This issue brings you two detailed case studies that will show you exactly how professional library marketers achieve great things. The cover story is about how a strategic plan led to a marketing plan, which led to meeting goals and winning awards. The second proves the power of merchandising, outlining how one librarian started small and eventually achieved amazing increases in circulation. Add a report from the ALA Annual Conference and some interesting ICYMI tidbits, and you’ve got the penultimate 2023 issue of MLS.

Examples to Emulate

Writing Strategic + Marketing + Communication Plans Equals Major Achievements + Awards for Pioneer Library System
By Kelly Sitzman
This issue’s cover story illustrates how strategic planning, and planning strategically for marketing and communications, can really pay off. Everything that Pioneer Library System went through is worth emulating. Read about what Kelly Sitzman did, and think about how you could start the process at your library.

How-To

Bringing Merchandising From Bookstores to Libraries
By Allison Fiscus
After working a second job in a big-chain bookstore, Allison Fiscus brought her new retail knowledge to her Ohio library system. She got buy-in from her branch manager to apply merchandising rules to one area, and staffers quickly saw an increase in collection usage. Fiscus expanded her efforts bit by bit, eventually forming a merchandising team, creating standards, and taking the strategies to the whole 20-branch Toledo Lucas County Public Library system.

Special Report

A Roundup of Sessions and Awards at ALA 2023
By Kathy Dempsey
Going back to the ALA Annual Conference for the first time since the pandemic started, MLS editor Kathy Dempsey found most everything to be the same—except for the plethora of sessions on fighting book bans. She highlights the PR Xchange event and its accompanying awards, as well as the John Cotton Dana Awards. There were also a few interesting things in the exhibit hall at the Chicago conference.

ICYMI

Tidbits From the U.K., the U.S., Canada, and Ireland
By Kathy Dempsey
An upcoming conference, book banning and culture wars, U.K. Libraries Week, promotion in Ireland, and an upcoming TV series featuring the Library of Congress.