put press releases or share important library updates without building individual landing pages that disappear over time. Depending on the content, I do find that the blog articles drive traffic, especially if the blog article is about the library itself.”

“For example, we shared a press release about a recent exploration of a bank building as a potential new location for the library, and it got a lot of visitors (as well as a lot of commentary on social media). The same thing happened when we increased the number of security guards and shared that information with the community.”

“The blog is an excellent resource for the media and can be a great way to remind our community of our policies, procedures, and things like funding sources, as these are things that seem to come up often in social dialogue.”

Megan says if your library is considering a website refresh, make sure you make that digital space as welcoming and friendly as your physical locations.

“Also, when you’re talking to your staff, stakeholders, and patrons about the library website, they have no idea that there is often a difference between your website and your catalog,” adds Megan. “I realize that some libraries have their site and catalog combined, but that is not the case for us.”

“Our website is built on WordPress, and our catalog is through ByWater Solutions’ Aspen. We also have integrations with LibCal for our event calendar, room booking, appointments, and Library of Things. Patrons have no idea that these are all separate things, and a patron can shut down during conversation if you start talking about them as such.”

“That’s why it was super important that all these disparate–but integrated–sites feel cohesive so that patrons and end users don’t even realize when they’re navigating away from one and can easily and seamlessly navigate back to where they came from.”

You can read more about the rebuild of the Natrona County Library website here.

Hey library marketing friends: Every promotion you create brings the joy of your library to someone new. That’s something to be proud of!

P.S. You might also find this helpful

Google Does It Again! What New Changes in Search Ranking Mean for the Discoverability of Your Library’s Website

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:

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What’s It Like To Promote a Library With a Non-Circulating Collection? Marketer at a Cultural Institution Takes Us Behind the Scenes

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:

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