Blueprint for Your Library Marketing Plan

by Patricia H. Fisher

"Marketing is about bringing them in and bringing them back. . . . [It's] a stance and an attitude that focuses on meeting the needs of users… Marketing is not separate from good practice. It is good practice."― Patricia H. Fisher and Marseille M. Pride, from the Introduction In these challenging times, libraries face fierce competition for customers and funding. Creating and implementing a marketing plan can help libraries make a compelling case and address both issues―attracting funding and customers by focusing on specific needs. But where and how do you start? Drawing on the authors' many decades of experience in marketing and as librarians and trustees, Blueprint for Your Library Marketing Plan offers a step-by-step program to get any library up to speed with minimal angst. Reproducible forms and worksheets, quick start tips, strategies and models from other libraries, and resources for more information enhance this one-stop handbook. Librarians and directors in public, academic, and special libraries, marketing specialists, and students and instructors in library programs can learn to tailor marketing plans, prioritize services, and address community needs using this library-focused, hands-on guide.

Genres: Nonfiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2005

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very helpful guide to writing a marketing plan for a libary. In tandem with more sociologically-oriented books (like Marketing Today's Academic Library, or the Studying Students report from Rochester) you can write a great marketing plan. The book is exactly what it says it is -- it takes you through the process, step by step, and even has a series of worksheets in the back to help you figure everything out.

One thing I especially want to mentionis that Fisher does a nice job of balancing the different concerns public and academic libraries would have. This did not feel like one of those books where one or the other was an afterthought.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading through it, but I will continue using it for a while. It is a pretty good guide to creating a marketing plan for a library. Very applicable to public or academic libraries (I am sure folks in special and school libraries may find useful ideas too). The book includes various worksheets to help develop the plan from the grand strategy to specific promotion techniques.

[Carly Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good ideas from librarians who need to develop a marketing plan. The explanations of marketing terms and practices were clear and geared toward the non-expert. I would recommend this for librarians interested in marketing.

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A perfectly good example of the kind of thing that it is. Just, it's not the kind of thing I would ever read cover to cover if it weren't required reading. :(

[Bdalton]

Read the 2006 version of the book.