When we think about library marketing, we usually think about patrons. But every great patron experience starts with staff who know what’s happening.
That’s why I recently spoke with Nina Kenney, Head of Communications at Lake Villa District Library in Illinois, about how her library transformed internal communication.
The project was a way to strengthen culture, improve workflows, and help every employee, from part-time shelvers to department heads, feel connected.
“This project shined a light on the importance of internal communication. You can’t underestimate it.”
-Nina Kenney
The Problem: A Bigger Building Created Bigger Communication Challenges
When Lake Villa District Library moved into a new 66,000-square-foot building in 2019 — double the size of its previous location — communication became more difficult.
The old building naturally encouraged casual conversations. The new three-floor building meant staff rarely crossed paths, making it much easier for information to stay inside departments.
At about the same time, the library welcomed a new director, launched strategic planning, and created a Learning & Development Coordinator position. That is a lot of information to be shared!
Suddenly, email became the default communication channel for everything. Staff quickly became overwhelmed. It’s no wonder that when the library surveyed employees about their biggest frustration, the answer was clear: Too many emails.
That’s a tough piece of feedback. As library marketers, many of us are tasked with communicating both internally and externally. Half of our job is to make sure all staff have the information they need to do their jobs every day.
So if you can’t send an email every time you need to communicate with staff, what do you do?
The Goal Was About Communication… and So Much More
As the team evaluated intranet platforms, they realized they wanted to:
- Reduce email overload
- Create a single source of truth and information
- Streamline marketing and service requests
- Build community across departments
- Make part-time staff feel just as connected as full-time employees
That last goal became especially important.
“We really wanted everybody to feel like they were part of the team,” says Nina.
What They Built
Lake Villa eventually settled on a staff hub, which became the “one source of truth” location for staff.
Their staff hub includes:
- A personalized dashboard
- Marketing request forms with automated tracking
- Learning & Development resources
- Policy documents
- Board packets
- Leadership notes
- Knowledge base articles
- Project workspaces
- Team collaboration areas
- Staff recognition
- Birthdays
- Social groups like “What Are You Reading?” and “What Are You Watching?”
One feature Nina especially appreciates is the marketing request tracker. Instead of chasing down emails or worrying about forgotten requests, every project automatically enters a queue.
“I used to miss jobs because requests got buried in email,” laments Nina. “That doesn’t happen anymore.”
Building Community Matters to Staff
So many of us think of internal communication in a very formal, business-like way. I love that Nina’s library took staff communication to the next level, intentionally building spaces where staff could simply connect.
Employees share what they’re reading. They recommend television shows. Birthdays are celebrated. Staff can publicly recognize one another for great work.
Those little interactions help replace the spontaneous conversations that disappeared after moving into a much larger building. And they create a culture that keeps staff feeling engaged, informed, and connected to the library’s overall mission.
Did It Work?
According to Nina, yes! Staff engagement has been strong, although adoption wasn’t immediate.
The team involved employees throughout development, asked them to help name the platform, and even introduced it with a fun “infomercial” during Staff Development Day.
That investment paid off. Today, staff know where to find updates, training, forms, policies, and project information without digging through overflowing inboxes.
A Surprise Takeaway About Email
One insight from our conversation surprised me. Even after building an impressive employee hub, Nina doesn’t think email should disappear.
When I shared that the library where I work sends a daily staff email, I admitted I initially assumed employees would find it overwhelming. Instead, staff told us they appreciate it. Nina wasn’t surprised.
“Say what you will about email, but it does create community. If people don’t feel engaged or they don’t feel they belong, everything else becomes harder.”
-Nina Kenney
That’s an important reminder. Internal communication works best when you choose the mix of tools that works for your staff. And that’s going to be different for every library.
Final thought
If, like me, you are trying to improve internal communication, here are some questions you can ask yourself, according to Nina.
- Where do staff naturally look for information?
- Are we creating unnecessary email?
- Can employees easily find policies and forms?
- Are project requests getting lost?
- How do we help part-time staff feel included?
- Are we creating opportunities for staff to connect with one another?
Want more help?
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