Examples to Emulate

Sending Onboarding Emails to New Cardholders
By Kim Terry
Oklahoma’s Metropolitan Library System has plenty of people signing up for library cards. But the director of marketing and communications, Kim Terry, noticed that most of them only used their cards for whatever they needed that day and didn’t become regular patrons. She initiated an “onboarding” campaign (via OrangeBoy) that sent new cardholders one email every other week over 3 months. Analytics show that making new cardholders aware of the library’s many offerings did indeed keep them coming back.

Special Report

SLA 2019 Rocks Cleveland
By Kathy Dempsey
This June, SLA convened its annual conference in Cleveland, home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. MLS editor Kathy Dempsey went to teach a preconference workshop and stayed to hear speakers such as Mary Ellen Bates and Karen Rezcek. And Leon Logothetis, host of Netflix’s The Kindness Diaries, rocked a keynote.

Special Report

New Experiences and Old Favorites at ALA Annual 2019 in Washington, D.C.
By Kathy Dempsey
At the 2019 ALA Annual Conference, Kathy Dempsey covered the ALA president’s tour-ending rally, a marketing system soon to be released by Gale, and various sessions, as well as the three major marketing-related events. Big-name speakers included Carla Hayden, Eric Klinenberg, and George Takei.

ICYMI

A Podcast, a PSA, Privacy Policies, and More
By Kathy Dempsey
This issue’s items of interest that you might not have seen include a series of articles in The Atlantic, sponsored by Grow with Google. There’s a new video PSA from ALA that features Milo Ventimiglia and a new episode of the Library Leadership Podcast that features Kathy Dempsey. And don’t miss the news about a grand-jury decision on library privacy and an article on what fiction reading does to the brain.

This issue announces a new Advocacy Toolkit from the Ontario Library Association, the availability of the full program for this November’s Library Marketing and Communications Conference, and an open crowdfunding platform run by EveryLibrary. Also, search engine marketing (SEM) company Koios has expanded into Canada and is starting a discussion group on LinkedIn, with major library partners, for Canadian library staffers who want to share SEM strategies.