Michigan Library Association Annual Conference, joint presentation with colleagues, November 2009

1. Adding value with business services at your library
Amy L. Cochran – Grand Rapids Public Library
acochran@grpl.org
Elizabeth Kudwa – Capital Area District Library
kudwae@cadl.org
Tera Moon – Southfield Public Library
tmoon@sfldlib.org
Nicolette Warisse Sosulski – Portage District Library
nsosulski@portagelibrary.info

2.  Board members are community minded individuals, so
services that bolster your community resonate with
them. Perhaps even more than your average taxpayer,
board members are concerned about Michigan. They
want the library to be involved with the effort to bring
businesses to your area and keep it there.
Portage District
Library Business
Information Center

3. Ask your director for space at board meeting to tell your
business stories
 Boards vote on budgets, and business resources can be
among the priciest items in your collection
 Stories—successful programs, grateful entrepreneurs,
new services they may not be aware of as patrons—
bring home your value
Strategy: schedule a program the same night as your board meeting and
let them see people flocking in

4. If your board makeup is like ours at the PDL, there is a sizable
contingent of established community members including some
that are mid-50s and over. That means that
 These people are likely to find your information on investments
and the market highly relevant and valuable
 Board members are a potential source of business programming
and program ideas, from resume advice to business counseling.
They may also know speakers you are seeking personally
 Some of your board members may be business owners that you
should make a special effort to invite to your programs
 Board members are networked in the community—connectors
in Malcolm Gladwell parlance—if they know your programs,
word gets out faster.

5.  Identify appropriate organizations.
◦ SCORE
◦ SBDTC
◦ business development dept of municipality
◦ planning dept of municipality
◦ treasurer's office
 Approach with a message about what the library can
give; show that the library adds value to the process of
starting a business by providing quality information
 Share success stories to illustrate this; get testimonials
from those you’ve helped

6.  Network!
◦ In order to get to know these orgs, attend their events, ask to
speak at meetings
◦ Just as it's important to know which community orgs to refer
YOUR clients to, make sure they know when to refer their
clients to YOU
 Offer sponsorship of programs
 If you host their programs or events, always kick off the
event with a commercial for the library
 Make yourself indispensible but . . .

7.  Beware of unsolicited program offers
o ask them for a proposal of their program in writing
o ask for references
o have a contract that states they can't promote their business
 Biggest challenge for you the librarian: straddling the
line over being helpful and doing too much

8.  Your library is one piece of the support structure for
starting a business
 Partner, partner, partner!
◦ Lots of referrals both to and from the library.
 Patron viewpoint
◦ Referred to the library for market research
◦ Stumbled upon the library and discovered our resources
◦ Active library users already aware of our breadth of resources
 Set expectations early
◦ Evaluate what services you and your staff can provide
 Available resources
 How to use them
 What will the librarian do?

9.  Assure the patron of confidentiality
 Contact info for patron
 Patron’s question
 Search terms used including SIC/NAICS codes
 Any related associations or publications
 Sources used
 Track the time spent by hours/day
 Key results of search
 Identify actionable information, or the take-away
points passed on to the patron

11.  Dedicated space and staff member if possible

13. Website content
o Example from the Grand Rapids Public Library
www.grpl.org/wiki/index.php/Small_Business_Resources
 Print pathfinders covering particular topics
 Print instructional guides that go deeper than traditional
pathfinders

14. Sample bookmarks from CADL
on marketing & small business
databases

15.  Database Guides
o How to use some of the most popular databases
o These could be provided by the vendor, or internally
by your library

16. Grand Rapids Public Library – Instructions on
using BusinessDecision, a demographics
database

17.  Folder with pathfinders and program information
 Enewsletter – highlights resources and promotes library
business programs
 Blog entries
 Programming and one-to-one help

18. An example of a
promotion for a
3-part class on
market research
that GRPL
taught at the
MI-SBTDC

19. Summing Up
 Be aware of the various groups to please
o Library Board & Administration
o Community Organizations
o Patrons
 Be aware of your available staff and resources
 Set expectations and services accordingly
 Partner whenever you can!