The Special Libraries Group: Six months for Karen

The Special Libraries Group: Six months for Karen

Caleb MayEura RyanDaphne Tseng

Li855: Collection DevelopmentEmporia State University

The Case: Karen Nichols is a new selector in a large academic library. Her collection responsibilities encompass sociology, social work, family social science, and rural sociology.

Karen’s background:Karen has an M.L.S. and a second master’s in family social science. She has eleven years’ experience as a subject specialist in the social sciences in two previous positions.

Karen’s problem:Karen’s predecessor, who was a has left her with a great deal of information about the collection and her budget, but no information about her stakeholders and the users of the collection.

Karen’s six month plan of action:

1. Learn about her publicA. Segment her marketB. Gather secondary and

primary data2. Develop avenues for

communication 3. Create a Marketing Plan

A. Promote her collections4. Evaluate her performance

WHAT KAREN HAS TO OFFER HER CONSTITUENTS:

The library provides numerous digital resources, including indexes and abstracting sources, online reference tools, full-text files, and numeric data files.

The library has had an integrated, automated system for more than fifteen years and provides a multifaceted library web presence, though the page addressing the library’s collections and services in Karen’s subject areas is brief.

Mt. Sunflower State University

Location: Mt. Sunflower, Kansas

Numbers of students: 30,000 Graduate Students: 6,276 Numbers of faculty members

in the Sociology, Social Work, Family Social Science and Rural Sociology Departments: 60

Number of Graduate Students in these departments: 70

Budget: $30,000

LEARN ABOUT HER PUBLIC

Step 1:

Who are Karen’s stakeholders

There are two kinds of Stakeholders◦External stakeholder, i.e. students & outside

users. To address these stakeholders, Karen will need to

learn more about: Knowledge of student needs and expectations Student and stakeholder satisfaction Relationship enhancement

◦ Internal stakeholder, i.e. faculty & staff To address these stakeholders’ needs, Karen will

need to focus on: Work systems Faculty and staff education, training, and development Faculty and Staff well-being and satisfaction

Ways to communicate with these stakeholders:

Satisfaction surveys◦Designed surveys for improvement;

BenchmarkingTotal Quality Management (TQM)

and Continuous Quality Involement (CQI) approach

Gathering Secondary DataTalk to Registrar to learn

◦Number of students in the programs she maintains and their levels

◦Number of faculty members and researchers Karen should also become familiar

with the faculty members’ web pages and curriculum vitae

◦Number of international students and scholars

Gathering primary data…http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FQM9JF9

Karen will create a survey to give to faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students

By emailing the survey, Karen can also introduce herself to her users

Jensen (2009) found that using online survey tools created new relationships and was an easy way to find out exactly what the faculty need

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FQM9JF9

Karen’s Survey

Survey Continued..

DEVELOP AVENUES OF COMMUNICATION

Step 2:

Communication…Attend informational meetings and ask how the librarian can support projects.

Deliver items in person.

Host brownbag discussions and coffee hours on focused topics.

Make presentations at regular meetings of various groups.

Visit classrooms to offer her services.

Working with External Stakeholders

•Form partnerships, for example, with the information technology department.•Get out and learn about other groups that use the social science library, including non-profits, area schools and government agencies•Attend fairs in the social sciences to market the library and learn more about her users.

KAREN’S MARKETING PLAN:TWO STUDIES

Part 3:

Neuhaus and Snowden (2003)

A prominent Iowa university library conducted a marketing study with promotional T-shirts, pens, bookmarks, etc.

The results were mixed and it was determined that the promotional materials were quite costly.

McMenemy (2008)A Scottish public librarian vents

his frustration in a no-holds-barred editorial pertaining to the increasing inclusion of private-sector style direct marketing in the public libraries of the UK

He strongly contends that there is a sacred trust between public libraries and library patrons that has been breached by aggressive marketing campaigns on the part of the public libraries in the UK.

Marketing Pointers for KarenEnsure that there is support by the

university administration for a marketing blitz and that there are available funds in the budget.

Make sure that students/faculty are comfortable with the level of direct marketing that will be employed by the library and that no “sacred” bond is broken through the increased exposure and promotions.

Work with other subject selectorsUse reference time.

Revamp her resource pages..Easy

to use Tabs

Photo

Related Subject

Links and Helpful Links

EVALUATING HER PERFORMANCE

Step 4

Tools Karen can use: Focus Groups

◦Three groups: faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students Use a moderator and another person to

take notes and keep the interactions as natural as possible

Comment box on web page and at desk

Circulation statistics

BibliographyJohnson, P. (2009). Fundamentals of collection development and

management. Washington, D.C.: American Library Association.

Harer, J. B. & Cole, B. R. (2005). The importance of the stakeholder in performance measurement: Critical processes and performance measures for assessing and improving academic library services and programs. College & Research Libraries, 66(2), 149-170.

Jensen, K. (2009). Engaging faculty through collection development utilizing online survey tools. Collection Building, 28(3), 117-121.

Kotter, W. (1999). Bridging the great divide: Improving relations between librarians and classroom faculty. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 25(4), 294-303.

Leitao, B.J. & Vergueiro, W. (2000). Using focus group approach for evaluating customers’ opinions: The experience of a Brazilian academic library. New Library World, 101(1154), 60-65.

McMenemy, D. (2008). A broken relationship: Pushing direct marketing to the public library user. Library Review, 57(6), 413-415.

Neuhaus, C. & Snowden, K. (2003). Public relations for a university library: A marketing programme is born. Library Management, 24(4/5), 193-203.

Links for Further ResearchWe have divided our resources by subject to better assist those interested in specific areas

Stakeholder/User ResearchJensen, K. (2009). Engaging faculty through collection

development utilizing online survey tools. Collection Building, 28(3), 117-121. ◦ Link to Article

Kotter, W. (1999). Bridging the great divide: Improving relations between librarians and classroom faculty. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 25(4), 294-303.◦ Link to Article

Harer, J. B. & Cole, B. R. (2005). The importance of the stakeholder in performance measurement: Critical processes and performance measures for assessing and improving academic library services and programs. College & Research Libraries, 66(2), 149-170.

Leitao, B.J. & Vergueiro, W. (2000). Using focus group approach for evaluating customers’ opinions: The experience of a Brazilian academic library. New Library World, 101(1154), 60-65. ◦ Link to Article

Marketing IdeasNeuhaus, C. & Snowden, K. (2003). Public

relations for a university library: A marketing programme is born. Library Management, 24(4/5), 193-203.

http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.www.whitelib.emporia.edu/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=Article&Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0150240402.pdf

McMenemy, D. (2008). A broken relationship:

Pushing direct marketing to the public library user. Library Review, 57(6), 413-415.













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The Special Libraries Group: Six months for Karen