Examples to Emulate

Reviving Champaign’s YouTube Channel
By Evelyn C. Shapiro
Champaign Public Library had a YouTube account, but its upkeep had fallen by the wayside. Eventually, CPL’s staffers were able to put some time into reviving it. Promotions manager Evelyn Shapiro shares the steps they followed as they assessed the original content, reorganized the account, decided on new videos to add, upgraded their uploads, and promoted the channel near and far. The increased engagement proves the effort was worthwhile.

How-to

Yes, It’s Legal to Email Patrons
By George H. Pike
The basic act of emailing patrons is still a pain point for some library communicators. Too many are denied permission to send marketing emails, either by directors who fear violating patron privacy, by board members who don’t understand marketing, by parent organizations’ communication departments, or by municipal managers when library websites are part of their larger web presence. To dispel those concerns and to educate everyone, George H. Pike, a law librarian with an impressive resume, studied up on laws surrounding privacy and email marketing. He shares the legal paths he found as well as the resources he consulted, so everyone can feel confident about emailing cardholders.

Double Feature

Enabling Virtual Browsing in California, By Thomas Wood
Enabling Virtual Browsing in Texas, By Monique Christian-Long
In what I’ve dubbed a Double Feature, I asked two public librarians to answer the same questions about how they’ve served patrons who miss browsing the stacks since their buildings have closed. Because everything works differently in today’s COVID-19 world, I thought it would be useful to see two approaches side by side. One of these systems enabled a form of virtual browsing a few years ago, tied to its “personal librarians” initiative; the other began after the virus stole patrons’ access to the stacks. While each system uses social media to promote its browsable collections, they use different approaches—and both have been effective.

Interviews With Marketing Masters

Sasha Vasilic Offers Patrons the ‘Best. Deal. EVER!’
By Judith Gibbons
This issue’s marketing master is longtime MLS subscriber Sasha Vasilic. His department’s 16-month library-card campaign recently won a John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award for Niles-Maine District Library in Illinois. Read about that project and about how the team decided to “dig a little deeper” to keep serving customers after the pandemic struck.

ICYMI

Articles, Awards, Books, Winning at the Polls, Amazing Librarians, and Marketer of the Year
By Kathy Dempsey
Be inspired by the trio of medical librarians who shared the latest Librarian of the Year honor and by the duo that was named 2020 Marketer of the Year. Tune in to a webinar about winning ballot measures, or score a free report on the same topic. Explore several new books, and learn who garnered some other annual awards. Read about two vendor accomplishments, and, as always, discover some articles you might have missed outside of the library press.