3-Prong Marketing and Advocacy Plan

Megan Meyer

Kutztown University

May 6, 2020
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Part I

ALA’s Libraries Transform Campaign

The Libraries Transform Campaign is about advocating for libraries, librarians, and the

importance of both. ALA’s campaign is working to reach all these communities and tell

everyone what libraries really do for their patrons and what they could do given the chance. It

also provides marketing for the libraries that join the cause as well as some tools to promote the

campaign like posters and bookmarks. Their website has a trend mapping system for libraries to

keep track of the ever-changing trends in their communities. Based on what I found while

looking around their website, their campaign is going strong and making a difference, so I would

say they’re getting their message across to some people. They may not necessarily be reaching

everyone or exactly who they want to, but the campaign is getting the message out there.

PaLA’s PaForward

The PaForward campaign is working towards “a better future for all,” and they want to

accomplish this in Pennsylvania for all PA libraries and their patrons. They’re trying to advocate

for the funding they need to advance the libraries in order to provide library resources to all

Pennsylvania residents. It seems to have a lot of crossover with ALA’s Libraries Transform

campaign because PaForward is also working to display the importance of librarians and

libraries. The group leaders have really laid out plans, but there doesn’t appear to be a lot of

actual tools that they are providing besides a media kit with a detailed background of the

campaign. They’re trying their best, but they may not be accomplishing what PaForward is

setting out to do. The campaign is very library-based, and I feel like they need to get their name
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further out there in order to get the support they’re looking for in order to have even greater

success.

Part II

Kutztown Community Library (KCL)

The Kutztown Community Library was a place that came to mind since I spent my most

recent summer there as a writing intern, which meant dealing with some of their marketing. One

of their most important programs and services to the community is putting on their Summer

Reading Program, now known as Summer Quest. The library works with local businesses to help

promote reading and inspire students in the community to continue learning throughout the

summer. There are prizes to be won at the end of the summer for kids and teens that participate

by going to events, trying new things, and reading books. It definitely falls in line with their

mission statement on their website about being a “gathering place for minds of all ages to

connect with the world and each other through our services and programs.”

When marketing their services, KCL works to get information in the newspaper and on

the newspaper's website. They do have some social media pages on FaceBook and Instagram

where they try to post regularly, but more often they not, KCL posts much more frequently when

large events or programs are going on. Their own website is kept relatively up-to-date with their

services, and the KCL calendar has all their events and storytimes on it as well.

In regards to advocating, KCL has really advocated for themselves largely because their

budget continues to get cut. It’s getting harder and harder for them to put on Summer Quest and

various events/programs for the community. Otherwise, with the scrambling for funding via
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grants and donations, they don’t advocate for much else most likely due to all the time put into

everything else.

Part III

Advocacy and the Elevator Speech

Concise Argument #1: Kutztown Community Library shows great commitment to the

betterment of the community through their commitment to the Summer Reading Program, also

known as Summer Quest. Every year KCL works to gather donations of gifts, money, and other

such things to put on a series of events for different school age groups to participate in. This

series of programs over the summer has a great impact on the local students’ interest in various

subjects of education.

Concise Argument #2: KCL devotes themselves to weekly storytimes for a range of

younger ages and holds meetings for groups of older kids in the community as well. They work

to make the library a space that the community comes to visit all year round to enjoy various

activities.

Marketing

I created several different examples of marketing items that the Kutztown Community

Library could use. They are mostly just small things that could be paired with something even

bigger.

First, some bookmarks that KCL could give to people making smaller donations or to

those who are volunteering their time to the library. They could also just hand them out at events

or programs as well.
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Next, a poster the library could hang up somewhere that patrons could see to promote advocacy

amongst library users.

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Here’s an example Instagram Post the library could do just for some more activity on their

Instagram with their followers. It also thanks the Friends of the Library who are typically

anonymous supporters of the KCL. Occasional posts about random celebratory days would be a

nice way to get some more engagement in order for the library to reach more people.

This Facebook Post is one they could currently use with the coronavirus going on, or if the

library must be closed for a period of time for some other reason. Again, it’s mostly just another
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way to be engaging with their followers more outside of just programs and events they put on.
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Social Media

I think the Kutztown Community Library could greatly benefit from getting a Twitter

account. Based on the social media platforms that the library already participates in, Twitter

seems like a reasonable next step. The idea is that having a Twitter account would reach a
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younger generation, and KCL could connect with those already on the platform tweeting about

the library and what they’re doing.

The plan would be to task the person already running the FaceBook and Instagram with

Twitter in order to avoid identical posts on the varying sites. They would obviously have their

other tasks lessened to allow them more focus on the social media accounts without raising their

stress levels. Whoever is running the accounts could post on Twitter every other day or daily

depending on how much is going on. Obviously during busier times, like the summer, there

might be two to three tweets a day about the events going on. It would be an update about what’s

new, on-going services, maybe even birthdays of staff or community members. All of that would

really come down to how the library wanted to run the social media account, but I think it would

provide a great opportunity to personally connect with the community.

In turns of measuring the impact, there would obviously be around several months where

the main goal would be giving it a moment to grow. It would be a mixture of retweets,

comments, and likes, but also how many active people are following the account. We wouldn’t

want to suddenly kill the Twitter account if people are using the tweets to get updates on the

library. Again, it might take some time to get it up and running, but having a Twitter account for

the Kutztown Community Library seems like a great next step towards reaching more of the

community.