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Executive Summary

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We partnered with Richland Library to implement an informational public relations
campaign targeting non-users, Richland Library cardholders who have been inactive for at least
12 months. It is our goal to encourage this demographic to reengage with the library and activate
their cards once again; we hope to achieve this goal by informing non-users about library
services beyond book lending, circumventing the reasons they have gone inactive and
highlighting the ways in which the library lines up with the priorities and needs of the public.
The campaign was conceptualized in October 2014 and will begin implementation in
January 2015. Our research revealed that a majority of inactive cardholders cited being too busy
as one of the main reasons they no longer engaged with the library. Realizing this was a barrier
the organization could overcome, we decided to focus on a campaign that would inform nonusers about time-saving and at-home resources and services offered by Richland Library.
Beginning in January the organization will send targeted emails and online newsletters to
its target audience. We wrote features for its monthly online newsletter emphasizing the online
resources offered to cardholders. We also plan to have a news release approved by the
organizations communications coordinator to send to local Columbia media outlets that have
worked with the library in the past. The news release will repeat the message of easy access and
card activity for non-users. We will also place informational pamphlets about Richland Library
in coffee shops around Columbia.
We plan to evaluate the success of our campaign in March after almost three months of
implementation. We will send an online survey to the target group of inactive cardholders on the
organizations email list. The survey will ask questions about the demographics card activity
since receiving the newsletters.
Our campaign book goes into complete detail of our process. It gives an overview of our
campaign and gives a step-by-step of our research, planning and implementation process. In the
end, we give an evaluation of our work and the success of our campaign.

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Overview Chapter
Client Overview
Who We Are
Campaign Overview

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Client Overview
Richland Library is a nonprofit organization funded by Richland County tax dollars. It
was recently awarded a $59,000,000 bond referendum to renovate its locations and expand
available services (New Brand FAQ). It has 11 active branches across the county, including its
newest location at the EdVenture Childrens Museum. Richland Library serves 215,492 total
registered borrowers, which includes a wide variety of children, teens and adults (Richland
Library 2013 Annual Report).
The organization describes itself as a "center of the community, providing resources and
services that help people find jobs, get ready for and succeed in school, and access technology
and resources for learning and leisure" (Richland Library 2013 Annual Report). It aims to to
provide the experiences that inspire, inform and entertain. The library strives to reach these
goals by offering informational sessions, tutoring, services to the elderly, educational and
entertainment programs, family history training and job placement services in addition to its
more typical programs such as book lending and music downloads. Cardholders also learn about
all of these programs and offerings through the organizations bi-monthly magazine that has a
circulation of 17,500.
Richland Library thrives on the Internet with 1,976,717 website visits in 2014 (2014
Year-to-date Data). The organization is on both Twitter, with 4,539 followers, and Facebook,
with 7314 page likes. The organizations website also informed us that from 2009 to 2013, the
librarys door count is up 20 percent, circulation is up 38 percent and hours of access have
increased by 2080 hours a year.

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We chose to work with Richland Library for this campaign because we believe it offers
services and resources that should be enjoyed by all. Both of us have strong relationships with
our own local libraries, and we wanted to do our best to help Richland Library in any way.

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Who We Are
We are both public relations majors at USC working to complete the requirements for our
individual degrees. This campaign was tailored and coordinated with Betsy Crick, Richland
Librarys former marketing coordinator.

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Campaign Overview
The purpose of this campaign was to reach out to and inform a target demographic of
non-users at Richland Library. Non-users are Richland Library cardholders who have been
inactive for 12 months or longer. We applied both Grunig and Hunts public information model
and the cumulative effects theory to our campaign. Grunig and Hunts model involves one- and
two-way communication and focuses on providing information out an organization to its publics
(Bobbitt, Sullivan). This became an important part of our campaign when we focused on
educating non-users about library services. The cumulative effects theory suggests that
campaigns can be most effective when the message is repeated from the same source, but over an
extended period of time (Bobbitt, Sullivan). Applying this theory allowed us to focus on
emphasizing card activity and easy access to non-users, but over an extended period of time.

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We used primary and secondary research to understand why members were no longer
involved with the library, how they spent their time and what services they valued at the library.
These results were used to learn about non-users motive for no longer using the library and how
we could address them.
We learned that the majority of our target audience were too busy to come to the library
so we tailored out messages to emphasize at-home and time-saving services.
Our goal was to increase use of online resources and card activity in non-users. We
collaborated with Richland Library to write newsletter features to place in the organizations
monthly online newsletter sent to 11,460 of its patrons. We also wrote a news release
highlighting online resources to be distributed to local Columbia media that have worked with
Richland Library in the past.
Another tactic we used in this campaign was distributing Richland Library informational
pamphlets to local coffee shops after learning that 20 percent of our target audience go monthly.
Our campaign will begin implementation starting in January as Richland Library is
beginning a three-month trial with a company who will provide a CRM (customer relationship
management) system which will help it identify inactive cardholders on the listserv and target
them. We will send targeted newsletters to these users emphasizing information regarding card
activity.
The news release will be sent upon approval of Richland Librarys communication
coordinator to the list of media contacts it works with in Columbia.

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We can properly evaluate our efforts in March, three months into implementation. We
plan to send a survey to the targeted members of the mailing list. The survey will ask about the
demographics card activity after the beginning of January.
Our campaign faced a handful of changes over the semester. The initial campaign we
wanted to implement was a USC student-focused campaign educating students about what the
library offers and how they could become cardholders. However, after meeting with the Richland
Library marketing coordinator, she strongly emphasized a need to target non-users. We also had
to change the timeline of our implementation after learning about the organizations upcoming
trial with a company that will provide CRM. This change will work to our benefit, though,
because it will allow us to communicate more easily with our target audience.

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Works Cited
Bobbitt, Randy. Sullivan, Ruth. Developing the Public Relations Campaign. 3rd ed. Pearson,
2013. 23-24. Print.
Crick, Betsy. 2014 Year-to-date Data. June 2014. Raw data. Richland Library, Columbia.
"Advancing Our Community." Richland Library 2013 Annual Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct.
2014.
"New Brand FAQs | Richland Library." Richland Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

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Research Chapter
Research Introduction
Secondary Research Discussion
Primary Research Discussion
Secondary Research Findings
Primary Research Findings
Analysis
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

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Research Introduction
We are senior public relations students enrolled in our senior capstone class, Public
Relations Campaigns. This research was conducted as a part of our class to help us understand
the process of gathering primary and secondary research.
To begin our research, we needed to understand who our client was and what it provided
to its audiences. We wanted to learn more about Richland Library as an organization and gather
information about the range of services and programs offered. Richland Library has emphasized
a need to reach out to a target demographic of Richland Library cardholders who are currently
non-users, cardholders who have not engaged in library activity over the time span of at least
12 months. Card use is measured in a number of ways: physically checking out print materials,
logging into their online accounts with the library (from which members can download ebooks,
online magazines, pay fines or download music) and logging into their accounts when they are at
the library (which includes a number of reasons, including but not limited to Internet use, use of
the job or family history centers and paying fines in person). A library card is not scanned upon
entrance to the building, nor is it checked upon entering one of the many programs offered by the
library. To help the organization achieve this goal, we made it a priority to use our research
period to find out what, exactly, was offered to cardholders beyond just borrowing books and the
most common reasons behind library card inactivity so that we could find a way to combat it.
First and foremost, we wanted to find out what attracts users to Richland Library and
what could potentially drive them away. Ultimately, we used our research to further our
understanding of why non-users have been inactive, as well as other demographic information
about them including gender, age, number of children, socioeconomic status and education level
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and priorities when it came to library services. We also used research to find out how Richland
Library communicates with its cardholders. It was important to know what the organization
already did to engage with cardholders to determine what did and did not work, and what we
should capitalize on or avoid in our campaign.

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Secondary Research Discussion
We began our research in September by conducting secondary research. Over the span of
a few days we used Richland Librarys website to gather information about the organizations
history, programs and services. From the website we learned about the history, mission, values,
programs and events offered by the organization. Another source of information was the
Richland Library 2013 Annual Report. In the report found information regarding library activity
for the last year, including the number of items checked out, the total number of registered
borrowers and number of attendees at outreach programs. We also used the organizations bimonthly magazine to gather more secondary information. In the Richland Librarys September/
October issue we found examples of the types of outreach programs it offers and the number
offered over a two-month period. All of this information was gathered and collected by using a
simple web search and by visiting the Richland Library location. We also browsed through
Richland Librarys various social media outlets.
The information provided solely from the organizations annual report and website paints
a picture of the enormity of what the Richland Library provides. Not only does the organization
offer countless programs and services, it serves a large public of 215,492 cardholders. By taking
this information we can understand what cardholders are responding to and what they find most
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engaging about the services offered by Richland Library. We can also target which demographics
within the library are using which services the most and least, and what they would like to see
more of. Even though all of Richland County would be too daunting of a demographic to reach
on its own, the research we have done will break that group down into smaller publics that are
easier to reach. It will also tell us where to reach these publics and what they respond best to.

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Primary Research Discussion
For our primary research we conducted an in-depth interview on Oct. 10, 2014 with
Betsy Crick (see appendix A for transcript), the former marketing coordinator for Richland
Library. We thought this would be the best way to understand the problems the library faces
when it comes to its non-users. The results of the research will be used to potentially increase
activity in non-users. We sat down with Ms. Crick for a half-hour interview, during which we
discussed the services provided by the library and the statistical data of the non-users (see
attached transcript).
Ms. Crick also provided year-to-date data which has statistical information regarding the
past fiscal year including the number of active and inactive cardholders, card activity, the number
of new cardholders and the number of in-library programs. We compared this information with
the Richland Library 2013 Annual Report to see what programs and areas of the library were
improving or decreasing in use. Ms. Crick also provided a cardholder survey the library
conducted last fall. The survey was distributed to 84,042 cardholders in August 2013 and it
received 6,865 responses. Of those 6,865 responses, 342 were inactive cardholders classified as

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non-users. The survey gathered responses that ranged from whether or not the cardholder lived in
Richland County to how important WiFi access was to them.

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Secondary Research Findings
Our secondary research provided a general overview of Richland Library as an
organization and helped us learn about its goals, history, values and current program offerings.
Richland Library is a public library with 11 active branches across the county, including its
newest location at the EdVenture Childrens Museum. The organization describes itself as a
"center of the community, providing resources and services that help people find jobs, get ready
for and succeed in school, and access technology and resources for learning and
leisure" (Richland Library 2013 Annual Report). Richland Library is funded by Richland
County with taxpayer dollars. According to the organization's New Brand FAQs website, the
library is one of the most popular services funded with taxpayer dollars. The library was also
recently awarded a $59,000,000 bond referendum to renovate its locations and expand its
available services.
Richland Library serves a wide variety of children, teens and adults in the Richland
County community. Not only does the library serve our local community; it also has card
members as far away as Charleston and Charlotte (Crick In-depth Interview). Many of these outof-county users contribute to the demographic of non-users and may be skewing the data in that
direction. Richland Library serves 215,492 total registered borrowers who all can use the
multiple functions and offerings of the library (Richland Library 2013 Annual Report). On the
organizations website, the mission is stated as, to provide the experiences that inspire, inform
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and entertain (Richland Library). The library strives to reach these goals through diversified
functions, including informational sessions, tutoring, services to the elderly, educational and
entertainment programs, family history training and job placement services in addition to its
more typical programs such as book lending and music downloads. Cardholders also learn about
all of these programs and offerings through the organizations bi-monthly magazine that has a
circulation of 17,500.
Richland Library thrives on the Internet with 1,976,717 website visits in 2014 (2014
Year-to-date Data). The organization is on both Twitter, with 4,539 followers, and Facebook,
with 7314 page likes. The organizations website also informed us that from 2009 to 2013, the
librarys door count is up 20 percent, circulation is up 38 percent and hours of access have
increased by 2080 hours a year.

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Primary Research Findings
From our primary research we found a volume of information regarding cardholders (all
survey and year-to-date data can be found in the appendices) and, more specifically, our target
demographic of non-users. The final statistical information denoting the results was rounded to
the nearest whole number.

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These select graphs highlight what we believe to be the key information from the survey
research. We discovered that more than a third of inactive cardholders do not live in Richland
County. We also saw that the most popular reason for cardholders to not return to the library is
that their schedules are too busy. It was also shown that 59 percent of the cardholders like to
purchase print books a few times a year. When asked about purchasing ebooks, the most popular
answer (42 percent) was that the cardholders never purchased them; however 33 percent
purchased them a few times a year. When asked about going to a bookstore, 55 percent of
respondents said they go a few times a year. However, 32 percent also responded that they go
monthly.
The survey asked cardholders how often they go out to dinner and the most popular
response was weekly at 43 percent. At 63 percent, homework help for children was considered a
very important aspect of the library. Access to WiFi and public computers was also regarded as
very important, at 60 percent of cardholders responding that it was a priority for them. Another

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very important service was access to online resources like ebooks or research databases at 70
percent. Cardholders also responded that programs and activities for children were very
important at 63 percent. Adult programs were also shown to be very important at 57 percent.
When asked about what digital devices the cardholders used, the smartphone was the most
popular one at 79 percent, but the desktop computer was close behind at 71 percent. When asked
to report their age range we found that 2 percent were ages 13-17; 22 percent were ages 18-24;
24 percent were ages 25-34; 17 percent were ages 35-44; 16 percent were ages 45-54; 13 percent
were ages 55-64; 4 percent were ages 65-74 and 2 percent were ages 75 and up. We also found
that 75 percent of the inactive cardholders were women and 25 percent were men.

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In the year-to-date statistics we saw the number of cardholders, programs and the number
of attendees.
Resident

Non-Resident

Cardholders

Total

Total

TOTAL

Active

101,102

47

1,343

53

102,445

Inactive

114,390

53

1,175

47

115,565

TOTAL

215,492

2,518

218,010

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In-library Programs

Year-to-date (YTD) 2014

Community Engagement

108

Computers and Technology

347

Cultural and Arts

1,244
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Early Literacy

1,369

Lifeskills

340

Literacy

777

Workforce Development

271

TOTAL

4,456

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In-library
Programs
Attendees

0-1

3-5

6-8

9-12

13-18

Adult

TOTAL

Community
Engagement

112

145

387

487

349

298

2,874

4,652

Computers and
Technology

28

27

36

32

1,610

1,735

Cultural and Arts

274

904

1,851

2,181

1,631

2,111

11,999 20,951

Early Literacy

3,379

4,791

6,045

1,957

1,199

160

10,569 28,100

Lifeskills

17

105

351

399

201

2,283

3,359

Literacy

294

541

2,135

2,581

1,688

793

3,831

11,865

Workforce
Development

11

1,493

1,504

TOTAL

4,062

6,400

10,551 7,584

5,302

3,606

34,659 72,164

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Richland Library SWOT


Strengths

Richland Library has a strong passion for


giving back to the community.
The organization provides numerous
resources and services.
The library has a longstanding relationship
with the community and local
government.
The organization has strong funding.
Richland Library offers free WiFi.
Strong online reference system with
information regarding the library, books,
its programs and educational research
Interior of library is comfortable and wellkept, promoting a positive studying or
reading place.
Numerous branches for access, 11
locations, including one at EdVenture
Childrens Museum.

Opportunities

The library has experienced growth in the


local area with expansion of other
branches.
The library can provide a focal point for
various target audiences: children, teens,
adults.
The library is beginning to offer a growing
number of specialized programs, such as a
senior citizen book delivery service it has
recently started.

Weaknesses

The library suffers from a lack of activity


from cardholders.
The organization has not had time to target
its users because it has been so focused on
its rebranding campaign and bond
referendum.
It can be difficult to access library because
of inadequate parking.

Threats

There could be a potential lack of interest


in the library or a lack of interest in
recreational reading.
Cardholders potentially have a limited
understanding of services and programs
offered.
There is a question of relevance in an era
of advanced technology.
The people who prefer to buy books.
The library competes with other forms of
leisure and entertainment.
Cardholders report not having time to
go to the library

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Public Relations Campaign SWOT


Strengths

The campaign could have the potential to


increase the number of active cardholders.
Our campaign will bring attention to new
services the library offers.
Strong support from the marketing and
communications department at Richland
Library.
Strong primary research provided by the
library.
The means to access all of its cardholders
via email, telephone or mail.

Opportunities

New programs, ebooks and magazines


cardholders may not be aware of can be
promoted and accessed from home.
The number of inactive cardholders can be
decreased. There are more inactive than
active cardholders, and our campaign can
change that.
The inactive cardholder demographic has
not been targeted in years because of a
shift in focus to the bond referendum and
renovations.

Weaknesses

There is a chance the audience could be


unresponsive to our attempts in
engagement.
Inactive cardholders are those who have
not used their cards in 12 months or more.
This could lead to further problems like
out of date contact information, too much
time having passed since an effort was
made to reach them and a replacement for
the librarys services having already been
found.

Threats

Lack of interest in returning to the library.


Preference of bookstores or electronic
readers.
Cardholders personal information could
have changed and we no longer have a
way to contact them
Despite our best efforts, the Internet and
lack of time in the cardholders schedules
may take precedence over using the
librarys services.

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Analysis
Our in-depth interview with Ms. Crick was instrumental in analyzing the data from our
other forms of primary research. Her explanations helped to qualify the information and make it
mean something other than a number on the page. She also helped identify many of the common
reasons behind card inactivity, which will go a long way in helping us develop a campaign that
can combat these reasons or offer solutions to circumvent them. The number one reason behind
card inactivity according to the cardholder survey is that people are too busy to come. Richland
Library has already begun trying to combat this by putting an emphasis on online resources and

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developing a hold program that requires nothing more than calling ahead and picking up
requested materials at the front desk. These actions boost card activity with minimal effort and
are a good foundation for our campaign. She also pointed out that Richland Library does not
have a way to capture cardholder data for people who come to programs. The librarys programs
are widely attended. For example, 2,500 people attended an author event in February.It is likely
that card activity numbers would increase substantially if there was a way to capture card activity
upon entrance to those programs.
Ms. Crick also shed light on the 36.2 percent of non-users who do not currently live in
Richland County. Many of the cardholders actually live in the Charlotte or Charleston areas.
They are paying to have a library card instead of getting one for free as Richland County
residents do. This brings forward the question of their intended uses of the library. This is where
online resources come into play again. Although these cardholders may be unable to come to the
library, there are still ways to reach them and get them involved. Richland Librarys Walker
Local and Family History Center is also popular with out-of-county cardholders and can be
accessed online; according to Ms. Crick, this is a widely cited reason for out-of-county residents
to purchase a library card.
Based on everything we have learned about Richland Library through our research, we
have realized the importance of getting to know our target audience. Thanks to the cardholder
survey, we got our hands on the reasons that people are not using the librarys services that they
pay for either through taxes or out of their own pockets. Having that information will give our
campaign a better chance of succeeding if we use it correctly. There is no one solution that will
bring every non-user back to the library, but having the statistics that turn our bar graphs into real
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people and members of the public can help target the most effective ways to reach them. It is our
goal to target non-users by combating the most common reasons that people are no longer using
the library and making it clear to them in our messaging that there is more to Richland Library
than just books. We want our message to communicate that there are many ways to take
advantage of the librarys services no matter what their schedules look like.
Our findings will have a huge bearing on the ways we carry out our campaign. Our
secondary research gave us a clear view of the way that Richland Library communicates with its
publics; it has not made any attempts to reach out to inactive cardholders because it has been
focused on its renovations and rebranding for the last few years, but it has been steadily
increasing the number of offerings that the library provides. All that is left to do is help our target
audiences realize that there is so much for them to take advantage of and offer solutions to
circumvent their reasons for no longer being active library users.
The survey conducted by Richland Library asked a very wide variety of questions; at
first, they seemed to be unnecessary. When we began building our campaign this proved to be
untrue. We now know how often our demographic goes out to eat, how often they frequent coffee
shops, where they get their books and music and what they prioritize most in library programs.
This information will help us reach the non-users with messages that will get through to them;
we can meet them where they are and share information that is most relevant to their wants and
needs.
In speaking with Ms. Crick about Richland Library, she made a point to speak about the
people the library serves as a community instead of bodies the organization wants to get through
the door. The organization makes a real effort to go the extra mile and relate to its cardholders.
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This is something that will shape the way we communicate through our campaign. At the
beginning of our research process, the emphasis of our campaign was going to be on just getting
people through the door to check out books. Now that we have a better understanding of the
librarys culture and the various ways card usage is tracked both in the library itself and through
online resources, we now know that making the non-users aware of the alternatives to coming in
and checking out books has the potential to yield better results.

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Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
Richland Library and Ms. Crick played a big role in assisting with our research process.
The survey provided was distributed to 84,042 cardholders and it received 6,865 responses, 342
of which came from our target demographic. This number of responses is not something we
would have been likely to get on our own and the information we got from them played a big
role in shaping our campaign. However, there were several limitations that came from getting
our information this way. Although we were satisfied with the number and variety of the
questions that were asked in the survey, we still were unable to create them for ourselves. If we
had thought up an additional set of questions that had not already been answered, we would not
have the opportunity to distribute those questions to the same public. Though it is a significant
amount of information to work with, we are forced to use only what we already have.
Additionally, we were only given the final statistical results of the survey. We played no part in
the distribution of the survey. However, we are confident that the information paints an accurate
picture of our demographic because of the high number of responses that were received and
quantified.
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This research could be enhanced for future campaigns for Richland Library by being
simplified. During our research project, we have separated the most important statistics from the
ones that have little bearing on our public relations campaign. We have also sorted this
information into easy-to-navigate charts and tables that makes it easier to find relevant facts in a
sea of statistics. After our campaign is over, our goal is that this processed information can aid
both the library and future public relations efforts by highlighting what we find to be the most
important facts from a public relations point of view instead of a purely informational one.
Receiving all of this information upfront prevented us from encountering time restraints
during our research process. Additionally, Ms. Crick and the rest of the Richland Library staff
have been generous with their time and easy to contact. They are knowledgeable about their
organization and passionate about helping the campaign in any way that they can; this positive
relationship with the organization will help navigate any future limitations we may come across.

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Works Cited
Crick, Betsy. 2014 Year-to-date Data. June 2014. Raw data. Richland Library, Columbia.
Crick, Betsy. "Preliminary Interview." Personal interview. 3 Oct. 2014.
Crick, Betsy. Betsy Crick In-depth Interview. Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2014
"Advancing Our Community." Richland Library 2013 Annual Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct.
2014.
"Strategic Plan | Richland Library." Richland Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.
"New Brand FAQs | Richland Library." Richland Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

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Planning Chapter
Introduction
Goals
Objectives
Strategies
Tactics
Message
Publics
Communications Channels
Timeline

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Introduction
Based on the significant research we conducted, we developed clear goals and
measurable objectives. To reach our goals, we created strategies and ensuing tactics. We also
established a timeline to achieve each step in the campaign.

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Goals
Increase library card activity in non-users. For our purposes, a non-user is defined as a
cardholder who has not had any library card activity in at least 12 months.
Expand community knowledge of the librarys offerings beyond just borrowing print
materials.

Objectives
Have 50 current non-users engage in library card activity with Richland Library within
six months.
See a measured increase of a total 50 online resources checked out or downloaded within
six months compared to last years year-to-date data.
Have one article published by a local media outlet regarding the organizations programs
and services by the end of the organizations fiscal year.

Strategies
Enhance communication between the organization and cardholders
Use the librarys new CRM (customer relationship management) system to identify nonusers and target them specifically
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Tactics

Monthly newsletter articles to add information about the online resources it offers to
entice users who may be too busy to come to the library.
News release to one of the organizations local print publication contacts highlighting
library services.
Distribute Richland Library pamphlets to local coffee shops.

Message
The most important thing to emphasize to our target demographic is card activity. We
want to highlight that by communicating the programs and services that Richland Library
offers. By showcasing what the organization can do for the cardholder, it is our goal that
they will respond with activity.

Publics
The organization wants to target a demographic of cardholders who have been inactive
for at least 12 months. Because this target audience consists of more than 100,000
members, we plan to specifically target the age demographic of patrons ages 25-34
because that is the age bracket in which card inactivity is seen most frequently.

Communications Channels
The best way to communicate with cardholders is through the organizations monthly
online newsletter which has 11,460 recipients signed up. While this is the best way to
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deliver news to patrons, currently there is no way to separate which members on the list
are active or inactive users. However, the organization will soon embark upon a threemonth trial with a company who provides a CRM system which will help it with targeted
email campaigns, and it will have the ability to email inactive cardholders at that point.
Richland Librarys communications coordinator works closely with local print
publications, primarily The State, The Columbia Star, Free Times and Panorama. It is our
goal to write and pitch a listicle-style article to the communications coordinator and have
her pitch it to one of her contacts. Readerships for these publications are as follows:
o Columbia Free Times: 31,071 (As of Dec. 2013)
o The State: Daily 268,374; Sunday 316,096 (As of Feb. 2011)
o Panorama 16,000 (Mondotimes)
o The Columbia Star: 10,000 (Mondotimes)

City of Columbia coffee shops

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Timeline
September
Client selection Richland Library
Gathered secondary research
Initial meeting with Betsy Crick, Richland Librarys former marketing coordinator
October
Conducted in-depth interview with Betsy Crick and conceptualized campaign
Received Richland Librarys previous research results
Analyzed secondary and primary research
November
Identified goals, objectives, strategies and tactics for campaign
Compiled list of media contacts used by Richland Library
December
News release to pitch to Richland Librarys communications coordinator
Use the organizations new CRM system to identify non-users

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January
Send newsletter to target audience of non-users including our feature
Send news release to list of media contacts used by Richland Library
Put pamphlets in coffee shops
February
Send newsletter to target audience of non-users including our feature
March
Send newsletter to target audience of non-users including our feature
Send survey to target audience of non-users regarding card activity

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!31

Implementation Chapter
Introduction
Tactics
Media Distribution List
Newsletter Features
News Release

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Introduction
The strategies and tactics for this campaign were created to meet the goal of increasing non-user
engagement at Richland Library.

Tactics
One of the tactics we plan to use for this campaign is a written feature in the
organizations monthly newsletter, which reaches 11,460 patrons. We plan to highlight services
offered by the library that can be accessed from home and expand the cardholders knowledge of
the librarys offerings beyond just borrowing print materials. In doing so, it is our goal to
emphasize card activity to the recipients to increase engagement. One feature will be placed in
each months newsletter sent to users starting in January. Currently, we have written three
features.
Another tactic we plan to use is a news release sent to Columbia newspapers who have
worked closely with Richland Library in the past. It will feature information about how Richland
Library is making life and library access easier for its cardholders. We plan to send the news
release to the organizations communications coordinator for her approval in December.
The last tactic we plan to use is an informational pamphlet placed in Columbia coffee
shops. The pamphlet provides details about Richland Library and the process of getting a library
card.

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!33

Media Distribution List


Richland Librarys monthly online newsletter
Columbia Newspapers
o

Columbia Free

The State

Panorama

The Columbia Star

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Newsletter Features

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Beyond Books: What Richland Library Can Do For You

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The Walker Local and Family History Center

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Citizens of Richland County and library cardholders have access to more resources than ever at
the librarys 11 locations or, the most convenient location of all: their own homes!

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The Walker Local and Family History Center is located on the third level of the Richland
Librarys main location. The center features an obituary index containing over one million
records, the Otis Prince surname files and the State Hospital cemetery survey.

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The family history collection emphasizes local and family history in the South Carolina
Midlands and continues to grow annually through library funding and generous donations from
the Richland County community and beyond.

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Access to the center is available for free to all library cardholders, including out-of-county
residents who have purchased memberships. It is the perfect research source for everything from
personal ancestry discovery to school projects, and is built from the same databases that make up
ancestry.com and other expensive alternatives. The Local History Digital Collection can be
accessed online from home at any time by logging in to a library account.

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The Walker Local and Family History Center is not just limited to those with southern ancestry.
Richland Library provides patrons with access to several national genealogy databases.
Additionally, Richland Library is a FamilySearch affiliate; customers can order microfilm
through the FamilySearch catalog and request that it be sent to the Richland library.

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Any questions about these resources can be directed to (803) 929-3402 or
dbloom@richlandlibrary.com during the librarys hours of operation.
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!
Beyond Books: What Richland Library Can Do For You

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The Richland Library Business and Job Center

!
Citizens of Richland County and library cardholders have access to more resources than ever at
the librarys 11 locations or, the most convenient location of all: their own homes!

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The Richland Library Business and Job Center was founded with the aim to make a difference,
one career at a time. The library offers a variety of career and skills related courses that can guide
visitors through the processes of seeking employment, advancing a career or starting a small
business. The Job Center is staffed by highly trained librarians and career coaches who teach
classes and provide one-on-one assistance to Richland County citizens and library cardholders.

!
The library has designated 18 computers for job seekers with three hours of access at a time.
Guest passes are also available for any job seeker without a library card. Career coaching is also
available one-on-one and focuses on a variety of important career-building skills such as
rsums, job applications, career assessments, job search and networking strategies and
establishing an online presence.

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Every Wednesday at the main library between the hours of 10 a.m. and noon, trained staff offer
interview practice in the form of one-on-one mock interviews and offer constructive feedback
and guidance. No appointments are necessary for this service.

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CareerEncore! takes place the first Thursday of every month; this monthly support and
networking group allows job seekers who are unemployed, underemployed or changing careers
an opportunity to share the challenges they face, obtain free resources and enhance networking
opportunities in a supportive and empowering environment.

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The Job Center calendar, available online and at all of the librarys locations, offers an up-to-date
look at the many free upcoming classes available to Richland Library members. Five career-

!36

building databases, including Career Cruising and Reference USA, are available online to all
cardholders and can be accessed from home at any time.

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More information about the Job Center can be found by calling 803.929.3401 or by visiting
http://www.richlandlibrary.com/jobs. For a Career Coaching appointment, call 803.231.6398.
While most library services are free and require no notice, the librarys career counselors do
require an appointment.

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Beyond Books: What Richland Library Can Do For You

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Richland Library Free Music Downloads

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Citizens of Richland County and library cardholders have access to more resources than ever at
the librarys 11 locations or, the most convenient location of all: their own homes!

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Richland Library cardholders are entitled to six free music downloads per week as well as
unlimited streaming of music and music videos, thanks to the librarys partnership with Freegal,
a downloadable music service that is designed to work within an Internet browser and does not
require any special software. All that is needed to access this service is a Richland County library
card number and PIN.

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Membership to this service is included with the services that are offered to all Richland Library
cardholders and gives members access to more than 7.8 million songs, spanning more than one
hundred genres of music and more than fifty record labels. After songs are downloaded, they can
be kept forever and can be burned to CD or transferred to another device.

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Video files are also free for download but require two of the allotted six weekly credits. Richland
Library customers are granted six credits weekly to use to download songs and or videos that
expire and renew each week.

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Richland Library is funded by taxpayer dollars. County residents are encouraged to get the most
out of their money and take advantage of the many services the library offers.

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!38

News Release

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Richland Library Making Access Easier For Cardholders

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Columbia, SC A modern library is accessible, online and off. Richland Library has made that
access even easier with the online resources it offers its cardholders.

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After realizing the average member may be too busy to visit the librarys 11 locations, Richland
Library has made a variety of services available on its website 24 hours a day. Cardholders can
now access e-books, online magazines, free music downloads, and audiobooks freely from their
homes.

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If the print material or audio a reader is looking for is not available for download, Richland
Library also offers online reservations. Cardholders can browse and reserve books, movies and
music online, then stop by to pick up items at their convenience.

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Beyond literature and music, though, the library also offers online access to The Walker Local
and Family History Center. The history center can be accessed from the patrons home and is a
perfect research source for everything from personal ancestry discovery to school projects. It is
built from the same databases that make up ancestry.com and other expensive alternatives.

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All of this is available to cardholders with their login information and PIN.

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The Richland Library is a vibrant, contemporary organization that provides resources and
information that advance our community. For more information or questions call (803)
799-9084.

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!39

!40

Evaluation Chapter
Current Evaluation
Future Evaluation
Potential Improvements

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Current Evaluation
Because our campaign will begin implementation after the conclusion of this class, we
cannot properly evaluate our tactics for the time being. However, because our research made it
clear to us where our demographic is and how we can best reach them, we are confident that the
tactics we plan to implement with eventually be successful in helping the organization reach its
goals.

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Future Evaluation
Although all of the research is done and many of the tactics have been or soon will be
created, we cant measure the success of our campaign until after its implementation in the early
months of next year.
We will compare next years year-to-date data to see if Richland Library met the goals
and objectives set by our campaign. It is our goal to see an increase from 787,203 in online
resources downloaded. We will compare the number of inactive users from 114,390 and evaluate
whether the number decreased by 50, which was our objective. We will also look at increased
social media followings, higher readership of the organizations bi-monthly magazine and any
additional media coverage that may result from our pitch to the librarys print media contacts. As
of now, Richland Library has 4,539 Twitter followers, 7314 Facebook page likes and a magazine
circulation of 17,500.

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We plan to conduct a survey in March 2015, three months into our implementation. We
will send the survey to the targeted members of the organizations mailing list following
identification of non-users using the CRM (customer relationship management) system. The
survey will ask about the demographics card activity after the beginning of January (ex: Have
you been to Richland Library? Have you checked out any materials?).

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Potential Improvements
Although we were satisfied with our campaign and its potential, alterations could be
made for any future campaigns conducted by USC students. While the research we received was
more than satisfactory, the number and variety of the questions that were asked in the survey
were not created by us. If given the chance to survey the same audience that Richland Library
did, we may have asked different questions that were tailored to our campaign.

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Works Cited
"Carolina Panorama."Mondotimes. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.
The Columbia Star. Mondotimes. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

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Appendices
Appendix A (Betsy Crick transcript)
Appendix B (2014 year-to-date data)
Appendix C (Cardholder survey)

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APPENDIX A
Transcript of in-depth interview with Betsy Crick
*All can be attributed to Kelly Holcombe (KH), Amanda Coyle (AC) and Richland Librarys
Former Marketing Coordinator Betsy Crick (BC)*
(BC)

What we have here, its the type of situation where its hard to explain, so Im just going

to jump in. We have monthly statistical reports where we really look at cardholder usage. This
will be really meaningful information for you to just jump in and get an idea of the types of data
that we capture and really help paint the picture for where we are. So we exist on a fiscal year.
Our fiscal year begins in July and it ends in June. So we have year-to-date statistics which would
incorporate the numbers from July 2013 to June 2014. These numbers we see here will be
reflected in our new annual report which will be published in the coming month or two. Ive
printed last years annual report that I sent you the hyperlink to, just to give you an idea of the
overview of the different range of services that we offer. If youre looking at data I would
encourage you to look here *gestures to year-to-year data* because its the newest and greatest
information if that makes sense. The thing that would be most relevant to what youre doing
would be up here at the top, the number of active cardholders and the number of inactive
cardholders. So youll see we have some work to do.
(KH) Whats the definition of inactive? How long do they have to be inactive for?
(BC)

Thats a great question. If you have no card activity in one year youre considered

inactive. Card activity includes checking out books, any type of electronic resource, even down
to music downloads. If you were to log in to your account for any reason while youre here, that
!46

counts too. The only thing that would not be captured would be people who come to programs.
We offer like 4,000 programs a year, and as of now we dont have a way to capture cardholder
data for people who come to programs. Thats in the works. We understand thats a challenge,
thats a shortcoming and it could be that we find that the active cardholder usage goes up greatly
once we start buzzing the barcodes. Thats just a technology issue were trying to get our arms
around. We had an author event this past February with 2,500 people there. How can you
possibly scan that many cards in without driving people crazy? So pretty much any card usage or
card interaction besides people going to programs.
So the goal is with people getting their new cards is to keep them happy and keep them
coming back. Just to kind of start talking about the lingo, the types of things we talk about
internally, a good thing we try to do is to cross-sell and upsell different offerings. Meaning, if
someone is checking out a book, then the checkout staff would say, Oh I see youre checking
out a book about building your budget. Do you realize that our business and job center on the
third floor offers classes? You know, were trying to make people come to us for more than just
one thing if that makes sense. Were trying to meet them at every continuum along the way.
Maybe people bring their children here, but they themselves dont check out books. But you
know, the more card activity and the more interaction we can have with that person the better
chance we have for keeping them coming back for more.
So, Ive been here for about two years and it just blows my mind the depth that goes on
behind the scenes. We have a team of seven people in marketing and communications, so its just
amazing to kind of hear about what takes place on the backside of everything.

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This is way more information than you might need, but maybe it can help you write an executive
summary about the state of things here for the library. You can look here to see the number of
programs that we have, and you can talk about the number of attendees. This is really cool, you
can read about the computerization of everything. Thats a hot thing at all of our locations, you
always see people on the computers. We have circulation information that weve broken down
per location, we even have circulation for EdVenture which is pretty cool. You can see that we
captured door count. We have meeting rooms which are available for people to use as long as its
not for any type of paid programming. Someone can come in and book a room for a community
program.
(AC) Im going to one this month!
(BC)

Great! Very happy to hear that, perfect! We also have some web data in here too. The

number of people who come to our website, how long theyre on the website. People now have
the ability to pay fines online, which is pretty cool. We have page news for the top types of
pages. So in a nutshell, thats just a little rundown of the numbers
This *gesturing to last years annual report* I thought would be useful for yall so you
just have an overview of what we have. This is our executive director her name is Melanie
Huggins, shes been executive director for five years, and the cool thing about her is that she
started here as a librarian in the childrens room. So she worked here, went off and worked for a
couple of other libraries and grew, and then we were able to lure her back. But just kind of an
overview of the different types of offerings we have for the community. Another thing Ive
mentioned before is the business and job center we have here on the third floor. Youll also see

!48

we have some happy customer quotes scattered throughout the report. This talks about our
resources, a lot of our electronic numbers. It talks about EdVenture. We have sections dedicated
to children, to teens and this might be good language for yall to use and to build the skeleton for
your campaign.
We have a very strong volunteer program. We have tons of people who volunteer their
time here, which is just amazing. Last year we had more than 22,000 hours dedicated here. We
have three boards. We have a Board of Trustees that kind of guide all of our big decisions. We
have a Friends of the Library board, and theyre here to help raise money for the programs and
support for the library. We also have the Richland Library Foundation, and theyre all about the
giving campaigns. The Friends have quarterly book sales and they sell them to make money for
the library. And then these are just numbers from here to the back.

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(KH) Can I ask how you communicate with the cardholders? Do you send them emails, or do
newsletters or anything like that?

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(BC)

Absolutely. We do a bi-monthly magazine which we are on deadline for right now. Weve

done the magazine for a number of years. Two years ago we went through a huge rebranding
process. We were Richland County Library. We worked with a local ad group and held focus
groups. How did they refer to us? What did they call us? We found that a lot of people called us
The Library or Richland Library to differentiate it from Lexington Library. So we said,
Lets drop the County because people arent really saying it, so lets just rebrand ourselves. We
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went through this huge thing with the logo creation. We did focus group testing and what we
landed on was this *gestures to the Richland Library logo* because people saw different things
and we wanted that. We wanted people to see what they wanted out of it. Some people say it
looks like a talk bubble, some say it looks like an open book, so its really what you make of fit.
So anyway, we did that about two years ago and all of that was really strategic for lining up and
being in a better position to move forward with being on the ballot for the bond to get money for
renovations and reconfigurations. But anyway, in every issue we have a letter from the executive
director. Weve started doing this fun little thing with the footnotes, little cool fun facts. Every
two months we spotlight one of our staff members. We have feature articles. The crux of this is
the programming, and its specific in here for age. Something here, another branding tip,
anything for children we try to use the color yellow, anything for teens we use the color orange
and for anything adults and the general community we use what we call our brand blue. That
kind of leads you through the magazine, and youll notice that on signage throughout the library
as well.
This is one of the biggest things that we do to remind people about the programs and the
offerings that we have because it is very meaningful for anyone who has a connection to the
library. I mentioned before that we have 4,000 or so programs a year, and people working on the
desk can take this and circle with a sharpie and say, Make sure you come back for this program,
this day, this time. So this is good for the people that walk in. Of course, another big form of our
communication is through our website. We try to remind ourselves to almost treat that like one of
our locations. We dont just have 11 locations, we also have the website, which is open seven

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days a week, 24 hours a day kind of thing. We do monthly newsletters, and then just a plethora of
information specific to the program or whatever offering it is.
This I think will probably be most useful to what yall are doing now. We did a huge
cardholders survey last fall, and what we are able to do is go in and scrape out responses from all
of the inactive cardholders. So I think this might be like a bible for yall.
(AC) This is absolutely perfect.
(KH) Yes, thank you so much!
(BC)

So we scraped out all the inactive feedback, which is really cool when you start to look at

it. The first thing that really jumped out to me is that a lot of people dont live in the county.
What this means is if you live in Richland County, by sheer virtue you pay your taxes and you
come to this public entity and you use it. If you live in Lexington County for instance and you
want a Richland Library Card, you have to pay to get a card. Its $65 for an out of county card.
That is equated by how much the average taxpayer pays and what comes into the library, so its a
very systematic process. So youll see here that a lot of people who are inactive cardholders
actually pay to come here and arent using us, which kind of blows my mind. There could be
several reasons for that. I do know we have a local and family history center, which is up here on
the third floor. People use that to hop on Ancestry.com or pour through old newspaper clippings.
I found that our offerings are very rich compared to what other people offer. I happened to see
sometime in the past year a plotted map, and I saw that we have many cardholders in Charlotte
and Charleston. The response that I got was that many people pay simply to use this. So it could
be, but theres no way to really know it, that some people have one reason to use the library and
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theyre not checking out books. Thats a question that could be posed. How could we really look
deeper at the people who arent using the library? I think we did ask a question about what you
do when youre here. From a public relations perspective I just wanted to mention that, its kind
of a unique niche.
People say that theyre too busy to come, which to me says, Okay, maybe we try to help
them out. Maybe we push electronic resources. Maybe they dont know we can pull a book that
they want, its called a hold, so all they have to do is run inside the front door, checkout and
leave. If we know what the barriers are, we can let them know what were doing to help them
meet that need. It could just be that they dont understand what we can do to help them get in and
get out.
(KH) How long has the library offered ebooks and magazines?
(BC)

Well, online magazines started about three years ago and ebooks have been offered a long

time. I could do a little digging and probably find out


(KH) I just didnt know that it was even offered, I found out after looking at the website.
(BC) Yeah, ebooks, magazines and then weve offered downloadable music for about two years.
We have six music downloads a week and theyre yours to keep forever which I think is pretty
cool.
This graph here shows what the cardholders did the last time they were here and it
primarily shows they were here to borrow print materials. So it could be that we try to push them
into all of these other resources. Not a lot of people come to adult continuing education. Were

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just trying to get a feel for who these people are. People seem to like use our WiFi, so they seem
to be technologically savvy people, meaning we can promote electronic resources to them. Not
only do we have the ebooks, the audiobooks and the songs, we also have a ton of databases that
are available on the website. They range from databases to help children with school projects, to
do it yourself car repairs to free resume help. Thats another electronic resource outside the realm
of what you generally consider an electronic resource. We see that people who arent coming
here much are buying their books a couple times a year. Wed like to entice them to save their
money and come here. Theyre also buying ebooks. Save your money come here! Same things
for DVDs. As soon as I started working here I cancelled my Netflix account because you can go
downstairs and get a DVD and keep it for seven days. Same thing for music. Were finding
people arent using the resources, theyre going out and buying it on their own. The people seem
to be heavy music people, we can push our resources. A lot of people watch educational videos
online, theyre our target population for educational programs. Were trying to get a feel for these
people and how they move throughout the community. So we see a few times a year these
inactive cardholders attend community events. These people go to coffee shops a lot, so does that
mean we work with local coffee shops to promote our resources? It seems theyre out getting
coffee a good bit, which could potentially be a place we meet them. Theyre going to bookstores
and buying books. They go out to eat a lot. I havent really figured out what that means for us,
but it could mean that theyre a higher clientele and they have the expendable income to eat out a
lot. That could mean they have the money to buy whatever book they want instead of coming
here. They shop a lot. They go to movies some. They feel that homework help for children is
very important. This is where we talk about where you see your needs for the library. They think
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that its very important to have space to study and work. These questions were very important to
us as we are building our new locations with this $59 million bond money. As were designing
the locations all throughout the community we want to know what people want to see, whats
important for people. We didnt base it solely on this, we looked at other types of data. Weve
had community events and had one-on-one interviews, but this was one component of hearing
what people wanted. They want creative spaces. They want reading rooms like we have now.
They want access to computers and online resources. Its important to have programming and
activities for children. Some of this is a no brainer, but these things are important to our data. Its
important to reach out to our non-English speaking populations. Its important that we offer job
assistance and that we offer continuing education. We went through and saw that nearly 80
percent of the inactive customers have smart phones, so do we create an app? I dont know. We
went through and asked what types of apps they have on their phones. We also asked the
heartstring question. Everybody has a library story. You think back to being a kid and going to
the library, tell me how that was. Did you go with your grandmother every Wednesday? So thats
kind of what that question pulled on. This is kind of getting a history on the person. In the past
12 months how many books have you read or listened to? That lets us know how engaged they
are. Then we have some good numbers for age ranges, gender and income. Then we also got
education.
This is something else that goes into account. They have children, but the majority of
their children are 18 and older, so does that mean theyve become inactive because their kids are
out of the house? Maybe when their kids were young they came to story time and because we
didnt cross sell what we have available, once the kids were done with the childrens room they
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were done with the library. Its almost like maybe we need to hook parents in while theyre here
with their kids. Its an interesting way to look at the numbers and start asking those important
questions.
So those are the numbers, thats the guts.
(AC) Thats beautiful.
(KH) Thatll be very helpful. Do you know what the average attendance is for a community
event?
(BC)

It is completely across the board.

(KH) Because I know the library does totally different things.


(BC)

We do, and it depends on whether youre looking here or at another location. If you hop

into this and have a question about a specific program or a particular location, Ill be glad to pull
numbers for you. The numbers are so out there I wouldnt know where to go to get them, does
that make sense?
(KH) Yes maam! The library just offers so many different things I was just curious.
(BC)

As you get into this if you have any questions about more specific data ask me anything,

and if theres no way we have that information Ill tell you that too.
Something else that we offer that I didnt know about until I started working here, is that
we offer a homebound service. Our individuals who are 60-years-old or older who are not able to
leave their home, we have an outreach department who absolutely, positively get in the car and

!55

drive books to these sweet old folks once a month. Maybe thats not something that can help with
the current campaign, but just general information.
Like I mentioned before, the Friends of the Library do host events to try and raise money
for the library. They accept book donations and have book sales and the money gets pumped into
library programs and events. This brochure talks a little bit more about the library and the
Friends.
Theres just so much going on here I think youll be able to find a niche area and just
hone in on it. Thats a lot of information to take in.
(KH) Its wonderful.
(AC) No its so wonderful, thank you so much.
(BC)

The good news too is that we have a website. But to just kind of throw it all out there,

thats basically it. If yall could help us formulate a way to reach out to inactive customers that
would be amazing. Our lives in the past two years have revolved around that major rebranding,
going up for the bond referendum and now renovations and reconfigurations. This is something
important to us, but we havent had the time to dedicate resources to it so your timing is perfect.
Any insight would be appreciated.
(KH) Is there anything in the past that yall have done to specifically reach out to non-users?
(BC)

Not on any grand scale.

(KH) No?
(BC)

Nope, not at all.


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(AC) Im so excited!
(BC)

Well, the library has always meant a lot to me, but after working here and reading the

customer stories and seeing what it really means to peoples lives, its just heartwarming. As a
public relations professional there arent a whole lot of places that you can work and feel so good
about the work that you do every day.

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(KH) Is there any sort of message, program or event that you want to highlight or emphasize to
non-users?
(BC)

Probably just card activity of any sort, which you may or may not want to hear.

(KH) No, thats whats important.


(BC)

We just want them to use the card for whatever is important to them, if that makes sense.

If you think of any other questions after today, dont hesitate to shoot me an email.

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END OF INTERVIEW
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