SPEC Kit 306: Promoting the Library

Research libraries expend considerable effort to be perceived as vital to students, faculty, and research scientists. They continually promote their potential to enhance teaching and learning, to facilitate research with appropriate resources and expertise, and to gain credibility in a world that competes for the information consumer’s attention. There is increasing interest in our community in the ways that libraries frame and deliver their promotional efforts, in the new directions and initiatives that are tested, and in the tools and techniques employed to assess the impact on target populations. This survey identifies the purposes of promotional activities and strategies, promotional tools and techniques, samples of promotional materials, how libraries organize to do promotion, the nature of library branding campaigns, and coordination of activities and reporting structures.