2014 Charleston Conference Friday, Nov 7, 3:15 PM

1. Relax, Be Earnest:
Marketing a Serials Deselection Project
Presented by Stephanie J. Spratt
Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

2. Marketing = Communication
Marketing is a strategic
conversation with library patrons.
It’s an intentional conversation.
-- Kennedy as cited by Richardson(2013)

3. Local News Spot

4. About the Project
 Student survey performed in 2013 confirmed that more collaborative study
space was needed
 UC-Denver library performed a journals weeding project in 2013
 Library has increased purchases of online journal archives
 Project was assigned to my predecessor, but was barely begun before she
left the position
 I started in February, was handed the project in late March, and was given
a deadline to have deselected journals and shelving removed by August
so that new furniture could be placed before the Fall semester began

5. KRAEMER FAMILY LIBRARY BEFORE

6. By the Numbers
 1,640 titles reviewed
 1,031 titles completely removed
 37,225 volumes recycled/donated
 ∞ trips to the dumpster
 1 call for elevator repair
 7 recycling dumpsters filled
 50+ tons of materials recycled
 815 linear feet of shelving emptied

7. After

8. Why Market a Weeding Project?
 To provide your stakeholders with transparency
 To promote change when it is due
 To show off our expertise
 To build partnerships both on and off campus
 To respond to stakeholder concerns

9. From Project Goals to Marketing
Statements
 Define the project goals
 Examine the language used in your goals and adjust it to layperson’s terms
 Determine your marketing tools
 Match a tool to your adjusted goal statement
 Communicate your goals through your marketing tools

10. Determine Your Marketing Tools
Collection
Development
Policy

11. Your Marketing Statements Should:
 Be delivered with confidence and authority
 Be targeted to an audience
 Be delivered via the proper tool(s)
 Be positive - sandwich negative aspects between positive outcomes
 Be backed up with policies and partnerships
 Provide transparency

12. Examples and Lessons Learned
 1. Student newspaper printed an article on April 7, 2014, calling for the
library to reduce “…the clutter of dusty old tomes” (Wefler, p.9).
 Our response: none – library administration had plans in the works to inform
faculty members, so didn’t want a message to the students to go out before the
message to faculty
 A better approach: respond via a letter to the editor briefly describing our
project scope, goal, and timeline. Include message to faculty to be watching
their email for an official statement from the library about the project
 Lesson: we could have avoided complaints from concerned students later had
we been up front with them about our plans (see example 3)

13. Examples and Lessons Learned (cont.)
 2. Share details of the project with campus faculty via e-mail
 Our fear: faculty members would object to the plan, resulting in a decrease of
trust between the library and faculty
 Our approach: find out if offering the withdrawn materials to faculty first was an
option – yes; keep the message positive, “…we are de-selecting duplicate
materials from our bound serials holdings in order to better use that area…as a
collaborative learning space…” (T. Switzer, personal communication, June 16,
2014)
 Outcome: a couple faculty members requested materials to take back to their
offices, otherwise very little response from the faculty
 Lesson: our fear of faculty backlash was unnecessary

14. Examples and Lessons Learned (cont.)
 3. Respond to students’ complaints to the local news that the library was
“throwing away books”
 What happened: the recycling dumpster was right out in the open; students, with
no advance knowledge of our project, were concerned and approached a
local television news organization who investigated
 Our message: we carefully examined what we were removing so as no unique or
commonly used content was lost; we are not the only library to do this; the
materials were being recycled
 Outcome: there were no further complaints from students or other concerned
users
 Lesson: share project plans with students in advance

15. Form Partnerships to Build Strength and
Support
 Campus administration (provost, accounting office)
 Office of Sustainability
 Departments on campus
 Local organizations
 Recycling companies

16. Questions to Consider
Is your deselection project good for the library?
Is your deselection project good for library users?
Who is in the best position to talk about the state
of your library collection to your library users?
If your answers are “Yes” “Yes” and “Me” then
you have the foundation you need to
effectively market your project

17. References
 Richardson, H. & Kennedy, M. (2014). How to market your library’s electronic
resources. The Serials Librarian: From the Printed Page to the Digital Age,
67(1), 42-47. doi: 0.1080/0361526X.2014.899289
 UCCS Library (KRDO 07-15-2014). (2014). Retrieved from
http://youtu.be/_ycesnbAGJc.
 Wefler, A. (2014, April 7). Library due for spring cleaning, not elimination. The
Scribe, 38(24), 9.

18. Thank You!
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