ILM Level 3 presentation | Tuesday 22nd July

Increasing membership at Widnes libraryHelen Sheridan, Lead librarian, Widnes Library

www.halton.gov.uk

AimTo discuss the current problems of membership figures at Widnes library and create a solution to increase members and reverse the current trend of declines.

www.halton.gov.uk

Objectives

• To give an overview of the problem of declining membership at Widnes library

• To discuss solutions that we could implement to reverse this problem

• To choose a solution and create an action plan and review of the solution.

www.halton.gov.uk

Active members and registered members

January 2011-January 2013

Jan-11

Mar-11

May-11

Jul-11

Sep-11

Nov-11

Jan-12

Mar-12

May-12

Jul-12

Sep-12

Nov-12

Jan-13

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

RegisteredActive

• Disparity between registered and active users

www.halton.gov.uk

The extent of the problem…

Jan-11

Feb-11

Mar-11

Apr-11

May-11

Jun-11Jul-1

1

Aug-11

Sep-11

Oct-11

Nov-11

Dec-11

Jan-12

Feb-12

Mar-12

Apr-12

May-12

Jun-12Jul-1

2

Aug-12

Sep-12

Oct-12

Nov-12

Dec-12

Jan-13

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

• Falling levels of recruitment

www.halton.gov.uk

Consequences

Library not being busyLow staff moraleand boredom

Library seeming irrelevantand not well used to councillors

and managers higher up

Library budgets beingreduced, staff made redundant

Libraries being closed

www.halton.gov.uk

Possible solutions

www.halton.gov.uk

Traditional marketing in the media

• Leaflets drops at local homes

• Posters in the community

• Adverts in the newspaper

• Local radio

• Social media marketing

www.halton.gov.uk

Traditional marketing

Strengths

• High reach potential

• Quick and does not take up a lot of staff time

• Ability to target local areas with low membership at the library.

Weaknesses

• Inefficient despite potential to focus on key areas

• Possible waste of resources

• Easy to be ignored, leaflets thrown away, etc

• Difficult to measure success

www.halton.gov.uk

Outreach marketing within the community

• Attending events within the community

• Building links with other local partners, schools, groups and organisations

• Spreading the word to members of the public, through conversation.

www.halton.gov.uk

Outreach marketing within the community

Strengths

• Word of mouth strength – staff can talk to non-members and convince them why they should join, what we can offer

• Useful for building up partners within the community

• Easy to measure success of an outreach event from total members recruited.

Weaknesses

• Staff time intensive

• Can be a waste of time if everyone attending said event is already a member or not from the region

www.halton.gov.uk

Asking staff for their ideas to increase membership• Contact schools, attend school fairs/parents evenings

• Attend events at children centres

• Stalls at events within the community

• Attend baby weigh in clinics within Widnes library

• Build up links with adult learning and promote our services to learners.

All outreach marketing within the community!

www.halton.gov.uk

Action plan: John Kotter’s 8 steps to change

1. Create urgency – inform staff of the consequences and the full picture of decreasing members

2. Form a powerful coalition – ask staff for ideas and identify staff with promotional strengths and enthusiasm to reverse this trend

3. Create a vision for change – vision of a well-used library valued by the community with high membership & active users

4. Communicate the vision – monthly staff meetings, email bulletins, set targets

5. Remove obstacles – ensure resources & training required are available

6. Create short term wins – Hit targets and reward staff

7. Build on the change – Push targets higher, attempt to increase active membership

8. Anchor the change - Create an ethos of promoting membership

www.halton.gov.uk

march april may june0

100

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2012target2013

march april may june0

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2012targetSeries3

march april may june0

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2012Series2Series3

www.halton.gov.uk

Conclusion

• Shown the extent of the problem with membership figures and the consequences of taking no action

• Discussed possible solutions to marketing and increasing membership

• Implemented an 8 step plan for change to increase membership and have seen results already.

www.halton.gov.uk

Questions