Sometimes, library marketers can feel lonely. Your colleagues don’t understand the specialized work and sometimes don’t agree with what you do—or with what you ask them to do. But take heart; you’re not alone. In fact, in this November/December issue, your peers help you tackle some common challenges, including finding new organizational partners, designing collateral material, communicating about changes, and reaching every person in your community.

Examples to Emulate

Identifying and Approaching Potential Community Partners
By Audrey Barbakoff
No libraries, from the least to the most well-funded, can achieve everything they want to do on their own. Enter community partners. But how do you find them, and how do you get around the awkwardness of requesting initial meetings and of asking for support? Audrey Barbakoff specializes in this area, and she details tried-and-true tactics in this cover story.

How-to

Tackling Graphic Design in a Small Library
By Suzanne Macaulay
Supporting the 42 public libraries in New York’s OWWL system means wearing a lot of hats, including communications and social media. Suzanne Macaulay took on the challenge of teaching herself good graphic design principles, then went a step further by teaching the same to people who run small libraries. This How-To focuses on design basics in simple lessons geared toward beginners and solo librarians.

Interviews With Marketing Masters

Sara Kuehl Puts RIT Libraries on Ice
By Judith Gibbons
Sara Kuehl has learned that marketers can never stop learning. Some of her biggest on-the-job lessons came during her time as manager of marketing and communications at the Rochester Institute of Technology Libraries, where she handled communication through multiple major changes, including a reorganization, a rebranding, and also a reconstruction that forced a temporary move of the campus’ only library building.

Feature

Doing Outreach via Utility Bills
By Ellen Ward-Packard, interviewed by Kathy Dempsey
Lake Geneva Public Library in Wisconsin has placed messages on local utility bills to reach out to every household in its service area. It’s been a creative, free way to reach people who don’t use the library and who might not have internet connections. In this brief interview, Ellen Ward-Packard, community engagement librarian, tells MLS readers how it’s worked.

ICYMI

A Library Sitcom, Major Media Coverage, Music Archives
By Kathy Dempsey
Canadian television is promising a library comedy for 2023, and, stateside, there’s a new library marketing podcast. Bloomberg, Popular Science, and The Guardian all covered library concerns. The state of California goes all-in for library funding. And libraries intersect with the music of The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, and Lizzo.