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 :)

20 Great Ways Libraries Are Using Pinterest

Johnson, Stacey

 

Lofland, Lee (2013). 20 Great Ways Libraries Are Using Pinterest. Retrieved from

http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/20-great-ways-libraries-are-using-pinterest/

•  A list of ways to use Pinterest (or maybe other social media) to connect with patrons.
• Although this may not be specifically collection development, letting patrons now about new or special items in the collection is very important too. The article had some great ideas about promoting a library through Pinterest, especially pinning book covers to highlight new books or perhaps holiday books? Also using pins to highlight a historical collection or other special collection, especially an ebook or database resource that may not be so visible to patrons. This would be a great way to highlight any items or parts of the library collection that patrons might not know about.

The Career Path, Education, and Activities of Academic Law Library Directors Revisited Twenty-Five Years Later

Zatko, Ruzena 

Slinger, M. J., & Slinger, S. C. (2015). The Career Path, Education, and Activities of Academic Law

 

       Library Directors Revisited Twenty-Five Years Later. Law Library Journal, 107(2), 175-223.

 

     

 

Summary

     This research paper, written by a novice Law Librarian a 25 years back, takes a look at how one goes about becoming a Law Library Director. and his proposal for future Law Librarians. Back then it was required by law that the Director had to hold both a Master's or better in LIS and a Juris Doctor degree. However, since this is reflection it discloses that as of 2014/2015 criteria this no longer applies. The research also points to whether one chose to be a librarian first and then get exposed to the legal side or vice versa.

 

 

 

 

Evaluation:

     The research overall is informative on different paths that a person may obtain to reach their goal as a Law Library Director. Different scenarios are put into perspective such as obtaining a JD degree and then the LIS degree and vice versa. Interestingly, more often a Law Library Director comes from a Public Service background. Although, there is a lot of data on how much schooling, experience, demographics etc. make up the large percent of Law Directors, there aren't exact numbers stated to know what the percentages are made up of. In all, this research paper demonstrated the evolution of promotion in the Law Library. There have been many changes since the original research was conducted.