Frontline Advocacy for Libraries

WHERE THE ACTION IS: Advocating for Your Library from the Front Line A self-paced interactive tutorial 1

Welcome! Everyone who works in a library has  opportunities to influence what others think  image coming about that library.  The purpose of this online tutorial is to help  you get fresh ideas about how you can be  an effective advocate for your library, both  on and off the job.  The tutorial is easy.  Read at your own  pace, and click on the interactive features  that catch your eye. It should only take  about 20 minutes. 2

What is frontline advocacy for libraries? The word frontline describes anyone who interacts  directly with others in the course of providing a product  or service.   Advocacy means supporting a cause or action.  We  often think that only lobbyists or certain kinds of  administrators have the skills and connections to be  advocates.  Not true!   Some of the most effective  advocacy is staff-driven, and everyone can do it,  especially you. So...frontline advocacy for libraries means using your  position as a library employee to promote your library  and encourage the support of others. 3

How does this apply to me and my library? Positive interactions with frontline library staff create  customer loyalty and support.  In other words, when  people think about your library, they probably don’t  think about your director or management staff.  They  think about - and interact with - you.   When customers enjoy positive interactions with you,  they also form a positive impression of your library.   Your help, friendliness and personal attention make  them more likely to be a faithful library user and,  potentially, to become a champion of your library  because of its association with you. 4

What is a frontline advocacy interaction? Good question! It’s any interaction you have that gives  you the opportunity to share information about your  library’s strengths and needs.   For example, let’s say your library manager is asking  Library Photo for more money for online resources in next year’s  from Ann budget.   When a patron comments on the database he found  helpful, or perhaps complains about waiting for a  computer, take the opportunity to tell him, “We’re trying  to add more online resources in next year’s budget.  In  fact, we have a fact sheet at the reference desk that  will tell you all about it.  Let me get one for you!”   5

When your library’s evening hours are threatened,  make sure your evening users take home information  (e.g. Bookmarks) about whom to contact with  complaints or suggestions.  It’s not easy to measure the impact your frontline  advocacy interactions have on people, but articulating  your library’s strengths and needs do make a  tremendous difference in library support.   6

Who me? We all have our comfort zones when it comes to  ? sharing messages about our libraries and the support  they need.  Your personal comfort zone may start with  talking to a family member, friend or neighbor.   Practice until you feel like stretching yourself a little bit,  then share your library’s good points and needs with  someone you know less well.  Keep it short and  simple.   Your library will benefit from what you have to say and  you will benefit from the confidence that comes from  doing something you thought you could not do.    7

Love me, love my library It’s easy to understand how library staff who  interact directly with customers are on the  front line. The reference librarian, circulation  desk clerk, the person who speaks to a book  group or assists computer users are obvious  examples.  But what if your job doesn’t require you to  interact directly with library users?   8

Don’t worry!  Whether or not your duties  put you in the public spotlight, you can be  a great frontline advocate for your library.  That’s because you have friends, relatives,  neighbors and non-library colleagues who  know you work for the library and for whom  you are “the face” of the library.  Click to the next slide to see a video of  how ALA’s 2009-1010 President, Camila  Alire, explains it. 9

You are your library’s BEST advocate! And guess what else? You’re also your  library’s best frontline advocate. You are the person who interacts every day  with library customers and with others who  know you work at the library and associate  you with the services provided there.  10

Whether you’ve worked at your library for 6 months or  25 years, you are an insider who knows your library  best. Because of this, you may even be the “go to”  person for your friends and colleagues who are  looking for information or advice. Work with your library manager for ideas and  language to use to point out your library’s strengths  and needs - and to persuade others to support it.   11

Libraries exist within communities. All libraries have communities  associated with them – towns, schools,  corporations, colleges or universities or  hospitals, for example. Libraries and  their communities enjoy a mutually  beneficial relationship.  The library supports its community by  providing important resources and  services. The community gives the  library the reason for its very existence  and devotes some of its resources to  its support.  12

Whether your library’s community is a  neighborhood, an elementary school, a high  school, a university campus or a historical  society, you are a member of this community  and understand it best.  Because you understand your library and its  community, you understand your library’s value  to its community best. Click to the next slide to see how New Yorkers  shout out their support for their libraries. 13

What is your library’s value? Why does your library matter? Take  some time to think about this question.   Each kind of library offers its community  something unique and vital to the  success of that community.    If you work in a public library, is your  library the hub of your neighborhood?  Do you have wonderful job and career  resources? Are you passionate about  services to children and teens? Are your  Internet computers always in demand? 14

If you work in a school library, what do  students enjoy most about their library time?  Do you offer excellent help teaching how to  do research?  How does your library serve  teachers, families and others? 15

What about your college or university library?  Is it the best place on campus to study or work  on group projects? Does it offer a huge range  of databases? Does your faculty value your  library staff’s ability to acquire materials from  other libraries quickly? Do you work in a special library, such as a  business, law firm or hospital? Does a wide  range of employees use your library? Do you  or other library staff provide personalized  research services? Do your library’s resources  help others be more successful at their jobs? 16

Articulating your library’s value Thinking about these kinds of questions will help you understand the value of your library,  which is essential before you can articulate that value to others. Click to the next slide to see  Harper College’s  “Tour The  Library” video 17

Libraries are good investments! Businesses like to measure “return on investment” or  “ROI,” the profit that is realized from investing in a  resource.  Libraries of all kinds provide a return on their  investment too; that ROI is an important determinant of  your library’s value.  Regardless of the kind of library in  which you work, your job is to communicate its value to  others whenever you can.   Coming soon - you be  able to share online via  Your job is to persuade your customers to consider  ALAConnect.org what  how your library benefits him or her, and to feel inspired  makes your library  to act on your library’s behalf.  Work with your library’s  valuable. management team to craft the best frontline advocacy  messages.   18

Becoming an effective frontline advocate is easy. You’re probably thinking, “Hey, I already do  this!” But how can you do it systematically and   more effectively? Good news! ALA has easy-to-use Frontline  Advocacy Toolkits, online resources that can  help you determine what you should tell others  about your library and how you can become an  ace at frontline advocacy. There are toolkits for  every kind of library:  public, school, academic  and special...   ...and they’re just a click away. 19

Creating advocacy messages These toolkits can help you and your library management  team employ effective practices and processes for creating  messages that convey your library’s value, articulate its  needs and persuade users that you need action from them.   The toolkits will help you identify key words that come to  mind when you think about why your library is valuable.   Research help? Computer access? Job resources?  Personalized services?   Can you articulate your advocacy message in 15 words or  fewer? Could you say it in the time it takes to walk to your car  with someone in the parking lot?  Click here to learn more.  20

Who needs to hear your advocacy message? ...potentially everyone you know.  People  who use your library, who know how they  benefit from your library’s resources, will  be a very receptive audience for your  message.  They’ll also be motivated to share your  message with others and help your library  gain the resources it needs. 21

Some advocacy messages are best targeted to  specific audiences.   For example, business students can work through  the student government to support your college or  university library’s request for more online business  reference tools.  Parents who bring their children to  story time at your public library branch should  understand why your library needs to expand its  children’s area.  Corporate personnel who depend  upon your special library for a competitive edge  need to become library advocates.  In all these  examples, you are the best messenger. Click here to read more about  identifying your key audiences. 22

Think about those who don’t use your library, but  should.  Who can you persuade to try it?  Start by  inviting just one person - a family member, friend  or colleague - to come for a visit.   Be persistent! And when that person comes, be  sure to take the time to show how your library’s  Coming soon - you be  resources benefit him or her.  Remember that  able to tell us whom you  everyone who understands your library’s value is  share your advocacy  a potential library champion. message. 23

Seize the opportunity! Don’t let opportunities to be an effective frontline advocate for your library pass you by.  And don’t wait for a crisis to advocate for your library.  Practice it every day and, when  there is a special issue or concern, you’ll feel like a pro. Click to the next slide to see an example. 24

Seize the opportunity! Click to the next slide to see another example. 25

Team up with your library management  team and other staff and brainstorm  ways to communicate appropriately the  kind of support you need.  Share ideas  to place your library front and center in  a positive way.   26

Timing is everything! It’s true. Take advantage of that timing.  For example:  • What if a member of your book club has just announced she’s expecting  her first child?  Tell that prospective parent about materials or  programming your library has on prenatal care.  Let her know that your  library wants to add programs for toddlers and that you need her support  at the library’s budget hearing. • What about college students who are leaving to study abroad? Let the students  know what your college library has to offer to prepare them for living in their  new country, and be sure their teachers know that your library is the first place  students go to find that information. • What if your organization has just taken a new client or partner on  board? Gather some helpful information on the new client and share it  with your corporate colleagues.  Remind your colleagues that the  resources your organization subscribes to allow you to gather this  information quickly.   27

There are some special times to tell your  friends, relatives, neighbors and non-library  colleagues what the library has for them.   Go online to www.ilovelibraries.org or   www.ala.org and find out the dates for  National Library Week, Library  Snapshot Day, Read Across America  Week, Teen Read Week, or other  celebrations, and make use of the  public awareness those events  generate.  28

How do you get people’s attention? Start slowly.  For example: • Send a faculty member an email inviting her to  bring her freshman class for a library tour. • Let a neighbor know that he can use the library’s computers to write  a resume and search for a job. 29

• Tell a parent you bump into at the store that your library will  soon be open longer hours for students.  • Let a colleague in another department know that  your library has begun subscribing to a new  database he might find helpful.  See?  It’s easy!  Once those individuals realize the benefits they derive from  the library, encourage them to step up and help your library keep those  resources - and gain new ones.  Click here to learn more. 30

Feeling more confident? Work closely with your library manager to spread effective frontline  advocacy messages:   • Write a letter to the editor.  Praise your library as a community jewel  and a great place to work.  Explain why it needs financial support to  remain strong.   • Start a blog about all the things that make your library “the resource  place for everyone.”  Include in your blog ways that others can  become your library’s friend and advocate.   • Design and print some simple, colorful fliers or bookmarks that  remind readers of your library’s assets or special services and let  people know which ones are threatened by budget cuts. 31

What’s your kind of library? Public? School? Academic? Special?  ALA’s four toolkits can be easily accessed.  Simply click on the Frontline Advocacy  Toolkit for your kind of library, and find  simple, ready-to-use tools that will make  you a frontline advocacy ace in no time flat! • Public library • School library • Academic library • Special library 32

What have you learned? Has this tutorial inspired you to think creatively about how you can be a  better frontline advocate for your library?  Take a short quiz and see what you’ve learned!  33

Frontline Advocacy Quiz - Question 1 of 4 1.  Which of the following is an example of a frontline advocacy interaction?   A. Telling study groups that meet in the library in the evenings that their voices need to be heard to prevent cuts in  evening hours B. Sending a colleague, family member or friend an article you know he will find helpful, and reminding him that your  library provided this information and needs his ongoing support C. Being sure that a parent you know understands why your library needs to expand its space and services for children D. Informing a book club that meets at your library that possible cuts to your collections budget will impact your library’s  ability to have their titles on hand, then giving them contact information for the decision makers who will be  determining the library’s budget E. All of the above 34

Frontline Advocacy Quiz - Question 2 of 4 2.  The person who is in a good position to be an effective frontline advocate for your library is:  A. The individual who manages your library B. The one who handles reference and research requests C. The cataloger or clerk who works behind the scenes  D. The staff member who works at the circulation desk E. All of the above 35

Frontline Advocacy Quiz - Question 3 of 4 3.  What’s an effective way to get your frontline advocacy message heard? A. Telling your advocacy message to everyone you know B. Sending an email blast with your advocacy message clearly spelled out C. Handing out fact sheets, fliers or bookmarks that publicize your library’s advocacy message D. Inviting people to your library to learn how they benefit from its services and resources and how they can support it E. All of the above 36

Frontline Advocacy Quiz - Question 4 of 4 4.  ALA provides easy-to-use Frontline Advocacy Toolkits online for staff in which kinds of  libraries?:  A. Public B. School C. Academic  D. Special E. All of the above 37

Thank you for taking the time to learn about  Advocating for Your Library from the Front Line Now go out and be a frontline advocate for your library! 38

Frontline Advocacy for Libraries

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