NC LIVE WORKING FOR NORTH CAROLINAA statewide awareness campaign supporting economic development and quality of life through North Carolina libraries

Report from the field presented by Jill Robinson Morris, Outreach & Promotions Librarian at NC LIVE

Reference Renaissance 2010Denver, COAugust 10, 2010

What is NC LIVE anyway?

Setting the scene…Setting the scene…

•Busy developing a new website

•It was February…and National Library Week was coming up in April

•We wanted to begin driving traffic to our new website in its Beta version

Our Mission: NC LIVE provides North Carolinians with online library and information solutions that support their education, enhance statewide economic development, and increase their quality of life.

Goals for this campaign:•Introduce North Carolinians to NC LIVE’s new website

•Increase usage of NC LIVE resources/content

•Increase awareness of NC LIVE’s content and services among North Carolina citizens

•Develop on-going support for NC LIVE among key decision makers

STEP 1: SCANNING OUR ENVIRONMENT

•We didn’t yet have a well-developed marketing or “promotions plan” in place telling us what to do and who to target

•“What’s going on in the world, and how do we fit in?”

•Recession/Job-hunting resources are getting libraries a lot of good press, and for good reason

•High unemployment rate in North Carolina > 10%

•Push for job creation and small business growth

•State Library of NC started their JobSearch Program in 2009

•We started talking to our committees and local experts

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO OFFER?•We already had great tools to support those seeking jobs, careers, and business information:

•LearningExpress Library

•200 Career/Job-search eBooks

•Career Library

•Business databases, such as ReferenceUSA, SimplyMap, Business Source Premier, Morningstar, etc.

•The problem: These tools were not easy to find – and we weren’t doing a great job of highlighting these tools within our current website.

We are still relatively new to the reference game… a screenshot of our old website complete with hard to find resources

The “old” way

EXAMPLE CHAT QUESTIONS

IM from guest416423@libraryh3lp.com: How do I find ReferenceUSA?

IM from guest405010@libraryh3lp.com: what if i'm looking for jobs throughout north carolina

IM from guest377734@chat.libraryh3lp.com yes how do I research the beverage industry

IM from guest343066@chat.libraryh3lp.com: i need to find information on being an event planner. could you please let me know where to go in order for me to find the information I need??

IM from guest340915@chat.libraryh3lp.com: I am on nclive and trying to figure out where to find pharmacy tech practice exam

The “new” way

STEP 2: DEFINING OUR TARGET AUDIENCES:

1. Job-hunters and unemployed in NC

2. Those seeking career information

3. Those thinking about going back to school

4. Entrepreneurs & small business owners

STEP 3: THE HOW - GATHERING FEEDBACK & IDEAS

Talk to potential partners & audiences:•State Library of North Carolina•NC LIVE Publicity Advisory Committee•BLINC (Business Librarians in North Carolina)•Member library staff •End-users via chat, Twitter, etc.•Vendors

The Feedback: •Go forward with promoting job, career and business resources – there is a market for it.

•Make sure these resources are easier for patrons to find and access!

•Don’t forget to train library staff along the way.

•Communicate with career centers on campuses.

The Job & Career Accelerator was funded by the State Library of North Carolina, and purchased by NC LIVE

in April 2010

BRAINSTORMING WITH COLLEAGUES TO DEVELOP A THEME

Focus on resources for the unemployed, career seekers, and small business owners.

NC LIVE can provide people with financial benefits - positively changing their life in some way.

NC LIVE is saving people time and money.

NC LIVE is working for North Carolina. Put NC LIVE to work for you.

Breaking Down Barriers & Making Access Easier

Step 4: Making what we had more marketable

Draft Portal Sketch Done in Photoshop - Used to Collect Feedback

www.business.nclive.org

www.jobs.nclive.org

STEP 5: PROMOTION, PUBLICITY, COMMUNICATION

Collaborated with vendors to help us spread the word – radio commercials & more

Developed a promotional kit with a press release template for member libraries

Encouraged communication with college career centers or other related organizations and departments

Distributed press releases to local media outlets

Utilized social media (blog, Twitter, Facebook)

Emailed newsletters to our listservs and other relevant lists

WORKING WITH VENDORS

•Radio commercials across popular NC radio stations in major markets

•Developing logos and graphics used to help promote our new portals

GETTING MEMBER LIBRARY STAFF READY & ON BOARD:

Sample Newsletters:March 2010April 2010

WE DEVELOPED HANDOUTS FOR LIBRARIES TO USE

STEP 6: ANALYZING THE RESULTS

During April 2010, Visits to Our Beta Site Increased By more than 45%

Since the portals were launched on April 12, 2010

People have viewed the Jobs Portal more than 3,900 timesPeople have viewed the Business Portal more than 2,300 times

When counting unique pageviews since the launch of our

website in 2010, the Jobs Portal is currently our 9th most popular page, and the Business Portal is our 15th most popular page on our website.Resource April 2009 April 2010

Business Source Premier

123,170 sessions 198,569 sessions

LearningExpress

3,360 sessions 5199 sessions

SimplyMap

554 sessions 674 sessions

MORE RESULTS…

Full article available from: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6727368.html

WHY MARKET LIBRARY SERVICES?

Marketing is essential to establishing or reminding patrons of the library’s value in their everyday lives. Sometimes that means repackaging what we already offer in a way that is relevant to our customers.

Marketing ≠ Advertising

The end-result?

Increased usage and awareness of library resources and improved perception of libraries.

TAKEAWAYS & LESSONS WE LEARNED:

Start early.

Partner when possible.

Although they’re nice to have, you don’t need a formal plan in place to get started.

Use in-reach and outreach to get the word out. Get others involved in what you’re doing, they’ll do the promoting for you.

Talk about it, but don’t use library jargon, and don’t expect patrons to know the names of databases.

Use a variety of communication tools, and consider your audience.

THANK YOU!

Contact Us:www.nclive.org

Jill Robinson MorrisOutreach & Promotions LibrarianNC LIVEjill@nclive.org

Find us on Twitter: @ncliveFind us on Facebook