Creating a Culture of Readers through Collection Development and Outreach

Peterman, Rhian 

Prince, J., & Boff C. (2020). Creating a Culture of Readers through Collection Development and Outreach, Collection Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2020.1859423

This article provides a case study of three separate events at the Bowling Green State University to align curricular reading with collection development and services. Additionally, the article provides a glimpse into the impact successful collection development decisions can have on building cross-campus communities around a library’s collection. Additionally, the authors advocate for proactively aligned outreach efforts that showcase the collection development efforts of the institution.   

Furthermore, this article is particularly interesting when noting the importance of collaboration with faculty and educators regarding collection choices, outreach efforts, and circulation use. Through dedicated programming and events, the collection choices can be showcased while providing needed proofs of positive impact for future budget decisions. 

Fundamentals of collection development and management, 3rd ed. Chapter 6 - Marketing, Liaison Activities, and Outreach

Riggs, Michelle


Johnson, P. (2014). Fundamentals of collection development and management (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: ALA Editions.p. 251-284.


In Chapter 6, Marketing, Liaison Activities, and Outreach, Peggy Johnson addresses developing and implementing methods of keeping current with patron needs/wants and advertising what is available in the library. Johnson points out that all communication is promotion, whether formal or informal, and that its purpose is to inform and educate. She reviews the marketing cycle of market research, plan development, plan implementation, and exercising control. Johnson also discusses the importance of building relationships, breaking it down by type of library. For school media centers, Johnson points out that the target audience for liaisons and outreach include administrators, teachers, students, parents, and the general community.


This chapter was thought-provoking, as I tend to get wrapped up in teaching my classes and assisting students, so promotion takes a back seat. Several ideas appealed to me, including using bookmarks to promote services, which is very simple, yet I rarely take the time to design my own. Hand-delivering requested items also seems like an effective way to attach a face to the library and build relationships. I also need to be better about distributing a monthly newsletter or infographic within the school to publicize what we’ve been up to. Finally, we are all encouraged to have Twitter accounts in my district, so this could be a way for me to better promote the library within the community. As a fun aside, it was exciting to notice that Dr. Loertscher was cited in this chapter :)

School and Public Librarians & Common Core

Wilson, Shibrie

Lindsey, N., Nesi, O., & Grabarek, D. (2013). A School and Public Librarian Find Common Ground on the Common Core. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2013/10/standards/common-core/a-school-and-public-librarian-find-common-ground-on-the-common-core/

Public librarian Nina Lindsay explained that  implementing Common Core is not responsibility of public librarians. Though it is not responsibility public librarians are accountable to their communities. Olga Nesi discusses that it is important that public librarians are aware of Common Core State Standards being that students make up a large portion of their patrons. It is also important considering that Common Core is national. Public Librarians are learning more about materials and educators specifically for students to use.

Opinion:

This interview is impressive and enjoyed seeing perspective of different types of librarians. It seems as though both school librarians and public librarians are both learning more about CCSS. Public librarians will learn more by reaching out to fellow school librarian counterparts. 

Building Library Community Through Social Media

Zatko, Ruzena

Young, S. H., & Rossmann, D. (2015). Building library community through social media.

 

          Information Technology & Libraries, 34(1), 20-37 18p.

 

 

Summary:

 

          This article demonstrates how building a social media following and engagement with patrons is good for the library. Young and Rossman used Montana State University Library for this study to see the impact and benefit of a Twitter account for the library. For a library to have a social media presence, its able to reach a vast audience and build a community. Twitter keeps everyone in the loop and the patrons who are subscribed can be up to date with current happens at the library, surveys, book reviews, etc. The results concluded that the more the library posted, the more followers and interactions that were promoted. However, most of the engagement was kept on a local scale.

 

 

Evaluation:

 

          This article made some great points for a library to be trendy and create social media accounts for the library in order to reach even more people. Aside from businesses and other, libraries come in third with twitter activity followed by student accounts. Another observation from the article is the more tweets that were posted the more followers it generated. So keeping an active Twitter account it a vital component in order to gain a larger following.

          It would have been nice to see how Twitter is doing when compared to the other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Another element that could be helpful is knowing the age demographics of the followers that they are generating. This in turn would allow them to know how to reach the demographics that are lower Twitter users. and this way create an approach for them for outreach and to keep them informed.

Making the Grade

By DeFazio, Michelle

Enis, M. (2012). Making the Grade. Library Journal, 137(19), 44.

Summary:  This Library Journal Survey of patrons at Academic Libraries asked how they use the library and for what purpose.  Overall, they gave their academic libraries high praise while commenting that outreach was still key to continuing use after freshman year.  Online line databases get wide use, as does the free WiFi.  Many students still start with Google and Wikipedia (73%) instead of a visit to library resources.

Evaluation: This report is a few years old but still relevant to student attitudes about library use and shows the importance of surveys to understand where and when libraries are reaching patrons and when they are not.