Welcome
Here I have listed the marketing tools that I mentioned in Kansas Library Association 2013 Conference session about how to market your small library for practically nothing. Please bookmark this page so you can find it easily in the future!
Web Presence
Weebly.com - This is a website that is free that enables you to create a website the quick and easy way. This site was created with weebly.com! You can pay to have your own domain name or subscribe to get the premium features. However the standard features are pretty good. Weebly also creates a mobile version of your site at no cost to you.
Wix.com - This is another website where you can create a website for free. Wix does allow you more control over the design elements than Weebly does, but I warn you it can be a total time suck. You can spend a lot of time playing with design element here but if you just want a basic design where you pick basic colors I would suggest using Weebly.
Wix.com - This is another website where you can create a website for free. Wix does allow you more control over the design elements than Weebly does, but I warn you it can be a total time suck. You can spend a lot of time playing with design element here but if you just want a basic design where you pick basic colors I would suggest using Weebly.
Krug, S. (2006). Don't make me think!: A common sense approach to web usability. Berkley, CA: New Riders Publishing.
There is a new third edition to this book called Don't Make me think revisited but I have not had the opportunity to read it. I am sure that either edition would provide you with a wealth of information! |
Social Media
Hoot Suite.com - This a social media manager. It allows you to have up to 5 social media profiles for free. If you would like to manage more profiles than that the pricing begins at $8.99 per month. This can be a useful tool to plan out your social media messages for a period of time. Please visit their site to see what social media sites are compatible with their manager.
Displays
Displays From My Library - Click here if you would like to revisit some of the displays that we have had at our library. I have also included a few bulletin board ideas! The bulletin boards were created by my assistant Amanda Moran-Jones.
Signage
Here is a link to some of the information provided in the signage workshops given by Gail Santy at the Central Kansas Library System. She has created these links offering insight into creating better signage.
CKLS Signage Workshop Handout
CKLS Guidelines Tools and Tips Handout
Flyer Tutorial
CKLS Signage Workshop Handout
CKLS Guidelines Tools and Tips Handout
Flyer Tutorial
Weeding
Below I am providing the link to the Collection Manager tool created by Chris Rippel at the Central Kansas Library System. I am also including an article that Chris wrote about the Collection Manager and the Shelf Shuffler tool which will be listed in the Your Space section of this site. They are great tools that you can use to improve your library.
CKLS Collection Manager
Chris Rippel's Article
CKLS Collection Manager
Chris Rippel's Article
Your Space
Here you will find the link to Chris Rippel's Shelf Shuffler. Through Chris's ingenious work he has created a tool which allows you shuffle your shelves on paper before you actually do the moving. He takes into consideration ADA compliance and standard shelf widths. With this tool you can experiment and see if your ideas for rearrangement will work before you do the moving!
CKLS Shelf Shuffler
CKLS Shelf Shuffler
Promotional Materials
Here you will find links to some of flyers I mentioned in the session as well as a link to the video I created with Windows Movie Maker Live. Windows Movie Maker Live is a free program to download and I have included a link to tell you more about it.
Windows Movie Maker Live
Great Bend Public Library's Renovation Video
Traveling Librarian Flyer
Movie Flyer
TumbleBooks Flyer
Windows Movie Maker Live
Great Bend Public Library's Renovation Video
Traveling Librarian Flyer
Movie Flyer
TumbleBooks Flyer
Special Events
Below are listed some of the events that I mentioned during my presentation
National Pie Day: National Pie Day is celebrated on January 23rd and is headed up by the American Pie Council. They actually hold a Pie Festival in Celebration, Florida. The library I worked at just provided free pie and coffee for an allotted time during the day. It was a well received event and in following years patrons even brought pie to share. The first year our staff got together and provided the pie and whipped cream. As the event grew we started working with the friends of the library to create a special book sale for the event. To read more about the American Pie Council click here.
Food for Fines: A lot of libraries hold food for fines during different times of the year. At our library we hold it around Thanksgiving. How it works is we allow patrons to pay off their fines by bringing in canned goods for the local food bank. We give them one dollar credit for each item that they bring in. Yes, we even count each packet of Ramon Noodles as one dollar! It is a great event that doesn't take a lot of effort and helps a local community group. We also bring back many users who do not have the ability to pay the fines that they owe.
Dr. Seuss' Birthday: This is also known as Read Across America Day and is done by a lot of libraries across the country. At my library I make a cake in the shape of a Dr. Seuss character or object. We then have a craft and I read Green Eggs and Ham. It was a tradition at my library long before I got here I have just continued it and added my own touches. I sometimes have a drawing for a prize as well.
Tech Day: We held our tech day during National Library Week one year and we shared with patrons emerging technologies and some old ones as well to give them a feel for it. We offered different sessions throughout the day covering: genealogy, Google Docs, Facebook and Storybird.com. This idea can really be adapted to any library to include any technologies your patrons may have a interest in. It was successful and I think patrons enjoyed being able to choose which sessions they wanted to attend.
National Pie Day: National Pie Day is celebrated on January 23rd and is headed up by the American Pie Council. They actually hold a Pie Festival in Celebration, Florida. The library I worked at just provided free pie and coffee for an allotted time during the day. It was a well received event and in following years patrons even brought pie to share. The first year our staff got together and provided the pie and whipped cream. As the event grew we started working with the friends of the library to create a special book sale for the event. To read more about the American Pie Council click here.
Food for Fines: A lot of libraries hold food for fines during different times of the year. At our library we hold it around Thanksgiving. How it works is we allow patrons to pay off their fines by bringing in canned goods for the local food bank. We give them one dollar credit for each item that they bring in. Yes, we even count each packet of Ramon Noodles as one dollar! It is a great event that doesn't take a lot of effort and helps a local community group. We also bring back many users who do not have the ability to pay the fines that they owe.
Dr. Seuss' Birthday: This is also known as Read Across America Day and is done by a lot of libraries across the country. At my library I make a cake in the shape of a Dr. Seuss character or object. We then have a craft and I read Green Eggs and Ham. It was a tradition at my library long before I got here I have just continued it and added my own touches. I sometimes have a drawing for a prize as well.
Tech Day: We held our tech day during National Library Week one year and we shared with patrons emerging technologies and some old ones as well to give them a feel for it. We offered different sessions throughout the day covering: genealogy, Google Docs, Facebook and Storybird.com. This idea can really be adapted to any library to include any technologies your patrons may have a interest in. It was successful and I think patrons enjoyed being able to choose which sessions they wanted to attend.
Collaboration
Don't limit yourself to collaborating with these groups but some of the ones I mentioned were:
Kiwanas International: Most cities and towns have a Kiwanas Club. It is an international service organization that raises millions of dollars each year to help their communities.
Pilot Club: This is another international service organization who's mission is: To serve by furthering Pilot International's humanitarian efforts through charitable, educational, and research programs in communities throughout the world.
Rotary Club: There is a Rotary Club in most every community as well. This organization is also international and service minded. Their goal is to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world.
Academic Libraries and Programs: This is a non-traditional relationship but can often work out to be for the benefit of both organizations. The link provided here takes you to the College and University Libraries Section of KLA website.
For getting organized: there are a lot of Calendars out there and you may already have your favorite! However in the Children's Department at Great Bend Public Library we use a calendar called Cozi.com. One of the main reasons we chose this calendar is because it sends text message reminders to more than one number. Google calendars will send a text message reminder but we were unable to find a way for it to send a reminder to more than one number which is what we needed. Use whatever works for your library!
Kiwanas International: Most cities and towns have a Kiwanas Club. It is an international service organization that raises millions of dollars each year to help their communities.
Pilot Club: This is another international service organization who's mission is: To serve by furthering Pilot International's humanitarian efforts through charitable, educational, and research programs in communities throughout the world.
Rotary Club: There is a Rotary Club in most every community as well. This organization is also international and service minded. Their goal is to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world.
Academic Libraries and Programs: This is a non-traditional relationship but can often work out to be for the benefit of both organizations. The link provided here takes you to the College and University Libraries Section of KLA website.
For getting organized: there are a lot of Calendars out there and you may already have your favorite! However in the Children's Department at Great Bend Public Library we use a calendar called Cozi.com. One of the main reasons we chose this calendar is because it sends text message reminders to more than one number. Google calendars will send a text message reminder but we were unable to find a way for it to send a reminder to more than one number which is what we needed. Use whatever works for your library!