You Can’t Do It Alone:A Collaborative Approach to

Academic Music Library Outreach

Rahni B. Kennedyrahni.kennedy@gmail.com

“We’re here! We have terrific materials! We have wonderful programs! Everyone should be coming to us!” (Trotta, 1993)

“Gone are the days when libraries can simply open their doors and expect to be perceived as the number one option for information services. With fierce competition for funding and more people assuming everything offered by a library can be found online, libraries are feeling the pressure to blow their own horn.” (Hallmark, Schwartz, & Roy, 2007)

“We are here, we have great stuff, we’ll save you time, there is a world beyond Google…” (Castonguay, 2013)

“Outreach is the process whereby a library service investigates the activities of the community it serves and becomes fully involved in supporting community activities, whether or not centered on library premises.” (Anderson, 2010)

What is “outreach”?

Two types of outreach activities (Carter & Seaman, 2011) Services offered by libraries Promotion of these services

What is “outreach”?

Primary User Group Music Students, Faculty, and Staff

Needs (Lai and Chan, 2010) Undergrads – Scores, Multimedia, Books/Online

listening Grad Students – Electronic Journals, Books,

Online listening Faculty – Books, Scores, Multimedia

Define the Community

Secondary Group 1 University community (Patillo, 2005)

Basic instructional materials Music in the classroom Recorded music for various activities

Define the Community

Secondary Group 2 Outside university community

General Information Browse collection

Scores Recordings

Define the Community

Social Media

Facebook

Three domains for relationship building (Phillips, 2011) Library – Messages related to the library itself Student – Messages directed at students Community – Messages about the university

and local community

“…Facebook offers a dynamic environment for academic libraries to cultivate relationships with

students.”

Social Media

FacebookMessages in the library domain

52% of the posts reflected messages about library services

22% of the posts reflected announcement messages

13% of the posts reflected the library’s core values and competency in emerging technologies

10% of the posts dealt with library promotion

Social Media

Twitter

It is easy to syndicate It is easy to use It can be updated via SMS

“Twitter has a broadcast approach which is a way to control what information is being sent out.”

(Mazar, 2010)

Social Media

YouTube

Promotional videos created by libraries (Colburn & Haines, 2012) General Promotion/Appreciation Orientation/Tour Patron-Generated Promotion of Service/Collection Event Documentation News Instruction/Tutorial

Social Media

Instagram

Currently the third most popular social network used by U.S. college students

Higher engagement level than Facebook or Twitter (Saloman, 2013)

Social Media

Acquiring the Audience (Castonguay, 2013) Other Music Library accounts Other University departments Local community

Other institutions Local businesses Public Libraries

Social Media

Orientation/Convocation Audition Days Summer Music Camps Running Display Teaching Greek Music Organizations

Collaboration with Music Dept.

Lecture Series Mini-Concerts Open House Special Promotion Out of the box

Game Night Scavenger Hunt

Collaboration with Academic Library

Community Music organizations University Outreach Department

School Districts Local businesses

Public Libraries

Collaboration with Community

References

Anderson, C. L. (2010). Reaching out: Programming and partnerships. Journal of the Library Administration & Management Section, 6(2), 45-49.  Carter T.M., & Seaman, P. (2011). The management and support of outreach in academic libraries. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 51(2), 163-171. Castonguay, Remi. (2013). Social media: Strategies for success for music libraries, or beyond creating an account. Fontes Artis Musicae, 60(3), 163-172.  Colburn, S., & Haines, L. (2012). Measuring libraries’ use of YouTube as a promotional tool: An exploratory study and proposed best practices. Journal of Web Librarianship, 6, 5-31. doi:10.1080/19322909.2012.641789 Hallmark, E. K., Schwartz, L., & Roy, L. (2007). The basics of a marketing and outreach plan for the UT fine arts library. Texas Library Journal, 83(1), 40-43.

  

References

Lai, K., & Chan K. (2010). Do you know your music users' needs? A library user survey that helps enhance a user-centered music collection. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(1), 63-69.

Mazar, R. (2010). Libraries and social media. Access, 16(1), 10-12. Patillo, E. (2005). UH music library outreach: A two-way street. Texas Library Journal, 81(1), 28-30. Phillips, N. K. (2011). Academic library use of Facebook: Building relationships with students. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(6), 512-522. Saloman, D. (2013). Moving on from Facebook: Using Instagram to connect with

undergraduates and engage in teaching and learning. College & Research Libraries News, 74(8), 408-412.

Trotta, M. (1993). Managing library outreach programs. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.