Goal 1: Communicating the Value of Libraries

Since time immemorial, the role of the library has been to gather, store and safeguard knowledge. The role of the librarian has been to steward that knowledge and help people find and make good use of it. However, the huge technological and social changes that have taken place in recent decades have led some to question the relevance of libraries and their value to society.

When Google will provide you with information instantly from wherever you are, what can the library and librarian offer? When funds are scarce for even the most pressing of community services such as fire and police protection, or the purchase of basic supplies for schools, why should we use tax dollars to support libraries?

The answer is simple: Libraries are uniquely poised to help people successfully navigate the complexity and disruptive change that everyone in society is experiencing. All citizens, new and established, from young children to elders, in all walks of life, and with all levels of skill, have needs that libraries can meet and are meeting. They contribute to the quality of life in myriad ways, including educating and entertaining

us, providing us with information, helping us make sense of it and providing safe, nurturing places, both physical and virtual, where we can come together to exchange ideas and create new knowledge.

But there is one question we must ask ourselves: Are we clear about what our value is and are we communicating that value in ways that people understand? In other words, do we have a “brand” that people want to join?

Branding isn’t just for commercial products anymore. Changing perspectives and increasing competition for people’s attention in an always-on, have-it-now world means that even venerable institutions like libraries can no longer take for granted that the people they want to serve understand who they are and what they have to offer. Things change so much and so quickly that perceptions held by customers—and potential customers—may well be outdated. In the words of one librarian, “Most people have no idea what we do all day!”

Do entrepreneurs know, for example, that their local library can do sophisticated market research to help them launch a new enterprise? Do patients know that medical librarians can help them navigate the morass of information surrounding their health issues? Increasingly, libraries are providing maker spaces for the creation of new products and services, and they are serving as community anchors and hubs of information in emergencies such as hurricanes. They are offering safe haven in troubled urban areas and training people in the essential skills needed to find a job or change career.

As people are required to deal more nimbly with disruptive change and play a more active role in creating the world in which they want to live, there is a growing need for services that deliver understanding and personal connection as well as information. Libraries are performing this role. They are places where people can learn to use the technologies they need to connect online, and places they can come when those same technologies leave them feeling in need of in-person interaction and community. And you can still find a good book to read!

So how do we capture all of this value so that it’s understood? In the end, a brand is a promise that someone makes to do or provide something. Communicating that promise and then keeping it builds loyalty and a sense of value delivered. Libraries, regardless of their type or location, might promise, for example, to make their customers’ lives “easier, more successful, happier and satisfying.” They might keep this promise in any number ways, all of which will delight their customers, from always greeting them with a smile to providing high-tech training or on-the-spot information and research services. The key is to communicate our brand promise and then to live it, be it and demonstrate it every day, in everything we do. Then, the value of libraries will speak for itself.

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