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North Carolina Libraries

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THEME ARTICLES: MARKETING LIBRARIES

125 Foreword, Howard F. McGinn

126 Libraries and Marketing: New Words"Old Worlds,
Howard F. McGinn

132 Marketing Fundamentals for Librarians, Diane Strauss

136 oSell� Is Not a Four-Letter Word: Lessons Learned from the
Competitive Marketplace, Helen Causey

142 The Public Library at Crisis: Is Marketing the Answer?,
Bernard Vavrek

148 Marketing and Public Libraries: The Commitment, Charles
F. Montouri



ISSN 0029-2540

154 Marketing the Special Library: A Perspective, Barry K.
Miller

157 Promoting Services in North Carolina Community College
LRCs, Nancy C. Rountree

161 A Tool for Measuring Success, Carol Myers

163 Serving Older Adults in North Carolina Public Libraries: A
Survey, Diane G. Thompson

181 Forsyth County Public Library and the ConstitutionTs
Bicentennial: Building Relationships for Our Library,
Barbara L. Anderson

FEATURES

122 From the President
124 Over to You

187 North Carolina Books LIBRARY og one
195 About the Authors EAST CANOLIA UKIMERSIL

Cover: Bernard Vavrek, oThe Public Library at Crisis: Is Market- Advertisers: Faxon, 151; H.W. Wilson, 141; SIRS, 123; UNC Press,
ing the Answer?�, North Carolina Libraries 46 (Fall 1988): 142; inside front cover; Wakestone, 145.
Helen Causey, o~SellT Is Not a Four-Letter Word: Lessons Learned

from the Competitive Marketplace,� North Carolina Libraries 46

(Fall 1988): 186; and Charles F. Montouri, oMarketing and Public

Libraries: The Commitment,T North Carolina Libraries 46 (Fall

1988): 148.

Volume 46, Number 3 Fall 1988

Libraries ... Spread the
News

NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

From the President

As of July 29, 1988, NCLA has its fifth round
table. This one doesnTt have an official name yet,
but it will be devoted to issues of concern to
paraprofessionals who work in libraries. This
doesnTt mean that only paraprofessionals will join
this round table. It doesnTt mean that paraprofes-
sionals will not continue to be active in other sec-
tions and round tables. It does mean that some
paraprofessionals who do not currently feel there
is a place in NCLA for them will now find a place.

In investigating the possibility of forming this
round table, the Committee on Paraprofessional
Participation sent a questionnaire to 292 libraries
in the state. They received responses from 726
people working in those libraries, and 481 of them
indicated interest in joining such a round table if
it were formed.

' Ann Thigpen of Clinton, Meralyn Meadows
from Albemarle, and JacksonvilleTs Judith Stod-
dard worked on the questionnaire and the peti-
tion for establishment of the round table. I believe
that their efforts to establish this round table will
benefit North CarolinaTs paraprofessionals, pro-
fessionals and the libraries they work in for years
to come.

At the July 29 executive board meeting we
also heard the first report from the Task Force on
Ethical Issues, chaired by DukeTs Jerry Campbell.
The task force recommends that NCLA join forty-
four other state library associations in endorsing
the ALA Code of Ethics. The board agreed that
this should be presented to the membership at
the 1989 conference in Charlotte.

Last bienniumTs executive board voted to re-
structure NCLATs finances so that membersT dues
would support the operating budget and any pro-
ceeds from the conference would be reinvested in
the conference as well as other special programs
and projects initiated by the sections, round
tables and committees. Finance Committee Chair
Rebecca Taylor presented a plan for implement-
ing this structure at the July executive board
meeting. For the first time, all sections and round

122"Fall 1988

tables will receive from NCLA $600 for use on
their 1989 conference programs. Further, sec-
tions, round tables and committees will be able to
develop proposals for special projects and pro-
grams to be funded from the remaining 1987 con-
ference proceeds. NCLA has traditionally been a
pretty frugal organization, and it will continue to
be so, but this fund will give groups within NCLA a
felxibility in planning programs and projects that
will be welcome, indeed. The membership will be
reaping the benefits of these activities beginning
in 1989.

President-elect Barbara Baker has an-
nounced the theme of the 1989 conference:
oLibraries: Designing for the Nineties.� The confer-
ence committee is busily making plans for the
conference, which will benefit from NCLATs new
financial structure at the same time that it will
lose LSCA funding for special conference pro-
grams. State Librarian Jane Williams has an-
nounced that the State Library will no longer
offer LSCA grants for conference programs,
although funding will still be available for other
continuing education activities of NCLA during
the biennium. We are all aware that LSCA has
plenty of very important priorities for funding,
and we were not surprised that it was time for
some reordering of the use of those funds. Fortu- ©
nately, this change comes at a time when NCLA
should be able to fund an excellent conference on
its own. We would like to thank the State Library
for its LSCA funding of conference programs in
the past. That aid has helped NCLA establish a
standard for excellence in conference program-
ming that we should now be able to continue.

Patsy J. Hansel, President a

go for it!
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Fall 1988 " 123

Over to You

Letters to the Editor

NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARIES invites your comments.
Please address and sign with your name and position all cor-
respondence to: Frances B. Bradburn, Editor, NORTH CARO-
LINA LIBRARIES, Joyner Library, East Carolina University,
Greenville, N.C. 27858. We reserve the right to edit all letters for
length and clarity. Whenever time permits, persons most closely
related to the issue under discussion will be given an opportu-
nity to respond to points made in the letter. Deadline dates will
be the copy deadlines for the journal: February 10, May 10,
August 10, and November 10.

To: Frances Bradburn, Editor, North Carolina
Libraries

From: Gerald Hodges, President-Elect, YASD

The Young Adult Services Division (Y.A.S.D.)
of the American Library Association would� like
to invite all librarians who work with teenagers
in school, community college, and public librar-

ies to join our association. We would particularly
like to extend an invitation to library school stu-
dents to take advantage of reduced membership
rates. Many North Carolinians, including Gayle
Kersey, Jane Chandra, and Rebecca Taylor, have
assumed leadership roles in YASD, an associa-
tion which identifies the best books and other
materials for the college-bound, for the reluctant
reader, for young adults with special needs, and
for all young adults in the areas of health. YASD
has also been a major advocate for the intellec-
tual freedom rights of minors. For membership
applications, write: Evelyn Shaevel, YASD, 50 E.
Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. I would particu-
larly like to appoint North Carolinians to YASD
Committees, so look through the ALA Handbook
and let me know your Committee choices: 3067
Library, University of Iowa, lowa City, [A 52242. ]

ChildrenTs Book Week

November 14-20, 1988

Honorary and Life Membership
in NCLA

The 1988-1989 Honorary and Life Member-
ship Committee requests your recommendations
for persons you consider worthy to be honorary
or life members of NCLA. Suggestions should be
accompanied by a biographical sketch, including
contributions to libraries or librarianship. These
suggestions should be sent to the Committee
Chairperson by January 31, 1989.

The NCLA by-laws provide for the Honorary
and Life Membership Committee to seek sugges-
tions from all members and to recommend names
for these honors to the Executive Board at the
Spring Workshop prior to the Conference.

Criteria for selection are as follows:

1. Honorary memberships may be given to non-
librarians in the State who have rendered impor-

124" Fall 1988

tant services to the library interests of North
Carolina. Honorary memberships should be given
at a time considered appropriate in relation to
the contribution made.

2. Life memberships may be given to librarians
who have served as members of the North Caro-
lina Library Association and who have made
noteworthy contributions to librarianship in the
State. These memberships are limited to librar-
ians who have retired.

3. Contributions of both groups should have been
beyond the local level.

Please send your recommendations to:

Waltrene Canada, Chair

Honorary and Life Membership Committee
F. D. Bluford Library

NC A&T State University

1601 E. Market Street

Greensboro, NC 27411 ie

Foreword

Howard F. McGinn, Guest Editor

Americans are natural marketers. How could
they not be? American culture, with its peculiar
intermingling of capitalism, religion, patriotism,
and optimism, makes most citizens boosters of
one thing or another. Moreover, Americans
receive regular instruction in marketing functions
like advertising, product development, and selling
every time they turn on the television or radio.
The drive to promote towns, institutions, and
ourselves is strong in most of us. The drive has
manifested itself in disparate events that range
from Benjamin FranklinTs promotion of the turkey
as the national bird to the endless array of North
Carolina State University red Wolfpack attire.

Librarians have always promoted their pro-
grams and services. It is only within the past few
years that the profession has begun to explore
business school marketing techniques and theory
as ways to serve the customers better. But the
fact is, librarians have been successfully market-
ing services despite the severe financial con-
straints commonly experienced by libraries. If
Proctor and Gamble had to work with the typical
library marketing budget, it would still be ped-
dling one brand of soap in Cincinnati.

This issue of North Carolina Libraries is
intended to supplement the marketing efforts
libraries of all types in North Carolina perform
daily. It is intended to demystify some of the more
peculiar business school language commonly
used. It will give practical examples of various
types of marketing programs that take place in
our libraries every day.

Diane Strauss and Howard McGinn discuss
some basic marketing concepts and their library
equivalents; Helen Causey discusses that most
unloved of marketing terms, selling, from her
perspective as a former sales representative
turned public library director. Bernard Vavrek,
Director of the Center for the Study of Rural
Librarianship at Clarion State University of Pen-
nsylvaniaTs Library School examines the role trus-
tees might play in helping the public library
market its services, and Charles Montouri talks
about the need for the public library director to
commit institutional resources to the marketing
effort. Several authors explore marketing in spe-

cific settings or to specific library market seg-
ments. Barry Miller, librarian at R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company, writes about marketing in the
special library setting; Nancy Rountree analyzes
the effectiveness of community college learning
resource centersT marketing efforts; Carol Myers
describes a community-wide attitude/use study
of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklen-
burg County; Diane Thompson reports on a study
of library service to the elderly in North Carolina;
and Barbara Anderson presents a case study that
describes how the Forsyth County Public Library
System created and marketed an extensive series
of programs to celebrate the Biecentennial of the
United States Constitution.

This issue does not pretend to provide a pri-
mer on marketing for librarians. Attainment of
marketing proficiency is the duty of the individual
and is possible only through training and expe-
rience. Yet, it is beneficial for librarians to acquire
a rudimentary understanding of marketing con-
cepts and terms. Such an understanding helps us
in our daily duties and begins to break down the
mistrust of business terms displayed by many in
our profession. I hope this issue will provide a
springboard for an increase in the understanding
of marketing and will tempt readers to formally
study and apply marketing theory. After all, itTs
the American thing to do. a]

iS

Fall 1988 "125

Libraries and Marketing:
New Words"Old Worlds

Howard F. McGinn

The non-profit community has discovered
marketing. Publications ranging from the Wall
Street Journal to American Libraries regularly
publish articles about non-profit sector market-
ing programs. The library community, of course,
has. shown considerable interest in the applica-
tion of standard business marketing practices to
daily library operations. Many in the profession,
however, are alienated by the thought of market-
ing practices invading the library domain. Market-
ing to many is too commercial, too crass. Yet
librarians have been using standard marketing
practices for decades. They just have not regu-
larly applied standard business school terminol-
ogy to the. marketing work that is done. This
article will attempt to soften the alien notion of
marketing. It will discuss some standard market-
ing topics, examine their library parallels, and
suggest areas of marketing practice that libraries
may wish to strengthen or investigate for the first
time. All marketing definitions used are from the
glossary in Philip KotlerTs Principles of Marketing,
a standard business school marketing text. I have
deliberately used business terminology as much
as possible, and I ask your patience in working
with terms that may be new or irritating.

Marketing: What It IsnTt and What It Is.

Marketing is not public relations. Marketing is
not selling or sales promotion, or advertising. It is
not. surveys, brochures, product. development or
billboards, not customer service or convention
exhibits, not direct mail, junk mail or bills in the
mail. It is all of the above and much more.

Kotler, in the opening chapter in his text-
book, defines marketing as the ohuman activity
directed at satisfying needs and wants through
exchange processes.�! For the purposes of this
article, however, a definition of marketing given
by Kotler in the Preface to the text is much more
useful. oMarketing,� he writes, oconsists of a set of
principles for choosing target markets, identifying
customer needs, developing want-satisfying prod-

Howard F. McGinn is Assistant State Librarian for the State
Library of North Carolina, Raleigh.

126"Fall 1988

ucts and services, and delivering value to custo-
mers and profits to the company.� Let us look at
three of these areas separately: target markets,
customer need identification, and product devel-
opment.

Target Markets and Market Segmentation

Marketing practice is a creature of the econ-
omy. Marketing, like more human endeavors,
must use finite resources efficiently to produce
the maximum results from the investment. Put
yourself in the place of the marketing manager for
a consumer product manufacturer. The product
that you want to market is soap. Everyone uses
soap at one time or another, even the most
intransigent fifth grader. Soap should be easy to
market. But it isnTt. Why? Well, to start, there is a
lot of product and price competition. Walk
through the supermarket and count the number
of soap products being offered to the consumer.
Most soap products work the same: add water,
make suds, scrub, and dirt is removed. What will
you have to do to make a person buy your brand
and reject the competitor's brand? You can create
packaging that will make your soap bar noticed,
or you can fabricate your soap in an odd size. You
can sell your soap for less than the competition or
you can sell the oBMW� of soap and charge more.

In effect, every effort you make will be
designed to make your product stand out among
the competition. But your competitors are also
doing this. They are also advertising heavily on
television, in the newspapers, on radio. What do
you do? You become creative. You figure out a
way to make your advertised message so unique,
so creative, that people will want to listen to your
message. But you still have a problem. Since every-
one uses soap and you have to sell large quantities
to cover development, marketing, and other costs
to make a profit, how do you reach all of these
potential customers without going bankrupt? One
solution to this question is market segmentation
and the development of target markets. In effect
you divide and conquer, you slice up the market

pie.

A market segment is made up of customers
who respond in a similar way to a given set of
marketing stimuli. Market segmentation is the
dividing of a market into distinct groups of buyers
who might require separate products. Market
targeting is evaluating each segmentTs attract-
iveness and selecting one or more of the market
segments to enter.T

Markets may be segmented in many ways.
The most common divisions are: 1. geographic
(state, region, county, city), 2. demographic (age,
sex, income, occupation, nationality, race, reli-
gion, education, etc.), 3. psychographic (social
class, lifestyle"remember the yuppies?), and 4.
behavioristic (birthdays, usage rate, attitude
toward product, and so forth). In reality, most
companies segment a market according to several
of these designations. They may choose to market
products to black college graduates living in the
counties in South Carolina that are closest to
Charlotte, North Carolina. They may choose to
attempt to openetrate� a market made up of Viet-
nam veterans over forty years of age with incomes
between $20,000 and $50,000.

Market segments are created based on these
assumptions: 1. the persons in a segment have
similar needs to be filled; 2. the persons in the
segment will respond to marketing efforts in a
similar manner; 3. the market segments created
can be contacted or reached efficiently and eco-
nomically; 4. the persons in the segment have the
resources to purchase the product or service; and
5. the product being marketed will fill the needs of
the persons in the segment.

Because of the many ways a market can be
segmented, a company usually must limit the
number of market segments it may choose to
attack. It must select target markets that provide
the best opportunity, that most clearly seem to
need its product, and that can most efficiently
and cost-effectively be reached through standard
promotional and advertising methods. In effect,
the company must select a target market that will
give the highest return on the marketing invest-
ment. Once it chooses, the company can then
concentrate its marketing efforts on the target. If
it is successful in penetrating that market, it
maintains its marketing effort so that it does not
lose the market segment to a competitor, and it
begins to plan to attack a second target market,
then a third and so on. By dividing the whole of a
market and concentrating the investment of
resources on one or a few segments at a time, the
entire market potentially can be conquered.
Though the soap product may be able to be used
by everyone, target marketing allows the com-

pany to spread the investment of finite marketing
funds over a longer period of time; it allows the
concentration of dollars on a defined group; and
it produces sales income that can then be turned
around and used to market to other target
market segments.

The same processes that drive
the marketing of consumer
products and services also
drive the marketing of library
products and services.

Product Development

Successful target market penetration, of
course, assumes that the product being offered
fills consumer needs. A product that does not fill
a need is rejected. Product development is diffi-
cult, no matter how simple the product may be.

There are very few onatural� products or products
necessary to maintain life. Most products must be
created as a result of a perceived need, developed,
tested, and then redesigned, developed more and
retested until that product appears capable of
successfully filling a consumer need. Product
development is expensive, it is time-consuming, it
is information dependent. Usually many types of
surveys are conducted to try to ascertain consu-
mer needs; then, when needs are identified, prod-
uct concepts are developed and tested. Compe-
titorsT products are considered and analyzed,
pricing strategies are developed, packaging is de-
signed, distribution channels are developed and
various types of advertising campaigns are con-
cocted. But because all this activity demands the
investment of finite financial and human resour-
ces, the development process must be tightly con-
trolled and the product development time must
be reasonable. Product developers, too, must not be
afraid to kill a product idea that does not work. In
the end, the soap being developed must work: it
must clean. It needs to be different from the soap
offered by the competition. My soap must clean
better than the competitorTs soap, or at least it
must offer more benefits than the competition,
such as a better fragrance, lower price, or a sense
of status.

Customer Needs

All of this development activity assumes that
needs of the consumer have been correctly identi-
fied. Why do people buy things? What makes a
person choose one product or service over

Fall 1988 " 127

another? People buy to fill needs. They may want
to cure unhappiness, achieve social status, be
entertained, stop hunger. Needs are often camou-
flaged; they sometimes come in bundles. On the
surface level, soap fills the need to be clean. But it
also can be designed and purchased to give fra-
grance, stop perspiration, or give a perception of
an attained higher social status. A key to effective
product development is the accurate identifica-
tion of the needs of the marketplace. This identifi-
cation is also essential if an effective advertising
and selling campaign is to be mounted. Constant
contact with the consumer is necessary to help
identify these needs. This contact can be through
verbal or written surveys, through regular profes-
sional and home interviews, through the analysis
of competitorsT products. Consumer needs, prop-
erly identified, can lead to good products. Good
product development, when done as part of an
overall marketing stragegy, will lead to sales in
those target markets. Sales, controlled costs, and
proper pricing lead to profits.

Libraries and Marketing

The same processes that drive the marketing
of consumer products and services also drive the
marketing of library products and services. It is
helpful, in fact, to look at library products and
services as consumer products and services. The
fact that libraries tend to have been legally es-
tablished as non-profit organizations does not
change the nature of the standard buyer-supplier
relationship that exists between the library and
its patrons. If libraries had developed as for-profit
operations, it would be essential that the libraryTs
patrons be normally regarded as customers and
the libraryTs services and products thought of as
consumer products. KotlerTs definition of the con-
sumer market clearly describes the traditional
library-patron relationship. He defines the con-
sumer market as oall individuals and households
who buy or acquire goods and services for per-
sonal consumption.o Though most library serv-
ices are free to the consumer, a opurchase� of the
libraryTs goods or services takes place whenever a
person uses the library. As part of the consumer
market, libraries have always responded to
changes in the market. The history of libraries is
one of response to customer needs and of new
product development. Libraries have always seg-
mented markets, developed products and at-
tempted to discern customer needs. é

Library Market Segmentation and Target
Markets

The library marketplace has been extensively

128"Fall 1988

segmented. Library services for academic seg-
ments, governmental segments, school and cor-
porate segments have been developed. Our large
academic and public libraries, moreover, have
been further segmented. Public libraries have
segmented their markets by providing service
through separate departments for genealogists,
businesses, children, young adults, and so forth.
Public libraries also commonly segment services
geographically by establishing branches and pro-
viding bookmobile services. Academic libraries
take a more subject-oriented segmentation by
establishing special services and collections for
university departments. The reason for all of this
segmentation is the desire by the library to deliver
efficient, quality service. Is this process very dif-
ferent from the market segmentation done by
corporations? Is it uncommon, as well, for librar-
ies to choose to invest more human and monetary
resources in a specific segment because of the
demand for increased services in an area by the
librariesT clientele? Is not this process, in reality,
the selection of a target market?

The history of libraries is one
of response to customer needs
and of new product develop-
ment.

The practice of market segmentation is a
time-honored library practice. Perhaps the most
straightforward historical example of library
marketplace segmentation can be found in John
Cotton DanaTs creation of the Special Libraries
Association. The SLA Constitution adopted on
July 2, 1909 stated: oThe object of this Association
is to promote the interests of the commercial,
industrial, technical, civic, municipal and legisla-
tive reference libraries, the special departments
of public libraries, universities, welfare associa-
tions and business organizations.� This is classic
market segmentation.

Libraries and Product Development

Libraries are constantly offering new prod-
ucts and services. Most of the products offered"
books, periodicals, etc.."are purchased by the
libraries from manufacturers and packaged for
oresale� to the consumer. When performing these
duties libraries are, in effect, retailers like K-Mart,
Sears, or Bloomingdales. But libraries also develop
many products and services of their own. Product
development has been an essential component of
library services for decades.

Consider the development of reference ser-

vice. In the United States in the nineteenth cen-
tury, society was changing, information needs
were changing. Thomas Galvin, in the Encyclope-
dia of Library and Information Science, writes:

The inauguration of formalized reference service in librar-
ies seems clearly to be related to certain economic and
social developments in the larger context of 19th century
American society. Chief among these are the transition
from a rural, agricultural to an urban, industrial econ-
omy; the acculturation of a large immigrant population;
the rise of public education; and the changing character
of the American college and university. As the public
library movement swept across the United States in the
last decades of the 19th century, college and university
libraries were also changing radically in character as a
consequence of a growing orientation toward graduate
study and research.®

Reference service was developed because the
information needs of the country were changing
and libraries developed this new product, orefer-
ence service,� to respond to the needs.

The development of reference service con-
tinues at a rapid pace in almost twenty-first cen-
tury America. Most of the development has been
spurred by technologies like the microcomputer,
enhanced online searching, online data bases, and
CD-ROM. A main difference between library prod-
uct development and corporate product devel-
opment is the small amount of research made in
product development by libraries compared to
T the extensive research and expenditure made by
corporations. Libraries, of course, do not have the
dollars to invest in extensive development. But
most libraries have the time and personnel neces-
sary for rudimentary product development if the
library places a premium on such a program.

Libraries and Customer Needs

Response to customer needs is not a new
phenomenon in libraries. If it were, we would still
be employing monks to create illuminated manu-
scripts. American libraries, in particular, have
always shown a high degree of sensitivity to cus-
tomer needs. In discussing the history of refer-
ence service, Galvin further writes that othe newly
established public libraries of the late 19th cen-
tury were dedicated more to the use of books than
to their preservation, and they had been created
to serve the entire community, rather than merely
an economic, social, or intellectual elite.� The
founders of the Special Libraries Association con-
sidered customer needs from the very first days of
the organization. oAt the first conference, held in
New York City on November 5, 1909, with about
thirty-three members present, committees were
formed to consider the problems of: agricultural
libraries, commercial associations, insurance li-

braries, legislative and municipal reference librar-
ies, membership libraries, public utility libraries
and sociological and technical libraries.�8 In 1909
oproblems of libraries� were considered; today we
would call them customer needs. This response of
the SLA founders and others continues unabated
today as libraries offer public access micro-
computers, videotape programs, and other forms
of information provision.

The terminology is new; the concepts are old.
Libraries, under various guises, have been seg-
menting markets, establishing target markets,
developing products, and analyzing customer
needs since the last century. Then why does a
feeling of apprehension accompany the librarianTs
advance into business oriented marketing? Part
of the reason is the terminology; part is the
sophistication of modern marketing technique. A
major factor, too, is the liberal arts background of
most librarians. The professionTs equation of
libraries with othe preservation of our culture�
often causes the more utilitarian aspects of our
industry to be ignored. Much library use of mar-
keting has been instinctive or couched in tradi-
tional library training and terminology. But our
training has prepared us much better than we
realize to enter the world of marketing. The fol-
lowing suggestions can help us make this entry
more profitable.

Attainment of marketing pro-
ficiency is the duty of the
individual and is possible only
through training and experi-
ence.

Becoming a Marketer

If you are interested in marketing, if you are
interested in applying marketing concepts to your
library's operations, start with the realization that
you probably have been applying sound market-
ing practices for many years. You have just called
the practice by a different name. You probably
have been identifying the needs of your patrons,
developing products and services, segmenting
and targeting markets. If you are like most librar-
ians, you have been investing your finite financial
resources very wisely and very efficiently. This
article, though, has only touched the tip of the
marketing iceberg. There is much value for library
operations to be gained from business literature
and courses. The acquisition of an M.B.A. is not
necessary. But there are steps that can be taken
to increase your knowledge of marketing. Here

Fall 1988" 129

are some hat are relatively painless and available
to everyone:

1. Read the Wall Street Journal every day.
Like acquiring a taste for some types of food,
reading the Journal is not always easy. But the
more you read, the more familiar you will become
with common business concepts and terminology.
You will benefit, too, from the wide variety of sub-
jects covered by the Journal. The business sec-
tions of the New York Times and Business Week
offer similar benefits.

2. Learn the language of the business world.
This will take patience and a self-understanding
that business vocabulary is not inherently evil. As
you master the vocabulary, translate the terms
into those commonly used by the library profes-
sion. Mastery of business terminology will also
help in working with the business community in
your town.

3. Take a basic marketing course at your
local academic institution or community college.
The Small Business Centers at many community
colleges offer excellent seminars and courses in
marketing.

4. Mimic. Watch all of those commercials,
look at all of those direct mail pieces and bill-
boards analytically. Try to divine the companyTs
target markets and market segments. oListen� to
the method being used; identify probable consu-
mer needs being attacked. Analyze how the prod-
uct being marketed meets the probable consumer
needs. Look for factors built into the product and
its marketing by the company that will make that
product stand out. Some of these techniques can
be applied to the marketing of your library.

5. Visit a local supermarket. Do not go to
buy; go to observe. Try to visit a large chain store
like Food Lion, A&P, or Safeway. Interview the
storeTs manager and department heads. The
chain will have done extensive analysis of traffic
patterns, display type and usage. Note where
products are placed in the store; analyze how the
products are displayed. There is much similarity
between the floor layout and systems of a super-
market and a library, especially a public library.

Marketing Concept

The most important step that can be taken,
however, is the adoption by the libraryTs manage-
ment and all staff members of the Marketing Con-
cept. The marketing concept is a management
orientation that holds that the key to achieving
organizational goals consists of determining the
needs and wants of target markets and delivering
the desired satisfactions more effectively and effi-
ciently than competitors.°

130"Fall 1988

Marketing is not public rela-
tions.

The marketing concept, a marketing orienta-
tion in daily library operations, must not be
adopted just by management, but by every single
member of the staff. No employee should be
exempt. Peter Drucker emphasizes this primacy
of marketing in an organization:

Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a
separate function (i.e. a separate skill or work) within the
business, on a par with others such as manufacturing or
personnel. Marketing requires separate work, and a dis-
tinct group of activities. But it is, first, a central dimension
of the entire business. It is the whole business seen from a
point of view of its final result, that is, from the customerTs
point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing,
must, therefore, permeate all areas of the enterprise.!°

The marketing concept is difficult to incul-
cate in a staff. Obviously, those staff members
who have regular customer contact need to be
most accepting of the marketing concept. Much
reference work, for example, is selling, is needs
fulfillment. But in the heat of answering reference
questions or responding to other demands made
by the public, a sense of service equilibrium is dif-
ficult to maintain. Professionalism demands,
though, that this equilibrium be maintained and
that the customer be given quality service.

Those staff members who do not have regular
customer contact will have a much harder time
sustaining a marketing oriented mindset. Manu-
facturing companies have similar problems. It is
easy for the companyTs salesforce to have a mar-
keting orientation. Customer needs fulfillment is
an integral part of their job, and much of their
direct compensation depends on how well they
interact with the customers. For the person on
the production line, supervisor and worker, the
problem is more difficult. There is no regular cus-
tomer contact. Salespeople receive constant re-
wards and gratification when a customer buys
what they have to sell. This reward structure is
not always a natural part of the production line
life. Yet, when production line employees have a
sense of service, of marketing, or self-importance
based on the knowledge that they are helping a
customer, then productivity and product quality
increase. In a library setting, consider the chaos
possible if technical services functions are per-
formed below standards. How does this affect the
operations of the organization? How does sloppy
technical services work affect customer service,
customer satisfaction, and the customer's percep-
tion of the library? The answers are obvious.

A marketing approach to daily work should,
then, be adopted by all employees regardless of
the amount of direct customer contact present in
their jobs. It is crucial, too, that the marketing
orientation be adopted by professional and non-
professional staff. No one is exempt. Professional
staff should not assume that the MLS automati-
cally has given them the ability to deal profes-
sionally with customers, or that the MLS has
exempted them from professionally dealing with
customers. Non-professional staff should be
taught that they play an important role in mar-
keting the library's services, especially if they have
direct customer contact. The following questions
are meant to serve as a quick self-examination, a
self-audit, of a library's marketing orientation.

Marketing Audit

1. Is service the primary reason you became
a librarian?

2. Does your library exist to provide service
to customers, or does your library exist to pre-
serve and warehouse materials?

3. Do you discuss customer needs at staff
meetings? Have you ever talked about customers,
and customer service and marketing in general at
your staff meetings?

4. Do you discuss customer needs at meet-
ings of your board, Friends association, profes-
sional associations?

5. Do you have quality control procedures
built into your technical services functions?

6. Do you know who your customers are?

7. How many customers have you lost or
gained in the past six months?

8. Based on how you are dressed at this very
moment (assuming you are at work and not tak-
ing a shower) would you, the customer be able to
identify you the librarian based on your dress and
demeanor?

9. How often do you ask a customer if you
can help them?

10. Have you recently walked into another
library as a customer? How were you treated?
Would you have treated yourself better or worse
than your competitor?

11. Are customer service measurements built
into your employee evaluation procedures?

No matter how well or how poorly you feel
you score on these questions, you should plan to
acquire training in basic marketing concepts. You
can never have too much training in filling the
needs of your customers.

Summary

Peter Drucker has also written that othere is

only one valid definition of business purpose: to
create a customer.�! That purpose operates, too,
deep in the history of librarianship. We have
created a product, we have segmented markets,
we are constantly trying to ascertain customer
needs. We just have not necessarily used these
terms to describe what we do, and we have not
always brought a systematic businesslike ap-
proach to these functions. But the functions are
familiar; they should not cause rebellion or revul-
sion for us just because these phrases seem to
emanate from the for-profit sector. Libraries are,
wittingly or unwittingly, an industry. We have
competition; we have products and services; we
need customers. Marketing can help us improve
long-standing library practices because market-
ing is not a brave new world. ItTs just the applica-
tion of new words to our old world.

References

1. Philip Kopler, Principles of Marketing, third edition. (Engle-
wood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1986), 757.

2. Ibid., xix.

8. Ibid., 757.

4. Ibid., 754.

5. Adol Winifred Johns, Special Libraries. (Metuchen, NJ:
Scarecrow Press, 1968): 92.

6. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. (New York:
Marcel Deker, 1978) 25: 211.

7. Ibid.

8. Johns.

9. Kotler.

10. Peter Drucker, Management. Tasks. Responsibilities. Practi-
ces. (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 63.

11. Ibid., 61.

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nal)

Fall 1988"131

Marketing Fundamentals for Librarians

Diane Strauss

Not too long ago, the following advertisement
appeared in an issue of Library Hotline:

Director of Marketing, St. Louis Public Library. Exciting
opportunity to work for one of the countryTs premier
libraries. Reporting to the director of development, the
director of marketing formulates and maintains a mar-
keting information system. Develops an annual market-
ing plan as well as a five year marketing plan. Identifies
and evaluates current situations and future trends that
would have major marketing and public relations impli-
cations for the library. Develops and implements public
relations programs designed to enhance the library's
image, gain awareness and use of the library.!

Few libraries can afford full-time marketing spe-
cialists, however, and not many have marketing
information systems or marketing plans. More to
the point, while many libraries have annual and
five-year plans, they are not specifically identi-
fied as marketing documents. Librarians have,
in fact, been practicing marketing piecemeal for
years; what until recently has been lacking is a
sense of marketing as a series of related activities
that are as appropriate"and as important"to
libraries as they are to corporations. This article
will identify and describe basic marketing prin-
ciples, and show how they can be applied to
libraries.

Marketing Mix

To many people, advertising and marketing
are synonymous. When they think of marketing,
they think of the broadcast and print ads with
which they are bombarded daily, for automobiles,
beer, floor wax, lipstick, and hundreds of other
consumer goods. Marketing, however, is an ex-
tremely broad and complex field, of which adver-
tising is just one part. It is a mix of activities,
beginning with estimating the demand for specific
products or services and leading to their devel-
opment, pricing, distribution, and promotion.
Known as the omarketing mix,� these activities
can be reduced to four broad categories: product,
price, place, and promotion.

Product planning involves the product itself
as it is designed to appeal to a predetermined

Diane Strauss is Head, Business Administration/Social
Sciences Reference Department at Davis Library, the Univer-
sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

132"Fall 1988

group of potential users. It includes decisions
about package design, brand names, and the
development of new products. In 1984, for exam-
ple, PepsiCo began test marketing Slice®, a caf-
feine-free soft drink that contains real fruit juice,
to see if user response merited full production
and distribution. The ohealthful� soda pop proved
a marketing masterpiece: less than two years
later, it enjoyed retail sales of $1 billion, and Coca-
Cola and other soft drink companies rushed to
follow PepsiCoTs lead.

Libraries, you may be thinking, are not so
crassly commercial. While we are driven by a ser-
vice ideology rather than a profit motivation, our
ultimate goals are not really very different from
PepsiCoTs or any other companyTs: to stay in busi-
ness; to compete effectively with other, similar
organizations; to gain user acceptance; and, more
than that, to broaden our base of user support.
What are a library's oproducts�? Our products are
what we do"the services we provide, the resour-
ces we offer. They can range from the books in our
collections and the data bases we search to such
services as interlibrary loan, storytelling, film pro-
grams, and telephone reference. The products
each library offers should be a reflection not only
of its general mission to inform and educate, but
also of the specific needs and interests of its
community of users.

When we consider the library's product, we must return
to the concept of marketing as an exchange process. We
seek the communityTs use of library services"and we also
seek the community's approval through good will and
financial support. In exchange, the library must return to
the community the best possible response to their needs
within the scope of available resources.?

Marketers must also make a series of deci-
sions relating to pricing, setting justified and
profitable prices for their products. At first
glance, this may seem inapplicable to libraries.
Some libraries have been charging for photocopy-
ing and data base searching for years, and a few
such operations have earned enough profit to
help subsidize other library services and collec-
tions. For the most part, however, library charges
are indirect. When considering pricing in a library
setting, then, it is useful to substitute ocost� for
oprice.� What does each library product cost? How

much, for example, does it cost to maintain a ver-
tical file collection? Could the money we spend on
staff time, postage, and file cabinets be used to
support some other, possibly more important,
product? Do the benefits exceed the costs? As in
product planning, a firm grasp of the library's
mission and of the current needs of its commun-
ity of users is essential to making wise pricing and
cost decisions.

Promotion involves personal selling, public
relations, and advertising, using print, broadcast,
and other media. It is, in a sense, communicating
with an ulterior motive: in libraries, encouraging
use and gaining community support. Library
promotion ranges from the simple to the sophisti-
cated, including exhibits and displays; posters,
pamphlets, newsletters, and user guides; public
service announcements on radio and television;
news releases and articles; slide/tape and video
presentations; and speeches. It also includes
meeting individually with such user groups as
faculty members, marketing departments, and
civic clubs. Such meetings are useful because they
offer librarians the opportunity to learn more
about their users and to respond more effectively
to their needs.

Finally, place, in marketing, refers not only to
the geographic area in which a product is mar-
keted, but also to the channels and intermediaries
through which the product moves. Several library
oplace� decisions come to mind. The location of a
new branch library is a place decision. Another is
whether a particular service should be offered in
one department or another. Should bibliographic
instruction be offered by a specialist, for example,
or should it be one of many services offered by the
reference department? Should data base search-
ing be done only by librarians, or should users be
able to do their own searching without librarians
as intermediaries? To be effective, place decisions,
like those concerning product, pricing, and pro-
motion, must be based on an understanding of
library goals and user needs.

Market segmentation is a way
of acknowledging that librar-
ies cannot be all things to all
people.

Market Segmentation

In traditional business practice, marketers
define their markets by attempting to identify
particular segments of the population, people
who are likely to want and be able to afford the

product that is being sold. This process of dividing
a larger, somewhat diverse, market into smaller
markets in which demand for a particular prod-
uct is likely to be greater is called market segmen-
tation. Traditionally, such variables as geographic
location, age, race, sex, income, peer groups, life-
style, and political affiliation have been used to
identify target markets, but any characteristic
that identifies and defines actual or potential
consumers can be used.

While the concept of segmenting markets is
as relevant to libraries as to other organizations,
it may be that libraries will need to use different
characteristics to define major user groups. In
academic libraries, for example, such variables
may include academic status (faculty member,
graduate student, undergraduate student, visit-
ing scholar, or staff member) and academic disci-
pline, rather than such traditional demographic
characteristics as age and income.

Market segmentation is a way of acknowledg-
ing that libraries cannot be all things to all people.
oIn the best of all possible worlds and times,�
writes Darlene Weingand, othe library would
respond to every community need with maximum
resources. However, in the real world, resources
are finite and must be directed toward achieving
the most effective results.�? Market segmentation
provides focus and helps us to set priorities. If it is
practiced effectively, it ensures greater respon-
siveness to the needs of specific user groups.

In summary, libraries must determine the
best combination of product, price, promotion,
and place"the marketing mix"to reach each
target market (market segment) identified. To be
effective, such analysis must be based on an
understanding and appreciation of the library's
goals and of the characteristics and needs of its
community of users. One way in which such
information can be gathered is through market-
ing research.

Marketing Research

Marketing research includes a range of activi-
ties but, in essence, is othe process of systemati-
cally gathering and analyzing information about
marketing problems and potentials for use in
making marketing decisions.� In the private sec-
tor, it may include such activities as sales and
advertising research, identifying trends, and at-
tempting to determine the potential for new prod-
ucts and services. Consumer attitudes and re-
actions may be studied, the effectiveness of
promotional programs evaluated, and product
sales compared with those of competitors. Market
researchers may use surveys, interviews, or even

Fall 1988" 133

hidden television cameras to gather the informa-
tion they require.

Researchers use both primary and secondary
data. Primary data, specifically gathered and ana-
lyzed for the research at hand, are relevant and
timely. While the fit between data and problem is
good, however, this advantage is offset by the
expense, expertise, and time required to produce
primary data. Secondary data, on the other hand,
are data that already exist, collected for some
purpose other than the research currently under-
way. They are easy to obtain and usually inexpen-
sive (or even free); but they, too, have drawbacks.
The fit between secondary information and the
research being conducted may be none too good,
and in some instances, the data may be unaccept-
able. They may be outdated, biased, or otherwise
unreliable. Market researchers are advised, how-
ever, to use good secondary data whenever they
are available, and to collect primary data only for
those questions that secondary data cannot
answer.

Sound marketing research is
thoughtfully planned, exe-
cuted, analyzed, and reported.
Its effectiveness can at least
in part be measured by its
impact on library policy and
decision making.

Typically, secondary data are produced by
federal, state, and local government agencies, by
trade organizations and associations, and by
commercial publishers. Many libraries have strong
collections of secondary data; marketers and busi-
ness people frequently are referred to libraries to
access such rich sources of secondary informa-
tion as census data, economic forecasts, and
industry-related statistical compilations.

Marketing research is an essential ingredient
for effective marketing in libraries as well as in the
private sector. How should it be done in libraries?
To begin, certain key questions must be asked.
oWhy do we need this information?� oHow will we
use it when we get it?� oWill our findings in some
way affect library decision making?� Unless the
research findings are expected to have an impact
on decision making, the research should not be
carried out. Beware of research conducted merely
to retrieve ointeresting� facts. The branch librar-
ian, for example, who thinks it might be interest-
ing to learn more about changing neighborhood
demographics but does not plan to modify pro-

134"Fall 1988

grams, collections, or services as a result of the
findings, is wasting time and money. Research
must serve a useful purpose.

The next step is to draw up a list of specific
information requirements. A written list itemizing
the issues to be investigated, data requirements,
and questions to be asked is preferable because it
eliminates ambiguities and ensures common goals
for those participating in the project. Several dif-
ferent approaches may be taken.

Some find it useful to determine information require-
ments by stating their beliefs about the market as a set of
hypotheses. For example, a library director trying to
determine the buildingTs best operating hours may be
interested in a test of the hypothesis that opening the
library two evenings a week will increase traffic on the
days selected by 10 percent. A second hypothesis could
be that the particular day chosen will have no impact on
the percentage increase in traffic. These hypotheses are
then used to generate data requirements. For the library,
information about use by time of day would be required,
but data about payment of overdue fines and length of
time books are held would not be necessary.

Another fruitful approach is to prepare samples of
possible outputs from the project and see what questions
the sample report raises. Are other data needed before
the results can be used? For example, in preparing a draft
report the library director may also see a need to deter-
mine staffing requirements by asking, say, what types of
materials evening users are likely to want. Will evening
users want to have access to the childrenTs book section,
or can that section be closed? Will evening users require
the services of a fully trained reference librarian? Careful
examination of the sample output will also reveal
whether the report contains data that will not be useful
and can be eliminated from the study. As this library
example illustrates, it is often useful for a manager to
determine beforehand what information will be needed if
each of the alternatives being studied is adopted.®

When the research problem has been identi-
fied and information specifications itemized, the
next step is to review existing secondary data.
Two main kinds are available in most libraries.
The first consists of internal library records.
These may include circulation and reference sta-
tistics, complaints and compliments from the
suggestion box, planning documents, the libraryTs
mission statement, analyses of special programs
and services, and staff observations. These inter-
nal records almost always contain information
that can be used in marketing research. In addi-
tion, most libraries contain an array of business
reference sources that can be extremely useful.
Such basic publications as the Editor & Publisher
Market Guide, Survey of Buying Power Data Ser-

Beware of research conducted
merely to retrieve ointerest-
ing�T facts.

vice, and Rand McNallyTs Commercial Atlas &
Marketing Guide contain up-to-date population
estimates and brief overviews of the cities and
towns listed. Even more geographically precise
data can be found in the block statistics and cen-
sus tract statistics published as part of the
decennial census of population and housing,
while more frequently updated information is
available in the annual Sourcebook of Demogra-
phics and Buying Power for Every ZIP Code in
the USA. Online data bases also contain useful
general information. Donnelley Demographics,
for example, is particularly good for current pop-
ulation estimates and five-year projections for cit-
ies and towns too small to be included in most
annual Census Bureau publications. These are
but a few of the standard sources available in
many libraries. Their value in library as well as in
business marketing research should not be under-
estimated.

Finally, librarians may need to locate addi-
tional secondary data that are made available by
other organizations. If the library is part of some
larger body such as a university, city or county

The products each library
offers should be a reflection
not only of its general mission
to inform and educate, but
also of the specific needs and
interests of its community of
users.

government, or corporation, the parent organiza-
tion may also have documents and records on
hand that will supplement library research. Imag-
ination and persistence may be necessary to iden-
tify and retrieve such information, but it is usually
well worth the effort.

If available information is inadequate, re-
searchers must decide whether the cost of collect-
ing primary data will be offset by the anticipated
benefits. If the decision is to proceed, other issues
must be resolved. Should an exploratory study be
conducted? Is a user survey preferable, or should
focused group interviews be conducted? Should
the library do its own research, or should it hire
consultants? While space constraints preclude
discussion of each of these options, the following
bibliography cites several sources that treat them
in some detail.

Gathering of both primary and secondary
data is followed by careful analysis and ultimately
by a report in which the findings are presented.

Sound marketing research is thoughtfully
planned, executed, anaiyzed, and reported. Its
effectiveness can at least in part be measured by
its impact on library policy and decision making.

References
1. oClassified Advertising,� Library Hotline 17 (March 7, 1988):
EBs
2. Darlene E. Weingand, oThe Role of Marketing in Future of
Rural Public Libraries,� Illinois Public Libraries 68 (October
1986): 335.
3. Ibid, 335.
4. Diane Strauss, Handbook of Business Information (Engle-
wood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1988), 190.
5. Christopher H. Lovelock and Charles B. Weinberg, Marketing
for Public and Nonprofit Managers (New York: Wiley, 1984),

131.
Further Reading

Carrell, Daniel. oLibrary Marketing: Old and New Truths.� Wilson
Library Bulletin 57 (November 1982): 212-216.

Cassell, Kay Ann. Knowing Your Community and Its Needs. Chi-
cago: American Library Association, 1988.

DElia, George. oA Procedure for Identifying and Surveying
Potential Users of Public Libraries.� Library Research 2
(Fall 1980): 239-249.

Dragon, Andrea C. oThe Marketing of Public Library Services.�
Drexel Library Quarterly 19 (Spring 1983): 117-132.

Edinger, Joyce A. oMarketing Library Services: Strategy for Sur-
vival.� College & Research Libraries (July 1980): 328-332.

Grunewald, Joseph P. Developing a Marketing Program for
Libraries. Clarion, Pa: Clarion State College, 1983.

, and Traynor, Kenneth. oA Marketing Plan for the Law
Library.� Law Library Journal 79 (Winter 1987): 103-113.

Halperin, Michael. oMarketing Segmentation for Information
Services,� Drexel Library Quarterly 17 (Spring 1981): 77-
87.

Kies, Cosette N. Marketing and Public Relations for Libraries.
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1987.

Leisner, Tony. oMission Statements and the Marketing Mix.� Pub-
lic Libraries 25 (Fall 1986): 86-87.

Lovelock, Christopher H., and Weinberg, Charles B. Marketing
for Public and Nonprofit Managers. New York: Wiley, 1981.

Lynch, Christine Koontz, and Rockwood, Persio Emmett. oMar-
keting Strategy for ChildrenTs Services.� Public Library
Quarterly 7 (Fall/Winter 1986): 27-40.

McDowell, Billie L. oBasic Strategies for Marketing Community
College Library Services.� Community & Junior College
Libraries 1 (Fall 1982): 39-42.

Shapiro, Stanley J. oMarketing and the Information Professional:
Odd Couple or Meaningful Relationship.� Special Libraries
71 (November 1980): 469-474.

Sterngold, Arthur. oMarketing for Special Libraries and Informa-
tion Centers: The Positioning Process.� Special Libraries 73
(October 1982): 254-259.

Stone, Dennis J. oMarketing as an Integral Part of Law Library
Management.� Law Library Journal 79 (Winter 1987): 103-
113.

Thesing, Jane I. oMarketing Academic Library Bibliographic
Instruction Programs: Case and Commentary.� Research
Strategies 3 (Winter 1985): 29-36.

Weingand, Darlene E. Marketing/Planning Library and Infor-
mation Services. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited,
1987.

Wood, Elizabeth J. oStrategic Planning and the Marketing Pro-
cess: Library Applications.� Jowrnal of Academic Librar-
ianship 9 (March 1983): 15-20.

Zachert, Martha Jane and Williams, Robert V., oMarketing Mea-
sures for Information Services.� Special Libraries 77

(Spring 1986): 61-70, al

Fall 1988"135

oSell� Is Not A Four-Letter Word

Lessons Learned from the Competitive Marketplace

Helen Causey

I spent five years as a sales representative for
a publishing company. I was hired for that job for
two reasons: one, I was a working librarian and
spoke olibraryese� and two, I seem to have enough
chutzpa to make it in sales.

The mindset of the-private sector, the atti-
tudes prevalent in large companies, and a pro-
duce-or-get-out atmosphere were light years
away from the safe and secure world I left in the
public library. But I learned how to play their
games, to live with the owhat have you done for
me lately� syndrome. I became accountable for my
time and effort, and it paid off. I've returned to
the public library world and realize itTs not as safe
and secure as I once thought. We have our own
game to play. And as public money gets tighter,
the demands on that money become greater, and
the number of competitors increase, the game
may turn into hard ball.

In the private sector it all boils down to one
thing"the bottom line. ItTs true in libraries too.
We must become accountable for what we do.
Just because we are intrinsically good and pure of
heart does not mean that the world owes us a
living. Our bottom line is determined by how
much service we render to the public. Our ocorpo-
rate comptroller� may be called the Board of
County Commissioners or Town Council, but con-
trol us they do; and if we want to get their atten-
tion, just let our ounits-of-service� numbers go
down and we'll soon have it. Elected officials are
as accountable to the public as the comptroller is
to his board of directors. They must show value
for the dollars spent and a good return on their
investment. They must provide a product that is
needed or wanted by the public. With increasing
demands for decreasing dollars, which service do
you think the public is willing to have reduced"
libraries or garbage collection? Those of us
dependent on public money, no matter at what
level, must make our services more indispensable
than garbage collection. If we donTt, we are going
to lose momentum until we come to a dead stop,

Helen Causey is director of the Moore County Library in Car-
thage, North Carolina.

136"Fall 1988

and if that happens, we've no one to blame but
ourselves.

Look at the private sectorTs response to this
problem. If you are Acme Wax Company and have
been making liquid floor wax for years, you had
better take a look around and notice that every-
one is installing new ono-wax flooring� over old
floors. If you take note of this before you go out of
business, you'll do what a major floor wax com-
pany did. They came out with a product that is
ospecially formulated to shine your no-wax
floors.� It may even be the same product they've
been selling for years (although in a new bottle),
but they didnTt lose their business while they sat
on their hands and wondered why.

We know the value of our services; we've got
to start telling others of their value. We've got to
sell our services. ItTs not hard, itTs not dirty, and
itTs not beneath us. We have to stop thinking that,
because we are cultural, because we are valuable,
and because we are noble, the all-knowing public
will somehow find its way to our doorstep and
we'll be there ready to anoint their heads with
knowledge. The oall-knowing� public is hardly
aware that we exist, and we've got to do some-
thing about that. In a continuing education class
at a local college, I was appalled to hear the
teacher telling a classroom of business people
about a wonderful source of information (the U.S.
Census Bureau publication) that would give them
all the information they needed to do an assign-
ment. This research was available, he said, for a
fee from a certain place in town. I couldnTt stand
it, [had to raise my hand and tell them it was also
available at their local public library for free. This
seemed to be news to everyone there but me.

More important than the public at large, the
powers that be are often unaware of what we're
really all about. Someone told me of hearing a
local official actually boast in an open meeting
that he onever reads.� This is a man who controls
the purse strings. This is a ocorporate comp-
troller� who brags about not using the companyTs
product. What chance does that product have for
increased funding?

We can do something about this. We can

learn lessons from corporate America and apply
them to our own product. Selling service is no
different from selling storm windows. I believe the
reason we have such an aversion to the term osell-
ing� is the stereotypical view we have of salespeo-
ple. ItTs true there are pushy, arrogant, and
unprincipled salespeople, but it is as unfair a
generalization of the profession as a whole as the
dowdy old-maid librarian is an unfair characteri-
zation of our profession. Librarians, of all people,
should have an aversion to occupational stereo-
types.

The private sector has turned selling into an
art form. It has had to. In business if you donTt
succeed you donTt survive. When the stakes are
that high, businesses must be critical of all areas
of their operation. They must constantly evaluate
and re-evaluate. This is true for libraries too. Who
are our customers? Notice I said customers. I dis-
like the term opatrons.� A frequent library user
recently brought to my attention a sign she found
confusing. The sign referred to olibrary patrons�
and she wondered if that meant someone who
had given the library money. We have to stop
using jargon that the rest of the world doesnTt
understand. These opatrons� are customers who
buy our service with their tax dollars. Each of us
has had someone say oI pay your salary,� and
they're right"they do. If they pay our salary but
donTt use our service, we are risking unemploy-
ment. ThatTs a cold, hard, fact of life in the outside
world.

The people who are already using our librar-
ies are not the only customers we have. We must
consider the entire public when we consider our
customersT needs. Those needs are being met now
but not by us. Being in sales gives one the perspec-
tive of viewing the entire world as a potential cus-
tomer base. Everyone to whom you are not
currently selling is a future sales prospect. This is
an attitude we must foster in the public sector as
well. Someone said the support for the public
library is two inches wide and ten miles deep"
meaning we have ardent supporters, but rela-
tively few of them. We have to make our support
system ten miles wide to ensure we have the clout
to increase our funding.

We've talked about the why of selling. LetTs
talk about the how. Marketing and selling are not
interchangeable terms. Marketing is used to
determine what products you need to have, and
selling is pushing the products you already have.
We must do both in libraries. Do we have the right
products for our customers? How can we find out
if we do? Of the products we already have, how
can we sell them?

In marketing, the first thing they teach you to
do is research. See whatTs going on around you. In
the business world, if you are interested in open-
ing a restaurant, you first do some research. You
find demographics on what percentage of todayTs
population eats out and how often. What is the
population of the service area you are in? How
many restaurants are already there? Will the
population support another? The age demogra-
phics will tell you whether to open a pizza place or
a fancy restaurant. What is the average income
level of your area? Is there a strong ethnic influ-
ence? What percentage of the women work out-
side the home? These questions and many more
have to be answered before you put hard-earned
money into a new venture.

Those of us who are depend-
ent on public money... must
make our services more indis-
pensable than garbage collec-
tion.

This research is equally important for the
public sector. I lived through the last community
analysis this state undertook, and no one hesti-
tates more than I to suggest it again. But the fact
is that an in-depth survey of our service area"
who is out there and what do they want"is
exactly what we should be doing if we want to
stay in business. Using focus groups to evaluate
the publicTs needs has been undertaken in many
locations with some success. The Public Library
Services Committee of the Public Library Associa-
tion sponsored a program on using focus groups
to determine needs at the American Library
Association (ALA) Conference in New Orleans.
This may be a more practical approach than a full
community analysis. Those who reported on proj-
ects during this program stressed that you must
be prepared for what you are going to learn and
you must not take it personally. The public has
strange and wondrous perceptions of what we
can or should do for them.

Research is important, but be careful about
asking the wrong questions, or worse, asking the
right questions but not listening to the answers.
My sales manager used to tell a story about a dog
food company that put out a new brand of dog
food. The company did research on the most per-
fectly balanced diet for dogs; they came up with a
perfectly designed package; they put out ingen-
ious advertising; their cans were in the perfect
shelf location in the stores"yet, the product was

Fall 1988 " 137

not selling. They held high level strategy meetings
to determine what to do about this dilemma, and
suggestions were made about package redesign,
gimmicks and give-aways. Finally, at the end of a
meeting, someone asked, oDoes anyone have any
idea why this product isnTt selling?� A salesman
who had been sitting quietly through all this dis-
cussion raised his hand and said, oI think I know
the problem"the dogs won't eat it.�

If we look at the private sector approach to
test marketing a new product, we may get some
ideas on what questions to ask and what to do
with the answers. In the company I worked for,
we did a good bit of marketing research. This
relates directly to libraries if you substitute oser-
vice� or oprogram� for the word oproduct.� Prod-
uct development at our company occurred in
several ways. One of the most important was to
get in touch with potential customers, explain the
ideas we had for a product, and ask their opin-
ions. This was an enlightening experience. Many a
wonderful idea was struck down in its prime by
customer comments. Just because we felt there
was a real need for a newspaper morgue collec-
tion didnTt mean the customers did. That collec-
tion never made it beyond the idea stage. This is
an important point: donTt hold on to something
that has no life in it. There are workshops now
being planned for national library conferences
that deal with how to tell when an existing library
program has outlived its usefulness. Those same
criteria hold true for programs you should never
start. Even if itTs the best idea you've ever had, if
the dogs wonTt eat it, let it go. Often we just jump
headlong into a project or service without the
slightest idea of whether anyone out there is
interested or really needs it. Research is so impor-
tant. Know what your customers want and need,
and donTt be reluctant to let go of an idea that
won't fly.

... an in-depth survey of our
service area...is exactly
what we should be doing if we
want to stay in business.

The marketing research we did for our com-
pany was sometimes general in nature. We would
give a customer a subject area such as health care
and let him or her tell us what information was
needed. We wanted to learn what information
was hard or impossible to get elsewhere, how they
would use it, how it should be arranged, where
they would put it if they had it, and how much
they would pay for it. All of these questions

138" Fall 1988

helped the people responsible for product devel-
opment put together the right collection in the
right configuration for the right price. Often,
while still in the development state, we would call
upon those same customers again and review the
newly structured product for their reactions.
Many refinements were made during this process
before the product was ready to market. All of
these steps are important for libraries. We have to
do more planning and ask the right questions to
fine tune our product.

Once we have our customersT wants and
needs determined in a certain area and a product
(or service) developed, the next step is selling. If
we have developed the best widget in the world
and no one knows it we've wasted our time, effort,
and money. Our companyTs selling effort was
divided into two parts"promotion and sales. The
promotion department was responsible for cre-
ating printed pieces and brochures. That depart-
ment did a first-class job with our printed
materials, producing professional, quality work.
Those of us in libraries need to pay more atten-
tion to the quality of the promotional materials
we distribute. If we show the public sloppy, ama-
teurish, mimeographed work, how can we expect
them to take us seriously? Peggy Barber of the
ALA Communications Office recently said at a
public relations lecture that she was so tired of
seeing library pieces and brochures that looked
like they had been cranked out on the copying
machine. She said libraries should have their
major promotional materials produced profes-
sionally. We need to plan our style and to be con-
sistent. It may be ocozy,� oacademic,� othrifty,� or
whatever, but we must stick with it. We need to
hire a graphic artist to help us set up that iden-
tity. A professional who knows how to project the
image we choose will save us money and countless
hours of future planning. That money will be well
spent and will give us a look of professionalism.
One of the secrets that sales representatives have
is to look successful. A orep� I used to know always
wore her full-length mink coat and diamonds to
the ALA Midwinter Conference because it gave
her and her company the look of success. ItTs all
image. Would you take the advice of a seedy-look-
ing stockbroker or doctor? Image is so important
to professionalism and salesmanship. That also
makes it important to librarians. If we want to be
treated as professionals and sell our services, we
must look the part. We donTt have to have a large
budget to look stylish in print or in person, but we
do have to plan, get professional help, and be con-
stantly aware of the image we project.

The other half of the marketing department

in our company was sales. We were responsible
for direct contact with the customers. We hustled
the product. Everyone who works in the public
services sections of our library is a member of our
sales department. Everyone. The sales depart-
mentTs responsibility is to know thoroughly the
products it sells, be able to describe them accu-
rately, and show the customer that a product is
something that will make his life better and eas-
ier. How is this different from what our circula-
tion staff should be doing every day? Sales people
are hired to be outgoing, friendly, aggressive. Pub-
lic service people should be outgoing, friendly and,
yes, aggressive. Approach customers and ask
them if they need help; donTt wait for them to get
up the nerve to come to us. Many people come
into a library, walk directly to the card catalog,
look for a book on oQueen bees� under oQ� and, not
finding one, leave without ever speaking to a soul.
ThatTs not service; itTs just warehousing materials.
When our company exhibited at national conven-
tions like ALA, the sales staff needed to be in the
aisles in front of our booth talking to people, not
waiting at the back of the booth for someone to
come in and ask a question. The next time you go
to a library conference, stroll through the exhibits
and see how many sales representatives are cow-
ering in the back of the booth waiting for someone
to come in. Any that are, are not successful
salesmen. (Those at the backs of the booths are
usually corporate vice-presidents. )

Each of our sales reps had an extensive file
on every customer. In it we noted when we talked
with them and what was said. This included tid-
bits like, oparents moving to Florida,� ochild sick,�
or obuilding new house,� in addition to business
information like oapplying for grant for history
materials,� oexpects increased budget next year,�
or owill make decision on this in June.� Every sales
rep we talk to on the phone or who comes into
our office does the same thing when he hangs up
or goes back to his car. Then, before he calls or
comes to see us again, he reviews those notes. He
can start up a friendly conversation with oHave
you moved into your new house yet?� and work
his way into oHave you found out about your
grant?� As customers, we must admit it makes us
feel special that he cares enough about us to
remember things about our lives. But a big part of
sales is making the customer feel comfortable and
at ease with you. Again, the public services staff
should emulate this technique. That is what read-
ersT advisory services should be all about. No mat-
ter how busy the circulation department, you
canTt work the front desk day in and day out
without getting to know the regulars, finding out

that Mrs. SmithTs grandchildren are coming to
visit and that Mr. and Mrs. Jones are going on a
cruise to Alaska. Suggest some childrenTs books
for Mrs. Smith to read to her grandchildren and
travel books on Alaska for the Joneses, along with
afew paperback mysteries for the trip. oSell� those
books. If people come to the desk with a book by
Isak Dinesen, ask them if they've seen the new
biography of her life.

We must involve ourselves in what we're
doing. It will help us do a better job and keep us
from getting bored. We could hire robots to check
books in and out, but thatTs not what the front
desk should be about. The strongest people in the
library should be at the front desk (and I don't
mean physically strongest either). That desk is
the hub. ItTs the perception the public has of othe
library.� We must put our outgoing, friendly,
aggressive sales people at the front desk and let
them sell.

The public has strange and
wondrous perceptions of what
we can or should do for them.

The other thing a sales rep does in the out-
side world is to build a customer base. This is the
challenge of sales. ItTs much easier to sell to a
customer we already have, those people that are
already using our library. The harder part is get-
ting those customers who donTt use our service.
Remember"they are already customers, they are
just getting their needs met elsewhere. These cus-
tomers are critical to a company if it expects to
grow. Just as in private business, these customers
are critical to our needs. If we are to grow and
prosper, we must have these non-users as part of
our customer base. How do we attract the non-
user? This goes back to market research, focus
groups, and product development. Who are these
people, what are their needs, who is now fulfilling
those needs, and how can we let them know what
we can do for them? We have to ask these people
the right questions.

The owner of a local bookshop told me she
had asked people why they came to the bookstore
to buy things that they could get at the library for
free. A good question. The responses included oI
didnTt know the library had it� or, if they knew we
had it, oIt was easier to find in the bookstore.� This
told me two important things: one, we needed to
concentrate on public awareness, and, two, librar-
ies have arranged a system of filing and storing
that only we understand. This is the kind of useful
information we get when we ask the right people

Fall 1988" 139

the right questions.

We must be creative in the ways we inform
the public that we have the product to fulfill their
needs. We need to look around and see what ser-
vices we already have and how we can better
inform the customers of our product. The first
place to start is with the hand that feeds us. What
do the county or town administrators think we do
all day, check out romance novels to little old
ladies? We would probably be surprised if we
really asked them. The answers would include
something about oreading material� and ohome-
work for schoolchildren� but not much else. We
should start with the local government adminis-
trator. If we have the General Statutes of North
Carolina, we tell him. If we see information from
the County Commissioners Association on our
computer network, we send him a copy and ask
him if he would like to see more to pass along to
the county commissioners or other department
heads. If heTs looking for a place to store regula-
tory code books, we volunteer to take them. We
ask for a set of state contracts on fiche for our
library, so local government employees can make
copies of the information on our reader/printer
instead of having to copy all the information by
hand. Thus, we make ourselves useful to the local
government administrator. Soon he'll be calling us
with questions, and we'll never again have to
explain to him what we do all day.

Our profession should not be
merely guardians of man-
kindTs knowledge, but dis-
pensers of it as well.

This applies to other departments in the local
government also. Someone called our library one
day and asked what the symptoms of a certain
type of spider bite were. When I suggested calling
eh Health Department, the caller said, oThis is the
Health Department.� We can let the Register of
Deeds and County ClerkTs office know that we
have copies of old county records, and that weTre
willing to take the genealogists off their hands"
theyll love us for it. If the purchasing office is
having a hard time locating a company from
which to buy replacement parts, we find the
information in our Thomas Registry. The Eco-
nomic Development office will be delighted if we
can find company addresses, phone numbers, and
management names for it. Anyone who thinks any
of these things is really not our job is in the wrong
business. If these people havenTt asked us for any
of this information yet, we should volunteer it. We

140"Fall 1988

can make the first contact. In sales this is called
ocold calling,� and itTs hard to do. To approach a
stranger and initiate a sales call takes practice
and nerve. Start with these friends and col-
leagues; itTs easier.

After the cold calling technique is mastered,
it should be put to good use. We can send flyers to
all the lawyers in the county and let them know
about some of the legal, business, and profes-
sional resources we have. (We had better not send
a three-page bibliography; no one will read it.) We
can let doctors and care-givers know that we have
some new books on the psychological aspects of
cancer or dealing with the families of Alzheimers
patients. If thereTs an automotive mechanics class
at the community college, we can let them know
we have ChiltonTs Repair Manuals. All we have to
do is look around our libraries. What do we
already have, who would use it, and how can we
let them know we have it? We mustnTt be afraid to
sell our product. We should call on the Chamber
of Commerce, ask them what their needs are, and
then fulfill those needs. Take the initiative.

Just as the private sector is profit motivated
(the more business you do, the more money you
make), we have to be funding motivated (the
more service we render, the more support we
get). Try to justify additional funding to a Board
of Commissioners without showing an increase in
usage. We live and die by our numbers, and the
only way to increase our numbers is to serve the
needs of more customers. The only way to serve
more customers is to sell our service. LetTs take the
lessons taught by the experts in private business
and use what they do best"selling"to give more
service to our customers. Our profession should not
be merely guardians of mankindTs knowledge but
dispensers of it as well. LetTs open up these infor-
mation warehouses and let the light of the outside

world in. P|

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Fall 1988 "141

The Public Library at Crisis:
Is Marketing the Answer?

Bernard Vavrek

This article explores three challenges that

are affecting the ability of the public library toT

survive and relates their solutions to marketing
efforts. It is directed at the trustee who is respon-
sible for the future of public libraries in the United
States.

The category opublic library� includes a var-
iety of different institutions all bearing a similar
title. This paper will focus on small organizations
within resident populations of 25,000 or fewer
people, here to be considered as orural� environ-
ments. This extended definition of rural (the U. S.
Census BureauTs definition considers places of
fewer than 2,500 to be rural) encompasses a
majority of public libraries in the United States,
regardless of location.

For this paper, marketing for nonprofit
organizations is defined in the classic sense: a sys-
tem or strategy that includes data gathering, goal
setting, implementing programs, follow-through,
and evaluation. These components will be de-
scribed in more detail later in this essay.

The Crises

Challenges, interestingly, affect people and
institutions unevenly. It is significant to note that,
in spite of constant crisis management, trustees
and public librarians continue to maintain enthu-
siasm and dedication to their endeavors. Unfor-
tunately, because of a sense of commitment and
desperation, these same individuals are burning
themselves out attempting to cope with the vagar-
ies of modern public librarianship. While an
expenditure of increased energies is admirable,
the human machine will quickly arrive at a point
when enthusiasm is simply not enough to cope
with current problems. Further, there is little
hope of reducing the seriousness of the issues to
be faced in the immediate future.

It is, of course, an exercise in immodesty for
any author to identify challenges and to be bold
enough to offer suggestions as palliatives. Further,

Bernard Vavrek is professor and director of the Center for the
Study of Rural Librarianship in the College of Library Science
at Clarion State University in Clarion, Pennsylvania.

142"Fall 1988

while this individual is going to consider three
challenges confronting public librarianship, these
categories impinge on each other rather than
proceeding in parallel. The reader will probably
not be surprised by the developments to be dis-
cussed. Two out of the three are really not new.
The challenge occurs in implementing change.

The information explosion, as we have come
to call it, is the first of these challenges. While
there is nothing exciting in calling attention to the
obvious, what must be considered is the continu-
ing and ultimate extension of this sustained
information outburst as a reality of librarianship.
No one person or institution can cope with the
information produced by our global society. We
now understand that the growth of information
creates a demand for more information and what
we now reap is a opapermore� society as opposed
to the predicted paperless existence. An enduring
commitment somehow to contain an information-
rich world through a balanced collection of
library materials was never really achievable. It is
less so today. And there is little reason to recount
the variety of visual formats that confront the
modern public library, including those of the cur-
rent electronic vintage, particularly, the optical
disc configuration.

The second trend is a corollary of the first. It
has helped to fuel the information juggernaut.
While Alvin Toffler, who informed us about The
Third Wave, may have been the first to point to
the development which he called odemassifica-
tion,� it is arguable whether anyone perceived
what this trend would mean in a practical sense.
Essentially, Toffler foresaw the decentralization
and specialization of the communications indus-
try as it reorganized itself with publications
intended for narrower and narrower audiences.
The current spurt in the production of regional
book publishers, the growth of cable television
services, the availability of focused periodicals
such as Working Woman, RunnerTs World, and
Modern Maturity are examples of this demassifi-
cation. Another instance of this trend appeared
in a rather inconspicuous newspaper report indi-
cating that USA Today will be made available to

subscribers in a one-page summarized version
through telefacsimile transmission.! It is the
authorTs view that Toffler underestimated the
significance of this osubjective demand.� The multi-
billion dollar microcomputer industry, coupled
with the growth of other home-oriented media
such as the video cassette recorder, one million
units of which are being sold monthly in the Uni-
ted States, has greatly accelerated proprietary
usage.

This osubjective demand� has created a rela-
tively unique situation within public libraries. It
has literally refashioned the public library, which
has ostensibly been considered an agency of mass
communications, into an institution that increas-
ingly must commit its resources to cope with
patronsT subjective needs.? Public librariesT lend-
ing of videocassette tapes and computer hard-
ware and software is an obvious example of
efforts to meet these new specialized demands.

Some would consider the above-mentioned
developments to be the results of careful planning
and market positioning. While this may be true, it
is also important to note that the United States is
rapidly becoming a nation of single persons. Since
1980, for example, half of the homes added in
America are now occupied by people living alone
or with nonrelations. These households now
account for twenty-eight percent of the total, as
opposed to only nineteen percent in 1970.° Com-
prising the one-person home, in addition to those
who are unrelated, are those individuals who
have never been married, those who are divorced,
or those persons whose spouses are dead. This
increased percentage of single households is evi-
dence of changed lifestyles which must be recog-
nized and catered to in the marketplace. Likewise
the public library, which historically must evalu-
ate the significance of societal trends before
transforming itself, has been extended in new
directions to meet these challenges.

The third trend deals with the declining
amount of money available to support public
libraries. Because of the unavailability of current
national statistics, it is awkward to attempt to
generalize about this situation. It may be accurate
to say, however, that public libraries are hurting.
Fortunately, this is not true in every public
library; but it is an enormous problem which is
not endemic to a specific region of the country.
Financing the local public library is a similar prob-
lem in Clarion, Pennsylvania, and Willows, Cali-
fornia.

Available statistical data from the Center for
the Study of Rural Librarianship suggest that
budgets for small public libraries are actually

increasing. While this may be true, a national
average of $69,000 for libraries in populations of
2,501 to 25,000 people, and an average budget of
$22,000 in towns with populations below 2,500,
certainly cannot be considered extravagant finan-
cial support.® There simply is not enough money
available to accomplish all of those responsibili-
ties perceived as functions of the community
library, whether this institution is a function of
city government or a part of a county arrange-
ment. In the latter instance, the structure of polit-
ical life in the United States is being changed by
the growth in significance of county government
that increasingly is expected to provide addi-
tional social support"only one of which is the
library"for its citizens. Unfortunately, it appears
that eighty percent of all county administrators
are politically and fiscally conservative.t Further,
in some states the county government is pre-
cluded from raising sufficient taxes to support
required and necessary services because state
legislatures will not permit tax levels to be
increased.

An enduring commitment
somehow to contain an infor-
mation-rich world through a
balanced collection of library
materials was never really
achievable.

The fiscal dilemma is not limited to the
amount of dollars available to local libraries. In
some cases, the library staff has never conducted
a survey of its users and consequently has been
able to accomplish little in the way of what today
is being called ostrategic planning.� In short, little
planning of any kind has been done. As a conse-
quence, the library staff has no sense of priority
needs to be translated into services. The effect of
this lack of planning is not a casual matter.
Rather, it has caused staff members to attempt to
do everything out of a sense of duty. Additionally,
the presumed insatiable community appetite is
satisfied (or salved) with more and more diversi-
fied services. While this is not true in all small
libraries, the pressures are widespread and come
from suggestions made at professional meetings,
from the library literature, and from the commun-
ity itself. Further, speakers from far away places
exhort audiences of trustees and rural librarians
with the theme that more and more must be done
to meet professional responsibilities. This author
admits his guilt. The problem is that we infre-

Fall 1988 " 143

quently consider limitations which should be
placed on services. There is now little alternative
but to consider what the library can afford to
provide"a question of interest to all types of
libraries.

In institutions where budgets are remarkably
narrower than expenses, librarians and trustees
are attempting additional avenues of fundraising
to keep things solvent. Bake sales, dances, book
and stationery sales, and grant proposals are
among the techniques attempted. What has now
created a siege mentality relative to these actions,
and justifiably so, is that fundraising is no longer a
matter associated with additional library pro-
gramming or extra services. Ingenious and time-
consuming projects have become obligations of
the trustees to keep the library ship in the water.
The typical nature of the situation can be per-
ceived in the following comment.

The (anywhere) Board spends most of its volunteer
time on fundraising events; that may be a raffle, bake sale,
book fair, government pleas with ~cup in hand,T etc. This
year the Board went all out, holding golf tournaments,
food stands at tourist attractions, and private house par-
ties to keep [the library] afloat.®

This ohand-to-mouth� approach of providing for
the fiscal needs of the library is degrading as well
as impractical. Will a point soon be reached when
the entire library budget consists of revenues
gathered from self-initiated projects? What are
the alternatives? While there are a variety of choi-
ces, marketing is the key. This will be the focus of
our discussion for the remainder of this article.

The problem is that we infre-
quently consider limitations

which should be placed on
services.

The Relevance of Marketing

It is fair to say that, with the exception of the
product itself (and American society is often
treated to illusion as opposed to substance), mar-
keting is a prerequisite activity in any organiza-
tion. The fact that the library community does not
always recognize this is undoubtedly one of the
reasons for this issue of North Carolina Librar-
des. The difficulty is to transform marketing from
a cliché that one assumes will mitigate all library
difficulties into a practical endeavor. In reality,
marketing occurs constantly in any organization,
including the library, sometimes as a surprise to
the staff. For example, every institution has an
oimage,� which is a major concern to marketers.

144"Fall 1988

The challenge, however, is to know what kind of
image your organization projects and to facilitate
change, if that is considered desirable.

This is a crucial time for public librarianship.
While undoubtedly a quick check of the library
literature would yield an historical record of
other authors sounding a similar concern, the
survival of rural America"whether agricultural,
industrial, or resort based"is being confronted as
never before. Community well-being is such a per-
vasive concern for non-metropolitan people and
agencies that services, including the library, will
continue to be challenged. While applying market-
ing skills in desperate economic situations will not
always ensure success, the only way for the
library to remain competitive is for the library
board to facilitate the awareness that there is no
alternative to marketing the library, if the library
is to survive in some form.

It is of some import to discuss the meaning of
marketing for nonprofit organizations. Too often
our subject is inextricably related only to public
relations. One will often hear individuals talking
about marketing in relationship to newspaper ads
and radio spots. Without question, public rela-
tions"in whatever form"becomes a key element
in the marketing model. It is important to
remember, however, that marketing is a strategy,
that is, a methodology. The components for this
strategy comprise analysis of the problem; pro-
gram formation; timetable; implementation; fol-
low-through; and evaluation. Conceptually, as a
paradigm, marketing is similar to a variety of
managerial techniques (e.g., management by
objectives).

At its fundamental level, marketing is simple.
Ensuring its acceptance and use, however, takes
some effort. Marketing is also complicated by the
fact that the library deals with multiple publics,
or markets. Children, senior Americans, the non-
literate, and others compose our audiences. Mar-
keting strategists remind us of a fundamental
principle: not all publics or audiences can be
served simultaneously. This vital fact is only
slowly being appreciated among those responsible
for library management. The public library cannot
be all things to all people. There is neither enough
emotion nor money to do everything. It is the
author's view that libraries have been organized
to provide too many services out of a sense of
commitment to the public.

Clearly, however, the rural public library
must focus its assets, human as well as physical,
to meet its current challenges. Also, it must be
prepared to direct its services to meet community
needs in the light of a potentially dwindling econ-

ee Tees ee

omy. Marketing is an essential tool for the library
trustee not only because of the inherent (and in
some places, legal) obligation to maintain the
libraryTs solvency, but to reduce the emotion and
frustration currently related to endless book and
bake sales, dances, and other efforts at raising
money. Unfortunately, it is not a panacea for the
overall lack of funding. What it helps to ensure,
however, is that the library's funds are channeled
into purposeful library activities as determined by
the community's representatives, the trustees.

MarketingTs Lack of Popularity

If marketing is such an important contribu-
tion to the United States, why is it not applied
more frequently? The next section discusses why
marketing is just developing as a library strategy.
The final section of this paper will present some
ohow to do it� suggestions.

While this author may be accused of too often
commenting on the fact that education is the key
issue in library development, the frequent lack of
trained staff in AmericaTs rural public libraries is
a vital concern. Non-academically trained staff,
regardless of their commitment, are often un-
aware of the meaning and application of market-
ing. As suggested elsewhere in this paper,
marketing is typically related to public relations.
To verify this point, The Center for the Study of
Rural Librarianship recently conducted a study
to ask rural librarians if they participated in mar-
keting activities. More than half of those surveyed
answered in the affirmative. When the Center
inquired about the marketing examples, however,
virtually every respondent indicated instances of
newspaper articles, publishing bookmarks, and so
on.

If the library board finds itself unable to
augment its academically trained staff (or hire an
academically trained librarian), one would offer
the obvious alternative of supporting attendance
of the current staff at local workshops or confer-
ences where marketing matters are being con-
sidered. It is anticipated that trustees would also
attend. In the absence of workshops or conferen-
ces, this author would like to suggest a book that
the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship
publishes, which is a remarkable bargain for
$5.00: Developing a Marketing Program for
Libraries.T This practical guide to marketing is a
no-nonsense approach to the subject.

Another reason for the omeasured� applica-
tion of marketing in libraries is the fact that mar-
keting for nonprofit organizations is only a
relatively recent pursuit among specialists. Philip
Kotler, the guru of marketing, was among the first

A classic for the library and classroom by the 1985 winner
of the North Carolina Gold Medal Award for Literature

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b

'y

Wilma Dykeman

(Fiction, Grades 8 and up; English or Social Studies.
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the books we've read, which was your favorite?T The response
is always unanimous, oThe Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman.T�

Diane Goldsmith (McDowell High School and
Mars Hill College)

oThe Tall Woman is a regular feature of my classes at Raben
County High School.�
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15% library discount with this ad; $1.25 postage. Please
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to publish a text on the nonprofit aspects of this
subject, and this work dates only from 1975.8 His-
torically, marketing has been primarily associated
with for-profit organizations and has been slow to
adapt for the not-for-profit sector. While libraries,
museums, orchestras, and other organizations
are now attempting to apply the aspects of mar-
keting that pertain to the nonprofit sector, many
individuals in this sector continue to have a
rather negative impression that marketers bowl
over people, persuading them to consume prod-
ucts that are really not necessary or desirable.

A third reason for a disinclination toward
marketing relates to that hateful trio composed of
the lack of money, time and staff. Ironically, this
mentality may be related to the fact that a mar-
keting approach is not taken in providing library
services. Because the staff is attempting to do
everything at the same time for all library clients,
there genuinely is not time for yet another activ-
ity, marketing. One is quick to acknowledge, how-
ever, that since a majority of libraries are staffed
by only one person, even the best planning must
recognize the practical limitations of what can be
accomplished. Parenthetically, this author com-
miserated with a librarian who was attending a
recent workshop relating to the development of

Fall 1988" 145

The difficulty is to transform
marketing from a cliché that
one assumes will mitigate all
library difficulties into a prac-
tical endeavor.

literacy programs and lamented the lack of time
for this onew� endeavor despite its importance. A
thoughtful marketer might indicate that perhaps
a literacy program was not feasible at this time.

Using the above literacy program as an
example of a marketing strategy, the marketer or
person responsible for the planning would con-
sider the following steps. He or she would attempt
to identify whether or not a literacy project is
needed. Such questions as whether there are
other literacy providers, or whether there are sig-
nificant numbers of persons in need of training
might be asked. If there is a need, one would then
establish goals and objectives, identify who is to
be in charge, plan a budget, and define methods of
public relations. Establishing a timetable is the
next step. Implementating the program and fol-
low-through are the next ingredients; followed,
finally by evaluation of the project. The lack of
evaluation tends to be a weakness in projects of
all types. In judging the success of a marketing
program (remember the emphasis in marketing
is on an organized series of activities), one
wishes to determine, among other things, how
effective were the efforts at attracting students
(as we continue to use our literacy example), or
whether the tutoring was offered at times that
would attract adults in need of education.

At the outset of this section, the author indi-
cated that lack of time was one reason for ignor-
ing the marketing approach to library services.
One would be less than candid, however, not to
comment on the obvious"planning and imple-
menting marketing programs do take time. It is
much easier to start something and hope for the
best. Unfortunately, this latter approach brings us
back to the reality that the public library must be
operated as a business"nonprofit, of course. And
it is the trusteesT responsibility to ensure that effi-
cient planning is characteristic of the library,
regardless of its size.

While this next commentary may appear to
be tangential to the subject, the author believes
that the lack of national standards for public
libraries is another reason that marketing strate-
gies are not more prevalent. The emphasis on
community mission statements is fundamentally
important since public libraries are different. But

146" Fall 1988

a basic error, in my view, was created in the public
library movement by abandoning quantitative
standards in an effort to be totally community
oriented. This is related to marketing in the sense
that there may not be the pressure to omeasure-
up� with oneTs library service, since there are no
guidelines by which to make a comparison. Indi-
vidual state agencies and organizations, notably
in North Carolina, have attempted to overcome
the absence of standards with the development of
state measures. Even though we recognize that
independence is associated with rural America,
much is to be gained by having at least a rough
sense of what is occurring in other communities.

The reader should now appreciate the fact
that the author will not persist in enumerating
additional reasons why marketing is not more
often utilized. The previous review was written
with the idea that one would recognize some of
the reasons for marketingTs infrequent entry into
library administration and attempt to hurdle
them.

Facilitating Marketing

The title of this paper posed a serious ques-
tion: can marketing overcome the current crises
facing rural public libraries? The answer is oyes,�
without question. Further a premise behind this
paper is that most libraries must reevaluate their
services in the light of available resources. This
examination is extremely difficult without a mar-
keting approach to library management. For
example, while we relate the public library to the
image of a community information center, it must
be understood there are definite limits to what
can be provided. This is a simple theorem, but it
has yet to be put into practice in most communi-
ties. The opposite tendency (to attempt more and
more) seems to be symptomatic. The literacy
example that has been used before in this paper is
certainly a further example of expanding library
services. Presently, for example, there is consid-
erable concern that American workers cannot
function at a literacy level to perform job-related
tasks. The question becomes, why should the pub-
lic library take on the responsibility of overcoming
this deficiency? Should business itself not provide
this service?

The difficulty, as noted earlier in this paper, is
that the public library has a variety of audiences
to recognize. We simply must remember that not
all levels of the community can be provided with
the same level of service at the same time. This
does not mean abandoning children while serving
the senior American. By using a marketing
approach, libraries may focus on special services

to children one year and to older Americans
another time. It is assumed that the library will
continue to maintain onormal services,� while tar-
geting programs on a selected basis. Marketing is
not just another gimmick. It is a way to manage
the library and enable it to survive.

WhereTs the Beef?

The author intentionally left a loaded gun at
the end of the previous paragraph. It is character-
ized as onormal services.� The intent was to
emphasize the fact that it is the board of trustees
who ultimately must reconcile what is meant by
the libraryTs standard services. Logically, libraries
loan materials, answer reference questions, and
so forth. The options may be limited, of course, if
state or regional standards specify expectations.
But loaning videocassettes, providing literacy
training, and providing computerized information
services, however desirable, are not etched into
stone. If the public library is the community's
library, then the people must decide the services.
This does not necessarily mean that all matters
are judgments left to a town meeting. Rather, the
responsibility is vested in the trustees assisted by
the library staff and the library's friends.

The author now senses the perspiration
forming on the readerTs forehead as one contem-
plates the future of the public library. It is not
assumed that the trustees (unless they wish to)
will be directly involved in implementing marketing
strategies for the library. The expectation is clear,
however, that the board must encourage and be
vitally interested in the library's development, or
the library will founder as an institution. The
board must facilitate the use of marketing, or
there is little hope of coping with the stress of a
changing rural society.

The following brief section, in conclusion,
suggests techniques of olocating the beef� while
recognizing the inherent limitations of most rural
libraries:

1. The obvious first alternatives for planning
and implementing a marketing program are
members of the library staff or friends of the
library. A less often utilized approach is to
encourage the involvement of individuals such as
representatives from the Cooperative Extension
Service, Soil Conservation Service, Grange, Cham-
ber of Commerce, Rotary Club, and others. The
library community has not been as active as it
should be in soliciting assistance from other
community participants. A third method would
be to ask help of staff from the state, local, or
regional libraries.

2. The author intentionally omitted a discus-

sion of the costs of marketing activities. It has
been our experience that funding is not a crucial
problem. Programs can be implemented on the
proverbial shoestring. Obviously, if one is distribut-
ing T-shirts to the kids who come to story hours,
somebody has to pay for these. But, in the
authorTs view, using the lack of funds as a reason
not to implement planning is sometimes an
excuse for inaction. One also sympathizes with
the fact that someone must pay for the stationery,
postage, and other supplies.

3. Finally, marketing strategies do not have to
be of grand design, implemented over a pro-
tracted period, to be effective. The concepts of
marketing can just as easily be employed during a
one-day interval. The key is action. It is not meant
to be condescending to the reader to ask one to
remember that, while marketing is a popular con-
cept at the present, it is only a label for effective
library planning.

Admittedly, this essay has rambled over a
variety of different thoughts. One hopes the
reader will judge this commentary in the light of
the author's assignment. This discussion was not
meant to be a technical expression of marketing
principles. There is plenty of text dealing with
that. Rather, the message was to indicate that
trustees face challenges as never before. The
recent notice that the Shasta County Library
(California) will be closed because of the lack of
funds is a reminder of reality. And circumstances
are going to become worse. Our concern is the
growth of the rural public library and the con-
tinuation of the American dream. Can marketing,
itself, ensure these? No, but it is of fundamental
importance.

References

1. oNews Digest by Facsimile,� New York Times, (July 26, 1988):
23.

2. Although taking a slightly different tack on this theme, the
reader is, nevertheless, directed to the interesting article by Wil-
liam F. Birdsall, oCommunity, Individualism and the American
Public Library,� Library Journal 110 (November 1, 1985): 21-24.
3. John Herbers, oOne Person Homes Show Big U.S. Rise,� New
York Times, (November 20, 1985): A.32.

4. oCounties Gain Power as Federal Influence Wanes,� New York
Times, (November 10, 1985): A.1, A.34.

5. Bernard Vavrek, Reference Service in Rural Public Libraries,
(Clarion, Pa.: Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship,
College of Library Science, Clarion University of Pennsylvania,
1982): 18-19.

6. This comment came from a document recently sent to the
author by a trustee who is located on the east coast.

7. Joseph Grunenwald, Developing a Marketing Program for
Libraries, (Clarion, Pa.: Center for the Study of Rural
Librarianship, College of Library Science, Clarion University of
Pennsylvania, 1983.)

8. Philip KotlerTs text is now in the third edition and entitled:
Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, (Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1987.) cl

Fall 1988 " 147

Marketing and Public Libraries:
The Commitment

Charles F. Montouri

There is little doubt that libraries will apply
marketing techniques to the development and
distribution of library products and services in
the years ahead. There is, however, sufficient
cause for concern. The concern arises from the
experience of the past. All too often libraries have
turned legitimate conceptual processes (partici-
patory management, zero based budgeting, etc.)
into fly-by-night fads. After introducing a new
program or mission, the effort is left to die on the
vine, primarily due to neglect and lack of consis-
tent attention. The amount of attention is gener-
ally proportionate to the amount of risk the
administration is willing to tolerate, but tolerance
levels have not been particularly high. When
accounting time rolls around and results are tal-
lied the score is, more often than not, a tie.
Nothing lost"nothing gained.

Marketing Considered: The Risks

Librarians have begun eagerly to accept mar-
keting practices. In their article in the Journal of
Library Administration, oThe ABCs of Imple-
menting Library Marketing,� Andrea Dragon and
Tony Leisner comment: oIndeed, the missionary
zeal with which articles on marketing are written
is indicative of a wide-spread grassroots move-
ment within the profession. This interest in mar-
keting is not the result of a mandate from the
leaders of the professional associations nor is it
due to any governmental action. This obottom-up�
interest in marketing has grown out of librariansT
desire to find a more appropriate model for relat-
ing their professional activities to their com-
munityTs needs.� This statement was written in
1983. Five years have since passed and the mar-
keting momentum continues to increase.

As a legitimate conceptual process, then, is
marketing to be the next fad for libraries? Is the
knowledge that marketing is a system requiring a
total commitment, sufficient reason for librarians
to put concern aside? Will there be risks? Without
doubt there will be risks because no human

Charles F. Montouri is Business/Adult Services Librarian for
the State Library of North Carolina.

148"Fall 1988

enterprise is risk free. Since marketing is a total
management process involving administration
and support staff, however, the risks can be min-
imized and individual responsibility for error can
be eased. Administration and support staff will
need to enter the marketing process understand-
ing that there are no guarantees for success"
only hopes reinforced by sound planning. The
sharing of risks will bring the joys of sharing the
rewards.

In order to minimize risks, administrators
should have a solid understanding of the market-
ing process. There is an excellent body of informa-
tion now available in print about marketing and
libraries (see the References at the end of this
article). Because the implementation of a market-
ing program will demand total commitment of
institutional resources, library administrators
should become totally familiar with marketing
procedures. When the chief administrator en-
dorses a marketing approach, the leadership
he/she demonstrates sets the marketing pro-
gramsT future course and resultant success or
failure.

Moving Ahead

Once the administrator makes a personal
commitment to a marketing program, the next
step should be to gather support. The administra-
tor should confer with each of the libraryTs consti-
tuencies: board, staff, supervisors, and Friends. In
the process of gathering support for the program,
the administrator will be able to judge the degree
of support for the program. This lobbying effort
will also allow the administrator to point out the
benefits of a marketing program. Some of the
expected benefits will be high levels of staff crea-
tivity and morale, opportunities for a wide range
of publicity, a change of image. The administrator
will also need to define the anticipated outcomes,
since these represent the justification for embrac-
ing a marketing approach to product and service
delivery. New users, increased repeat business,
high levels of user satisfaction, new product
development, a commitment to the needs of indi-
vidual users are some of the expected outcomes.

Gathering support, though, means more than
a resolution passed by the Board. Support means
that each board member will be willing to make a
personal commitment to the process. Gathering
support means more than a presentation of the
program to the staff. It means that each staff
member has a clear understanding of the unique
contribution he/she can make to the success of
the marketing effort. Gathering support means
more than an objective to be met in each supervi-
sorTs annual work plan. It means that the supervi-
sors will provide the leadership necessary to
surmount the problems which most certainly will
arise. Gathering support means more than a
monetary contribution from the Friends of the
Library. It means that the Friends are out in the
community among the leaders and organizations
supporting the exciting new developments at the
library.

While support for the program builds, a cus-
tomer orientation philosophy should be devel-
oped by the staff. Concern for non-users means
that unserved or underserved populations are
being identified as potential markets and market
segments. A marketing mindset is beginning to
form, but it will not form overnight. It will come
about through in-service continuing education,
marketing strategies and market research,
through the implementation of the marketing
plan, and through experience.

In summary, the administrator must appre-
ciate the value of a commitment to marketing and
the development of a marketing mindset in
implementing this type of program and library
direction. This administrative support is crucial if
the program is to be successful.

Meeting Needs

Marketing has been referred to as an ex-
change process. As an exchange process, it must
meet needs. The library has been looked upon as
existing because of the public good, not because
of a public need. In times of great social change, it
becomes difficult to identify what is the public
good. It is not difficult to identify public needs.
Thus it makes sense in a period of scarce resour-
ces to change the image of the library from one of
a public good to one of a public need. Can market-
ing help bring about this change since it is a pro-
cess of uncovering and meeting needs?

The critical question becomes: what needs
can a library legitimately meet which other agen-
cies cannot? The answer is simple"information
needs. Free access to the worldTs body of accumu-
lated knowledge is available at the library. Retrie-
val of a rare work of literature from some remote

location is possible through the library. The give
and take of a reference interview in order to
answer a difficult question can be a prized and
valuable experience. How many places offer free,
unbiased consumer information? These are but a
few of the more obvious services provided by
libraries. ALL of a personTs information needs can
be met at one place"the library.

Libraries are unique because of a simple con-
cept. The community pools information resources
so that every citizen can have access to a rich
variety of materials that would be unaffordable
otherwise. Undoubtedly, many unmet informa-
tional needs of the public remain because of the
passive role the library has assumed over the
years. There has also been a substantial waste of
resources due to library personnelTs sometimes
erroneous perception of community needs.

... it makes sense in a period
of scarce resources to change
the image of the library from
one of public good to one of a
public need.

Marketing and modern technology can help
change this approach. They can help the library
become a visible, active component in the daily
workings of our communities. The wonders of tele-
communications, at very little cost, can multiply
the amount of resources available to local com-
munities"a feat not possible to achieve through
published hard print acquisitions. Selection of
resources can now be customized to meet the
needs of the individual citizen. The librarianTs task
becomes one of reaching out to these individuals
in such a way that they fully understand that the
library will work with them in providing the
answers they seek. Providing answers is signifi-
cantly different from providing information.

The distinction between the provision of
answers and the provision of information is in the
ability of the librarian to uncover the patronTs real
need during the interview process and, later, to
interpret, analyze and correlate relevant raw
data. Professional experience marks the differ-
ence between providing information and provid-
ing answers. Since the librarian becomes the core
of the marketing distribution function (delivering
the product), it is necessary to realize that this
new approach requires something more than
passive response. It requires assertive and aggres-
sive behavior. A recommended reading is Herbert
AchleitnerTs article: oAssertive Librarianship: A
Means of Customizing Services� in Marketing for

Fall 1988 " 149

Libraries and Information Agencies. Reference
librarians, in particular, have always received
enjoyment from the challenge to come up with
sources of information. Now they have the oppor-
tunity to enjoy the challenge and to experience
greater pride in the results of their work.

Resource Commitment

Librarians are a pivotal element in the infor-
mation product distribution function, one of four
components of the marketing process. The other
components are product, price, and promotion.
Professional librarians and support staff are the
personnel resources assigned to the marketing
effort. These other resources need to be commit-
ted:

1. Time. A time commitment that allows
research, planning and discussion, training, inter-
viewing, assembling publicity, and evaluating all
pieces of the total program must be made. Time
should be allocated on the basis of priority.
Though marketing may be the number one prior-
ity, it is important to keep in mind during the
analysis that marketing is not a substitute or
replacement for existing programs. Marketing will
enhance all valid programs. The important need
is to find time within those programs that can be
applied more effectively.

What needs can a library legit-
imately meet which other
agencies cannot?

2. Money. Sufficient financial resources (not
counting personnel, space, or equipment) are
crucial. It would be wise to commit funds to con-
tractual services such as surveys, annual data
updates, and media costs.

3. Attitude. As a bridge between the market-
place and the institution, support staff are impor-
tant to the marketing effort. Their cooperation
and participation provide continuity to the pro-
gram. Circulation personnel, for example, are in a
position to test user interests and needs. Their
pleasant manner before the public tends to pro-
mote a positive library image.

Marketing is not new to libraries. Many librar-
ies have developed marketing programs without a
coordinated marketing plan. Bookmobile service
is essentially a marketing service that provides
products on demand to a known clientele or
market segment. ChildrenTs programs provide
services such as pre-school story hours. Outreach
programs are designed to meet individual needs.
What library has not done a user study? A user

150"Fall 1988

study is a type of market research survey. In
effect, a number of resources have been assigned
already to marketing by libraries without any
formal or unified plan. The only elements missing
are the official commitment and the label.

Strategies

The word strategy indicates a defined goal is
present. The strategy is an organized plan to
reach that goal. A marketing strategy indicates
the tools and techniques of marketing will be ap-
plied in the strategic plan to reach the goal. The
goal is essentially the mission statement of the
library. The goals and objectives and the long
range plan have been defined by the library. A
marketing strategy must be in tune with these
goals.

The libraryTs mission goals and the back-
ground and qualifications of the staff will need to
be emphasized when developing a marketing stra-
tegy. What are the critical elements of the long
range plan which must, by necessity, be met by
the marketing plan? Will the marketing plan offer
an opportunity to revise the long range plan? Will
staff have to change behaviors due to new
methods of delivery? These are questions to be
considered in setting up a strategy. The insight-
fulness of the chief administrator and an atmos-
phere of open dialogue are essential in the
development of a workable strategy.

The mission statement of the library, in all
likelihood, has been developed without the con-
sideration of a marketing effort to carry it for-
ward. It has been generated as an internally
based program designed to serve the consti-
tuency. If it has been a visionary plan, its content
might be broad enough to embrace advances in
technology and new information demands. If this
is the case, adaptability to a marketing approach
might not be too difficult. If, on the other hand,
the mission and goals have been established on
the basis of traditional library goals and practices,
a whole new approach will be needed. Knowledge
of the characteristics of the staff will help to
determine personal flexibility in implementing
the plan. Staff reorientation might need to be fol-
lowed by a major in-service training period.

The purpose of this essay is not to provide a
how-to. Rather, it is meant to provide an overview
that produces an internal and external assess-
ment of the existing climate in the library and the
community. The assessment should determine
the potential for a marketing approach. By com-
pleting a thorough assessment of both the exter-
nal and internal environments preliminary to a
decision to implement a marketing program, the

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Fall 1988"151

administrator will be more fully prepared and
strategically positioned to achieve positive results.

Marketing Today

It is well established that companies sell prod-
ucts through marketing programs. So essential is
this business practice that most companies assign
the responsibility for its implementation to a staff-
appointed marketing manager. Following the
proven success of marketing as a business tool,
other organizations have followed suit. Non-profit
agencies such as academic institutions, charities,
and hospitals adapted techniques to broaden
their image and to expand their client base. Philip
Kotler thoroughly explores this subject in his sem-
inal work Marketing for Non-profit Organiza-
tions.

Librarians have become increasingly recep-
tive to the idea of applying marketing techniques
to the library setting. Marketing seminars and
workshops draw overflow crowds. A new publica-
tion, Marketing Library Services, has been an
overnight success, finding a need and filling it. As
Sharon LaRosa, Editor, states oPerhaps because
of the need to ensure the library's continued
existence, or a desire to enhance our own profes-
sional image, more librarians are recognizing that
marketing can help them achieve the success they
desire.�

Authors addressing the specific needs of
libraries are Cosette Kies, and Darlene E. Wein-
gand, Professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Marketing and Public Relations for Libraries
and Marketing/Planning Library Information
Services are the respective titles they recently
published. The former is a theoretical approach
to promotion of libraries and deals with some of
the issues involved. The latter work is a more spe-
cific approach to structuring marketing informa-
tion service delivery. Another excellent work is
Strategic Marketing for Libraries A Handbook
by Elizabeth J. Wood. Increased interest in mar-
keting information services also seems to be on
the ascendancy because of the burgeoning com-
petitive environment facing libraries.

Public libraries in North Carolina have under-
taken several basic marketing efforts. Community
Analysis, The Planning Process, Output Mea-
sures, and Planning & Role Setting for Public
Libraries have all been useful tools for auditing
the community and the library. Marketing re-
quires such auditing. Those libraries that have
utilized these tools are in a much better position
to move on to a full scale marketing program.

Marketing is a positive force in the distribu-
tion of limited resources. Marketing, at its best,

152"Fall 1988

determines the customerTs need and fills that
need with the right product. Wasteful dormant
resources can be elminated. In retailing, turnover
and shelf space are parts of the equation for bot-
tom line profitability.

Marketing is a positive force
in the distribution of limited
resources.

Library Promotion

While it is an accepted fact that the media
generally treat libraries favorably at every oppor-
tunity, the opportunities only arise because they
are created by the library. Media do not aggres-
sively pursue libraries for news of feature mate-
rial. Thus, it becomes necessary for the library, in
order to have a consistent publicity and public
relations program, to appoint a public relations
manager. This person establishes proper relations
with the media and is familiar with deadlines. It is
unfortunate that a coordinated public relations
program of this type is rare in small and medium
sized libraries.

Library promotion has been a marketing
mainstay for years. Library promotional efforts
have linked programming activities with publicity.
When the promotional effort does not result in
appreciable gains in new users or increased circu-
lation of materials, interest wanes. Promotional
activities, however, tend to rise and fall when
administrations change. In many libraries each
department is responsible for its own publicity,
thus creating an uneven image of the library. This
uneven approach, lacking in focus, can do little to
improve the library's image in the community.
Internally generated, without a clear idea of the
targeted audience, this method seldom generates
a sizable or loyal following.

Often interchanged with promotion is public
relations. Kies in Marketing and Public Relations
for Libraries sets forth some distinctions regard-
ing closely related terms including public rela-
tions, promotions, advertising, publicity, selling,
community relations and, of course, marketing. A
word about public relations and its relationship
to marketing is needed. The emphasis in public
relations is on the image, while the emphasis in
marketing is on the needs of the customer. When
the library has satisfied customer needs it has
also built loyalty and has improved its image.

A word about selling and its relationship to
marketing also is needed. Once referred to as the
salesmanTs salesman, Arthur oRed� Motley, former
president of the National Chamber of Commerce

and president and publisher of Parade Magazine,
operated under this personal credo: oNothing
happens until somebody sells something.� If
things are going to happen in libraries, somebody
had better sell something. The director sells the
county manager on the proposed budget. The
department head sells the director on the need
for additional. staff, and so on. Persuasion is sell-
ing in sheepTs clothing. There are soft sell and
hard sell approaches. Marketing tends to empha-
size a soft sell approach. Libraries, by providing the
products and services the public needs, sell them-
selves when it comes to budget time.

In Summary

This overview of marketing in the library
environment has attempted to call attention to
the totality of the marketing process. To market
or not to market is a decision to be reached only
after much consideration of cost-benefit factors
based on a full understanding of what is involved.
This article, hopefully, has created a greater
awareness of the administrative role in imple-
menting a marketing program. Marketing is not
simply an assignment or delegation. Administra-
tive commitment and involvement are impera-
tives. Peter Davis states in the Journal of Library
Administration, oLibraries at the Turning Point:
A willingness to take risks can only arise out of
confidence in the process, in the ability of some-
one to manage the process, and a good sense of
what ought to be done when complexities arise.�

The basic steps toward implementing a suc-
cessful library marketing program are:

1. Acquire a full knowledge of marketing
processes.

2. Adopt a marketing mindset.

3. State the commitment to the marketing
program.

4. Coordinate the long range plans with the
marketing process.

5. Gather support.

6. Introduce the plan and enlist assistance.

7. Oversee, evaluate, and change.

One parting thought. Remember twenty-six
percent (the percentage of the public who are
library users) is not a majority. They might be
loud but they are still not a majority. The problem
needs attention. Remember Proposition 13 or a
more recent event"the closing of Shasta County
Library in California!

References
Arnold, S. E. Standards of Information Marketing: Theory and

Tactics for Information Professionals. Special Libraries
Association paper (June, 1988) Louisville, KY.

Ashton, D. oMarketing and Communications: Activities that
Support Library Growth.� Arkansas Libraries (December,
1985): 13-6.

Brisfjord, L. G. oThe Four Environments of the End User: Market-
ing Implications.� ASIS 23 (September-October, 1986): 45-7.

Davis, P. oLibraries at the Turning Point: Issues in Proactive
Planning.� Journal of Library Administration (Summer,
1980): 15-24.

Dragon, A. and Leisner, T. oThe ABCs of Implementing Library
Marketing.� Journal of Library Administration. 4 (Winter,
1983): 33-47.

Fjallbrant, N. oPromotion and Marketing of Library Services.�
IATUL Proceedings; Delft, Netherlands, 1985.

Goodman, F. E. oGoodbye, Patrons ... Hello, Customers.� North
Carolina Libraries 45 (Winter, 1987): 206-9.

Gothberg, H. M. oUnderstanding Marketing"Or Why You Can't
Sell Libraries Like Kitty Litter. Library Administration
and Management (March, 1987): 56-60.

Grunewald, J. P. Developing a Marketing Program for Librar-
ies. Clarion, PA: Clarion State University, 1983.

Kies, C. Marketing and Public Relations for Libraries. Metu-
chen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1987.

LaRosa, S. Marketing Library Services. HarrodTs Creek, KY.

Lynch, C. K. and Rockwood, P. E. oMarketing Strategy for Chil-
drenTs Services.� Public Library Quarterly (Fall-Winter,
1986): 27-40.

Norman, O. G. oMarketing Libraries and Information Services:
An Annotated Guide to the Literature.� RSR (Spring, 1982):
69-80.

Sherkow, S. oMarketing Library and Information Services.� Min-
nesota Libraries 28 (Winter, 1985-86): 106-8.

Weingand, D. E. Marketing for Libraries and Information Agen-
cies. Norwood, NJ, 1984: Ablex.

Weingand, D. E. Marketing/Planning Library and Information
Services. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1987.

Weingand, D. E. oThe Role of Marketing in the Future of Rural
Public Libraries.� Illinois Libraries 68 (October, 1986): 490-
9.

Wood, E. J. Strategic Marketing for Libraries: a Handbook.

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988. cl

be superperson

use your library

Fall 1988" 153

Marketing the Special Library:
A Perspective

Barry K. Miller

The marketing of the special library in the
corporate setting offers numerous opportunities
and challenges for the resourceful information
professional. In many types of libraries, marketing
is the sign of exceptional leadership. It is the
aggressive, proactive library which markets its
services and reaps the rewards of that marketing.
In the corporate setting, however, marketing is
often a matter of survival, for in few other settings
is the very existence of the library ever called into
question. Few of us can imagine an educational
institution or a community without a library; but
many businesses can and do survive without
them. It is incumbent upon the corporate librar-
ies, therefore, to ensure that the corporate library
is properly marketed to serve the needs of the
company in such a way that it becomes viewed as
essential, as opposed to merely desirable. This
type of marketing requires a clear understanding
of both marketing principles and corporate prior-
ities. It requires some thought to determine how
the library may contribute toward meeting these
priorities and the marketing which is undertaken
must be vigorous and ongoing.

Marketing principles require that one identify
and define both the market and the product to be
offered. While this may seem obvious in the case
of a library, closer examination indicates that it is
not. The market may be employees of the com-
pany of which the special library is a part; but it
may also include suppliers, customers, an indus-
try, or the public at large. In a large company, it
may be only certain groups or departments, not
the whole company. The product of the library
may be the provision of timely information ser-
vice, but which subjects will be covered? What
kind of information? Are there competing suppli-
ers already within the company, such as man-
agement information systems or records manage-
ment? Are there external information suppliers
or external libraries which provide service to the
company? These and other factors will define or
delimit the services needed and offered by the

Barry K. Miller is Manager for the Marketing Research Intel-
ligence Center, RJR Tobacco USA in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina.

154"Fall 1988

corporate library. In most cases, the corporate
library cannot be all things to all people. Neither
resources nor management support will permit
such an approach. As in most endeavors, it is
important for the corporate library to under-
stand and define what it does, and to do it well.
This does not preclude a broad range of services
or a flexible approach, but it does mean that they
should be well conceived and attuned to the
needs of the market and the opportunity for suc-
cess,

A key element in marketing the corporate
library is an understanding of how the business
person within the company might use the library.
In my own experience, I have categorized corpo-
rate library usage as follows:

1. Project Work"involving a distinct begin-
ning and resolution, in which information gath-
ering is often critical to the initial stages. Project
work typically involves the expenditure of signifi-
cant amounts of time and resources as opposed
to more conventional reference work. One exam-
ple might be the client who has a new assignment
and needs some guidance in starting to work on
it. Another example might be the creation of a
merger and acquisition team which requires large
amounts of very specific data to make a decision
affecting the future direction of the corporation.
Project work offers the potential for significant,T
immediate impact on the client or corporation
and thus is a good tool for marketing the libraryTs
services and resources. The earlier the librarian
can be involved in the project, the greater the ser-
vice which can be provided. Ideally, the librarian
should be part of the project team and be kept
up-to-date on the projectTs progress, at least
through the information gathering phase. The
ability to become part of such a team establishes
the client relationship between the librarian and
the business person and elevates the librarian to a
level at which peer interaction may develop. The
traditional library/patron relationship is a dis-
tinct handicap in the corporate setting and
implies a passive rather than active relationship
between the library and other departments
within the company.

2. Competitive Intelligence"involving the
gathering, organizing, and disseminating of
information on competitive companies to deter-
mine their strengths, weaknesses, strategies,
present status, and future directions. Similar in
many ways to project work, competitive intelli-
gence usually involves continuing the flow of
information to the client, thus developing com-
munication and feedback mechanisms to ensure
that information gets to the proper clients and is
timely and usable. Competitive intelligence has
become a popular buzzword in American corpo-
rations during the last few years. Membership in
the Society of Competitive Intelligence Profes-
sionals has gone from almost nil to several
hundred in two years. It is important that com-
petitive intelligence professionals understand the
role of library services in meeting some of their
needs. Indeed, many corporate libraries direct or
work hand-in-hand with the competitive intelli-
gence function. The opportunities for interaction
and mutual growth are significant.

A key element in marketing
the corporate library is an
understanding of how busi-
ness persons within the com-
pany might use the library.

3. Environmental Scanning and Current
Awareness"in which the library assumes respon-
sibility for keeping key clients informed of devel-
opments in their areas of interest and respon-
sibility. In most other libraries, the responsibility
for accomplishing this current awareness objec-
tive lies with the client. In the corporate library, it
may be the responsibility of the librarian to learn
the clientTs interests and to be proactive in provid-
ing information to him or her. The use of selective
dissemination of information profiles with online
data bases is one useful tool to provide this kind of
service without its becoming overly labor inten-
sive. As a cautionary note, it must be remembered
that the busy executive usually has limited time
to read, so the information provided must be con-
cise and targeted.

4. Fact-checking and Reference"in which
the special library acts much like a reference
desk in any other library, providing relatively
quick answers to specific questions. This kind of
fact-checking is frequently involved in the devel-
opment of press releases or company publica-
tions. As any newspaper library in particular
knows, this can be an extensive responsibility

requiring rapid response to a high volume of
inquiries.

5. Personnel and Management Develop-
ment"ihrough which the libraryTs services and re-
sources are available to the client to improve that
clientTs managerial skills and career develop-
ment. This is an issue whose importance to the
client should not be forgotten by the corporate
librarian, who will almost always want to develop
friends with bright futures in the corporation. The
ability to assist in solving a time management
problem or learning the latest thinking on a man-
agement technique may be quite important to the
client. While the same information may be avail-
able from another type of library outside the cor-
poration, the ability to provide it reinforces the
idea of the corporate library as a source of one-
stop shopping to meet the needs of the business
person for work-oriented information.

6. Document Delivery"through which the
library provides access to specific articles, books,
or reports, either from its own collection or from
external sources. In the typical corporate setting,
this work usually means the establishment of
rapid delivery systems, as the corporate client
often needs the information quickly or not at all.
My own experience shows that, generally, busi-
ness people need specific documents, and scien-
tific or research and development personnel
simply want answers. As a result, there is height-
ened emphasis on the ability to identify and con-
tact outside experts to obtain answers rather
than focusing on documents. While one does not
wish to diminish the value of documents, be they
internal reports, journals, books, or data bases, it
must be remembered that the corporate libraryTs
product is within the limitations of its market"
information"in whatever form that might take,
including the spoken word of an expert in the
field. The presence of both an adequate long-dist-
ance telephone budget and a solid awareness of
the expertise of people within the librarianTs own
company can be as important in providing infor-
mation to a client as a reference book or an online
data base.

It is the aggressive, proactive
library which markets its ser-
vices and reaps the rewards of
that marketing.

Several adjustments in library practice may
serve to improve the librarianTs ability to market
the library in one or more of the above ways. First,
the librarian may wish to emphasize services

Fall 1988" 155

rather than resources when marketing the special
library. Few special libraries are self-service; few
clients receive much bibliographic instruction.
Rather, the client of the special library may call or
inquire for information itself, not just guidance in
locating it. The librarian is thus in the role of
mediating between the client and the resources.
In our library, we often illustrate this point with
the admonition that our role is to find the infor-
mation as quickly and thoroughly as possible,
while the clientTs role is to use it to make deci-
sions.

... the librarian may wish to
emphasize services rather
than resources when market-
ing the special library.

Secondly, the corporate librarian should be
prepared to package the information obtained so
that it is as useful as possible to the client. Such
packaging may include preparing executive sum-
maries and annotations, highlighting key points
or especially pertinent citations, and generally
ensuring that the client does not simply receive a
pile of data or citations. The transfer of informa-
tion from corporate librarian to client should be
made as convenient and useful as time and
resources can permit. If the information is un-
intelligible to the client, it is useless. Seen in this
light, the carefully compiled company dossier is
clearly more important than a bibliography of
articles on the company.

Third, the corporate librarian should seg-
ment the market. That is to say, one must deter-
mine which clients can best be served by the
library and serve them intensively. Some corpo-
rate functions simply need the library function
more than others. In general, strategic functions
such as executive management, planning, new
product development, research and development,
and marketing will need the libraryTs services
more than tactical departments such as the build-
ing office, shipping, or warehousing. As the corpo-
rate library itself often falls under tactical
functions, it is particularly important that the
librarian develop sources of support, as oneTs own
management may have comparatively little need
for library services. Unlike the public library, for
example, the corporate library is not under a
responsibility to serve all people equally. Rather, it
has the freedom to segment its market and seek
the niches in which it can render the greatest ser-
vices. Those niches vary from company to com-
pany and from time to time.

156"Fall 1988

Finally, the corporate librarian must respond
quickly and remain flexible. The current business
environment requires that corporations be as
adaptable as possible. Organizational structures
change, as do the people to whom the library
reports, and it is important that the corporate
librarian not become too enamored of that which
he or she has created or of a particular organiza-
tional pattern. While many business people seem
not to expect librarians to have it, the character-
istic of flexibility is one which modern corpora-
tions value highly.

In summary, the marketing of the special
library is not simply one of a number of things
which the librarian does, such as personnel selec-
tion, budgeting, or writing the annual report.
Rather, it must be integrated into the entire
structure of the library's operation. Brochures,
presentations, tours, orientations, office visits,
surveys, library committees, and other such tech-
niques are certainly part of marketing the library;
but one must recognize that a marketing phil-
osophy really must drive the libraryTs operation.
Just as a marketing-driven company integrates
that philosophy into all areas of the company,
from research and development to manufactur-
ing to personnel, so too must the special librarian
allow marketing considerations to develop the
library itself, from what services are offered to
what resources are bought to what kinds of peo-
ple are hired to work in the library. The successful
company always keeps in mind the wants and
needs of its customers"it does not often simply
develop a product and then try to figure out who
might buy it. One must remember that the special
library does not exist to preserve and store
information which is not useful to the corpora-
tion. However significant the role of archives of
learning may be for other libraries, the corporate
library must always be aware of the companyTs

needs in order to survive. a

Book Week

November 14-20, 1988

Promoting Services in North Carolina
Community College LRCs

Nancy C. Rountree

The fifty-eight community colleges in North
Carolina differ in many respects. The regions in
which they are to be found vary from the moun-
tains to the coast and their settings include
urban, suburban, and rural. Student body size
ranges from a little over 100 to over 15,000.1

Each of these community colleges houses a
library, sometimes known in North Carolina as a
Learning Resources Center or LRC. These LRCs
have much to offer their users. Books, periodicals,
microforms and audiovisual materials are avail-
able for research and leisure activities. The avail-
ability of computers is increasing for personal use
and for online searching, as well as for reference
sources on CD-ROM or laser disc. Interlibrary ser-
vices and networking provide additional informa-
tion beyond that available in one particular
library.

The community college LRC serves a non-res-
ident student population involved in programs
that vary from auto mechanics to college prepar-
atory. There are also a number of continuing edu-
cation courses offered, such as sewing, notary
public, and aerobics. Many of these are taught on
off-campus locations. Students attending these
classes may never come to campus. Moreover,
unless an assignment is made which involves the
use of library materials or facilities, it is possible
that some students might complete programs
without ever having entered the LRC.

But how does the wser of the LRC learn of the
services offered? Can the non-user or those with
little previous experience be reached? In consult-
ing the library literature for information on mar-
keting the services of community college LRCs,
there was very little to be found. It was possible
that the answers to these questions could be dis-
covered by querying the LRCs themselves; there-
fore, a survey was conducted to determine what
marketing activities were occurring in the LRCs in
North Carolina. The survey was funded by the
Department of Library and Information Science
at East Carolina University.

Nancy Rountree is assistant librarian at Coastal Carolina
Community College, Jacksonville, N.C.

Methodology

In October, 1986, a questionnaire was used to
gather information on how the community col-
leges in North Carolina made both users and non-
users aware of their services. Accompanied by a
cover letter to explain the purpose of the survey,
a questionnaire was mailed to the head of each of
the LRCs. For purposes of this survey, marketing
was defined as any effort to reach out to library
staff, faculty, administration, students, and mem-
bers of the community. The questionnaire was
short, consisting of the front and back of one
sheet. The questions were simple with a variety of
possible answers to be checked. Some left space
for brief explanations. A comprehensive question
was included, containing a list of ways in which
services might be advertised, and participants
were asked to check as many as applied. At the
end of the questionnaire, space was provided for
comments.

Results

The rate of return for the questionnaire was
excellent. Of the fifty-eight questionnaires, fifty-
two (89 percent) were returned. In answer to the
comprehensive question listing ways to advertise
services, fourteen of the eighteen items were
checked over 50 percent of the time. Items which
were the two most frequently checked were orien-
tation sessions (94 percent) and distribution of a
onew materials� list (90 percent). The latter, how-
ever, was distributed mostly to faculty and admin-
istration, although some LRCs post copies for
studentsT perusal. Another popular activity was
library tours, which were given by 88 percent of
the LRCs. In addition, eighty-two percent of the
respondents have a new materials shelf or cart,
seventy-six percent provide a handbook of servi-
ces, and seventy-three percent make subject bib-
liographies available. Suggestion boxes (36 per-
cent) and regular columns in the campus news-
paper/newsletter (19 percent) were the least
frequently checked items.

The results were broken down by area to see
if LRCs in urban areas with larger student bodies

Fall 1988" 157

and closer proximity to other libraries have dif-
ferent marketing strategies than LRCs in rural
areas or small towns (Table I). An area was
defined as rural if the population was under
2,000, small town if the population fell between
2,000 and 10,000, and urban if the population was
over 10,000. Orientation sessions were used by
100 percent of the LRCs in rural areas and small
towns, but only by 87 percent of the LRCs in
urban areas. Urban area LRCs indicate that new
material lists were the most popular means of
advertising holdings (91% percent). The most
noticeable differences were in the handbook of
services which had a response rate of 84 percent
for rural areas and 86 percent for small towns,
while urban areas showed a response rate of only
66 percent. With subject bibliographies, small
towns and urban areas rated this 86 percent and
75 percent, respectively, while rural areas had a
response rate of only 53 percent. Proximity to
other libraries proved to have no bearing on the
results.

TABLE I.
Breakdown by Area

SR RARITIES TET, ELE TN SES TE TSS TTS� PRR I CER EE I STINE PY SEI

rural small urban

area town area
pot edt SN Sa ta, HARE ny eer ON. SNR ENE eT
orientation sessions 100% 100% 87%
new materials list 84% 93% 91%
library tours 92% 86% 87%
new material shelf/cart 92% 84% 83%
handbook of services 84% 86% 66%
subject bibliographies 53% 86% 75%

SERA SSCL P:R ES SE TILE SNES

A breakdown by student body size (Table II)
showed that in LRCs serving student bodies of
2,000-2,999, new material lists were checked most
often (100 percent). Orientation sessions, library
tours, new material lists, and displays all shared
top-ranking (100 percent each) in LRCs serving
student populations of 3,000 or more. Orientation
sessions were checked more often in LRCs serving
student bodies of less than 2,000 (98 percent).

TABLE II.
Breakdown by Student Body Size

1,000- 2,000-

1-999 1,999 2,999 3,000+
orientation sessions 93% 93% 92% 100% -
new materials list 80% 87% 100% 100%
library tours 80% 87% 84% 100%
new material shelf/cart 80% 75% 92% 87%
handbook of services 73% 81% 84% 62%
subject bibliographies 73% 62% 69% 87%

SER OA SC A AE POL A FCM I EC

Another aspect of the survey dealt with mar-

158" Fall 1988

keting to the community. Providing services to
community members could help in recruiting new
students and could gain benefactors for the LRC
as well as for the school. On the other hand, it
may be felt that community college LRCs are
primarily for the students and faculty, and com-
munity service should not interfere with this pur-
pose and should not be actively pursued. When
asked, oDo you actively market your libraryTs ser-
vices to members of the community?�, 62 percent
checked yes. Even though all of these LRCs are
within ten miles of a public library, it was indi-
cated that as members of the community, offering
services to community members, whether full or
limited, was a part of their duties.

The extent of community services varies from
LRC to LRC. One school promoted the availability
of audiovisual hardware and software to local
business and civic groups at their regular meet-
ings and also hosted various groups in the LRC.
This LRC had also provided extended research
for several motion pictures that were filmed in
the state and had a museum provided by com-
munity patrons. Others provided orientation ses-
sions for community groups. Radio, TV and/or
local newspapers had a response rate of 53 per-
cent in this category and were used to promote
special services that were offered and also to
announce hours of operation. One LRC used this
medium to advertise its DIALOG service.

Respondents were asked to provide informa-
tion on other things they were doing that did not
appear on the questionnaire. One LRC sent mem-
orandums to faculty about new services, used
bookmarks that were placed at the circulation
desk and were also placed in books as they were
checked out to promote library hours and Polar-
oid camera availability. They had an art display
by a North Carolina artist from the area which
attracted people to the LRC. Another conducted
information sessions for any teacher who re-
quested them. These sessions focused on the spe-
cific subject area of interest to the faculty
member. Exhibits at shopping malls were also
mentioned.

Respondents were also asked to utilize the
comment section of the questionnaire to discuss
any aspect of marketing the LRC they wished.
Comments received included: oStaff members are
trained to offer service, service, service . . .�; oWord
of mouth is important. Talking to patrons on
campus.�; oA friendly smile and a hello to students
and faculty as they come through the library en
route from one building to another is probably the
most effective. All staff and work-study students
are permanently pleasant.�

Conclusion

Data indicates that LRCs were indeed utiliz-
ing various methods to market their services.
While some of these methods, such as orientation
sessions, were aimed directly at the student user;
others, such as the handbook of services, edu-
cated not only the student, but the faculty
member as well. Still other methods indirectly
reached the student through faculty members.
For example, once faculty members have become
aware of new acquisitions through the onew
materials� list, they may suggest supplementary
readings or sources for reports, term papers, or
speeches to their students.

It was not surprising to find that orientation
sessions were used 94 percent of the time. This is
a reliable method used by librarians from elemen-
tary school through college level. An occasional
column by librarians in the campus newspaper/
newsletter is a good way to reach out to students
who are in programs that do not use the LRC,
even though resources for these students exist.
This method rated only 61 percent and might be
something that more LRCs should consider doing.

It was surprising to see that urban areas and
schools with student bodies of 3,000+ were not
utilizing a handbook of services. Tables I and II
show only 66 percent and 62 percent, respec-
tively, in this category. Since these are used fre-
quently in college and university libraries, the
researcher expected the usage to be greater in
the larger community colleges as compared with
smaller ones; however, this was not the case.

Some good ideas surfaced when participants
were asked to name things they were doing that
were not mentioned in the questionnaire. The
researcher particularly liked the idea of sending
memorandums to faculty announcing new servi-
ces"when the support of our faculty members is
gained, it becomes easier to reach students. The
fact that there were not many suggestions given
was disappointing. The researcher hopes that this
suggested a lack of time for elaboration on the
respondentsT part rather than the lack of unique
ideas.

Additional comments centered around the
basic foundation of public relations in the LRC"
that of making people feel welcome. We can have
the latest in technology and a wealth of knowl-
edge at our fingertips, but it is basically useless if
people do not feel free to walk through the door
to use it.

Marketing is only a small part of the activity
of the LRCs of the community colleges in North
Carolina, but it is an important part. With the

increase in services offered, we should look for the
best ways of promoting these services. Time spent
on marketing is not wasted if it gains an addi-
tional user.

Reference

1. PetersonTs Annual Guide to Undergraduate Study: Two Year
Colleges 1986, Princeton, N.J.: PetersonTs Guides, 1985.

RSE SRR REET TEI EIT BT RL SO TT

Survey
1. This community college is located in a:
"" rural area (under 2,000) _"_ urban area (over 10,000)
"" small town (2,000-10,000)

2. Approximate size of the student body:
"" to 999 "" 2,000-2,999
"" 1,000-1,999 "" 3000+

8. Approximate number of miles from community college to:
a. Public library
" within ten
" 10-20
"" more than 20
b. College or university library
"" within ten
"" 10-20
"more than 20
c. Other library (please specify)
"" within ten
" 10-20
"" more than 20

Would
you
keep
her
from
flying
on

Halloween?

BANNED
BOOKS

WEEK
SEPTEMBER 24-
OCTOBER 1, 1988

Fall 1988 " 159

4. Do you actively market your libraryTs services to members of
the community?
Yes
await 0}

5. In what ways do you achieve public relations? (please check
as many as apply)
"" suggestion box
"" newsletters
a. made available to:
a~facuity
"" students
estat
"" administration
"" other (please specify)
b. is distribution through:
"" pick up by interested party
"" distributed to persons on a list
" mail
"" other (please specify)
"" regular column in campus newspaper/newsletter
"" occasional column in campus newspaper/newsletter
"" new material shelf or cart
"" new material list
a. distributed to:
"" faculty
"" students
"" administration
"" other (please specify)

"" orientation sessions
a. for:
"" faculty
"" students
"" other (please specify)
"" library tours
"" slide/tape orientations
"" individual
"" group
"" bulletin boards
"" displays
"" handbook of services
"" for faculty
"" for students
"" handbook of usage
"" for faculty
"" for students
"" Subject bibliographies
"" other in-house publications (brochures, pamphlets, etc.)
"" literature searches
"" staff meetings
"" radio, TV, and/or local newspaper (please specify how
used)

"" other (please specify)

Comments:

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160"Fall 1988

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WomenTs Round Table

Xx"

A Tool for Measuring Success

Carol Myers

The Public Library of Charlotte and Meck-
lenburg County included fourteen questions in a
telephone survey of Mecklenburg County resi-
dents conducted by the Urban Institute of the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte in
October 1987. The Urban Institute conducts the
survey annually, and participants share the costs
of the survey and the statistical analysis of the
results.

The Public Library of Charlotte has partici-
pated in the survey twice, once in 1983 and again
in 1987. In 1983, the libraryTs administration
wanted to evaluate the local political and social
climate prior to placing a $11.2 million dollar bond
issue for a new main library and three branches
before the voters. In 1987, a $2.3 million dollar
bond for a new regional branch in southeast
Charlotte was on the November ballot, and the
survey provided information on the publicTs likely
response to the bond. The results of the 1987 sur-
vey and their usefulness are the focus of this arti-
cle,

The Urban Institute surveyed and reported
the answers of 850 residents of Mecklenburg
County to 14 questions the library designed. The
full text of the questions and the results are
included in the appendix. The results are statisti-
cally valid +/- 4 percent at 98 percent confi-
dence level (that is, if the survey were conducted
100 times, the results would fall within the 94 per-
cent to 100 percent range 98 times.) The Urban
Institute used a number of techniques to mini-
mize possible skewing, including employing random
digit dialing and setting a quota on three-digit tele-
phone number prefixes to insure that persons
from all areas of the county were sampled. The
library received both the statistical results of the
fourteen questions the library included and cross
tabulations with other demographic and voter
information collected as part of the survey.

Some of the findings of the survey confirmed
assumptions and instincts we already had about
our patrons and community. We know we are
generally well-liked; the question becomes how
well-liked? When asked oHow important do you

Carol Myers is head of technical services for the Public
Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Caro-
lina.

feel the library system is to our community?�, 84.1
percent found it to be overy important,� the
strongest measure one could choose. For other
questions, our expectations were based more on
hope. When asked if respondents would support
more government funds being spent to improve
library services, 78.9 percent gave a positive
answer.

The 118 cross tabulated reports yielded valu-
able information. From cross tabulations, we
found that the Public Library of Charlotte and
Mecklenburg County is overy important� to the
countyTs population regardless of age, sex, or race.
Not surprisingly, the trend is that those with more
years of education are stronger supporters and
users of the library. Those with a college educa-
tion showed the strongest support for providing
more funds to improve library services. Re-
sponses showed that, as a group, those twenty-five
to thirty-four years of age made the highest per-
centage of visits to the library"five to ten visits a
year.

Other figures touched areas that we might
not have instinctively known. For example, in
comparing the omore funds to improve library
services?� question with income range, the highest
percentage of agreement was the group reporting
a $10,000 - $19,999 annual income, although all
income groups agreed by at least 73.2 percent.
More blacks support additional funds for improv-
ing library service than whites by 87.0 percent to
77.1 percent.

Cross tabulations specific to voter registra-
tion information found that, of those registered to
vote, 85.3 percent believed the library to be overy
important.� Further, of those who oalways vote,�
78.1 percent stated that more government funds
should go to the library to improve service. For
those with children, the figure goes up to 81.6 per-
cent. A higher number of registered voters use the
library than those reporting themselves as not
registered.

Several of the figures prompted a closer look.
For example, 73.4 percent of the respondents
said they used the library within the last year. The
figure may be high. Perhaps the ohalo effect� was
at work here. Did that many respondents actually
use the library, or were they giving an answer that

Fall 1988" 161

they felt was the oright� or obest� answer? The
wording of that question was wide open, and a
more specific question or a follow-up question as
to what use was made of the library might be
more valuable in a future survey.

The library did choose carefully the wording
of the question, oWould you be willing to see more
government funds spent to improve public library
services in Mecklenburg County?� We envisioned a
much lower positive response had we asked,
oWould you be willing to pay higher local taxes to
improve public library services in Mecklenburg
County?�

When the results of the phone survey were
reviewed, we were cautiously pleased with the
respondentsT positive attitudes towards the li-
brary. The survey indicated that the libraryTs bond
would pass based on the 78.9 percent of the
respondents who were willing to see more
government funding spent on public library servi-
ces. And the bond did pass handsomely. With a 40
percent voter turnout, 77 percent of those voting
voted yes for the $2.9 million library bonds.

Had the survey indicated that the political
climate was cloudy or uncertain for the bond, the
Friends of the Library, the library board, and/or
the bond campaign committee would have had
useful information available to address the nega-
tives. Even more importantly, they had the demo-
graphic information from the survey to identify
those more likely to vote for the library. Then
their efforts could (and did) concentrate on
reaching those voters who support the library to
encourage them to go to the polls and vote. As it
was, the survey's report of an apparently bright
outlook allowed those advocating the bond to
speak confidently and emphasize the benefits of a
new regional branch.

Was the survey helpful to us? Was it worth
the cost? Did it tell us anything we did not already
know? The answer to all three questions is yes.
The survey confirmed in valid and believable
numbers that the residents of this county were
positive about their public library and its services.
We believe they still are. The UNCC telephone sur-
vey was a valuable tool for pinpointing the pub-
licTs perception of the library within the prevailing
political climate. If the ultimate measure of suc-
cess for a public library is a high level of public
approval, then this telephone survey verified for
us the library's success at that one point in time.
We do not intend to rest on our laurels. Participa-
tion in a future UNCC Urban Institute survey will
allow us to measure how well we do.

162"Fall 1988

Survey

1. How important do you feel the library system is to our com-
munity? Would you say it is very important, important, some-
what important or not important?

a. Very important 84.1%
b. Important 12.4%
c. Somewhat important 2.9%
d. Not important 0.4%
e. DonTt know 0.2%

2. About how far from your home is the nearest public library?
Is it less than one mile, 1-2 miles, 3-5 miles or over 5 miles from

your home?
a. Less than 1 mile 21.1%
b. 1-2 miles 34.8%
c. 3-5 miles 30.6%
d. Over 5 miles 10.9%
e. DonTt know 2.6%

3. Would you be willing to see more government funds spent to
improve public library services in Mecklenburg County?

a. Yes 78.9%
b. No 16.0%
c. DonTt know 5.1%

4, Have you or any member of your household used any branch
of the Mecklenburg Public Library, including the Main Library, in

the past year?
a. Yes (ask questions 5-10) 73.4%
b. No (ask questions 11-14) 26.1%
c. DonTt know 0.5%

5-9. (If Yes) We would like to know the age groups of persons

who use the library. Thinking of the ages of yourself and family

members who have used the public library in the last year.
(percentages listed for those reporting at least one)

5, How many users are 12 and under? 11.1%
6. How many users are 13-17? 14.1%
7. How many are 18-29? 18.1%
8. How many are 30-50? 20.1%
9. How many are over age 50? 7.1%

10. Please estimate the total number of library visits or calls
made by yourself and household members in the past year.
Would you say the number is less than 5, 5-10, 11-20, or over 20?

a. Less than 5 21.5%
b. 5-10 30.8%
ce. 11-20 22.4%
d. Over 20 24.5%
e. DonTt know 0.8%

11. (If no one has used the library) Do you agree or disagree
with the following statement:
11. Library branches are too far from my home

a. Agree 18.1%

b. Disagree 75.7%

c. DonTt know 6.2%
12. Library hours are not convenient

a. Agree 12.8%

b. Disagree 70.8%

c. DonTt know 16.4%
13. I donTt know where library branches are located

a. Agree 14.6%

b. Disagree 79.2%

c. DonTt know 6.2%
14. ITm too busy to go to the library

a, Agree 43.4%

b. Disagree 50.4%

c. DonTt know 6.2%

IM
al

Serving Older Adults in North Carolina
Public Libraries: A Survey

Diane G. Thompson

Older adults have particular challenges in
the aging process characteristic of their age
group. These may include coping with role loss,
reduced income, declining health, social isola-
tion, and the negative attitude of society towards
aging. In addition many older adults have the
added burden of becoming mentally or physically
disabled.

Information can play a vital role in helping
the older adult understand and cope with these
challenges. In a study of reading interests and
activity of older adults, Elizabeth Grubb con-
cluded that those adults who are active readers
have a variety of interests and have an easier
time adjusting to the problems of old age.T An-
other conclusion she made (after comparing
reading interests of older adults with younger
adults) was that oreading interests and activity
of older adults are distinct enough to call special
attention by public libraries with regard to staf-
fing, to budgeting, and to programming.�

The purpose of the present study is to provide
information about older adults which can aid
library administrators in North Carolina to
evaluate current services, and to plan for future
programs and services. This document, although
not exhaustive, seeks to supply information
about types of library services and programs
currently available to older adults and reasons
why certain libraries in the state find success in
their programming for older adult patrons.

*Elizabeth Grubb, oReading Interests and Activity of Older
Adults and Their Sense of Life Satisfaction� (Ph.D. Dissertation,
North Texas State University, 1982).

t Ibid. :

Survey Scope

The present survey is limited to the 108 pub-
lic library systems in North Carolina listed in the
Statistics and Directory of North Carolina Public
Libraries, July 1, 1984 - June 30, 1985. This
includes fifteen regional libraries, fifty-one county
libraries, forty-one municipal libraries and one

Diane G. Thompson is a circulation assistant at Greensboro
Public Library in Greensboro, N.C. This paper was written as
part of the requirement for completion of Ms. ThompsonTs
MLS at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Indian reservation library.

The services and programs listed in the sur-
vey include: 1. those offered by public libraries in
the 1971 National Survey of Library Services to
the Aging for the Cleveland Public Library;!
2. those found by a comprehensive inventory of
Services for the Elderly in the Illinois Public
Libraries (1980) (published in 1981);? and 8. pro-
grams and services identified by Betty J. TurockTs
study of Public Library Services for the Aging in
the Eiighties.®

Services and programs are limited to those
provided directly for older adults and do not
include regular or routine services such as
general circulation and reference services. Ex-
cluded, also, are book lists concerned with or spe-
cifically for older adults.

The Literature

Betty Turock finds that most of the literature
on older adult services in the public libraries is
limited to descriptions of isolated programs and
is not integrated. To clarify she says, oif they (ser-
vices) were more widespread they would be
reported as aggregates, not through specific site
descriptions and through statistical compilations
not single cases.�

This paper will summarize results of two
major surveys influencing choices of services/
programs for inclusion in the present survey, and
describe local examples of those services/pro-
grams. The two major surveys are the 1971
National Survey of Libraries to the Aging,T and
Services for the Elderly in the Illinois Public
Libraries, 1981.°

1971 National Survey

The purpose of the 1971 National Survey of
Library Services to the Aging was oto determine
the scope of library services rendered to persons
over sixty-five by public libraries and libraries at
state and federal institutions.� The study em-
phasized public library service. Three hundred
and ninety libraries that appeared to offer
exemplary services to the aging were chosen.®
From the data gathered by questionnaire, (of the
244 libraries that responded, 211 reported offer-

Fall 1988 " 163

ing services to older adults), three broad catego-
ries of services were documented: 1) extension
services including books by mail, bookmobiles,
personal home or bedside delivery, deposit collec-
tions in service centers, nursing homes, and
apartments for the aging; 2) group programs
sponsored by the library (held in the library or
alternative places such as nutrition sites, service
centers, drop-in centers, homes for the aging; and
3) special materials and equipment for the hand-
icapped (talking books and large print items).®

The survey documented that extension serv-
ices, largely delivery to the impaired aging,
accounted for about 66. percent of services ren-
dered; group programs about 20 percent of the
services; and special material about 12 percent!°
These results show that the majority of services
offered were largely outreach to impaired older
adults.

... those adults who are
active readers have a variety
of interests and have an eas-
ier time adjusting to the prob-
lems of old age.

1981 Illinois Survey

A task force of the Illinois State Library
undertook in 1980, a survey of Services for the
Elderly in Illinois Public Libraries. When com-
pared with the libraries chosen in the 1971 survey,
the following may be noted:

1) The Illinois study addressed all public
libraries in the state as opposed to the nationwide
study of 1971 which chose only exemplary public
libraries. Because of this, almost all of the public
libraries responding to the 1971 Survey could
report some servces to older adults while only
thirty-seven percent of Illinois libraries reported
services.

2) The Illinois study defined oolder adults,�
60+; the 1971 Survey, 65+ oJust how significant.
this difference is would be hard to measure
exactly, but it is generally agreed that library use
declines with age.�!!

3) Categories of services derived from data
differed. However, some means of comparison
was possible.'�

The following statement by Casey is impor-
tant. oThe Illinois survey accomplishes in-depth for
the public libraries in one important state what
an update of the 1971 survey might have done for
all American public libraries.�!? There is presently
no national update of the 1971 Survey. Further

164"Fall 1988

she says, oalthough one cannot assume that all
states are as enlightened as Illinois about library
services to the aging, ... the 1981 study may at
least point the direction which public libraries are
taking in service ...� to older adults.4

Comparison of Services in 1971 and 1981 Surveys

Casey has attempted to match services from
the 1971 survey to the 1981 survey.!® She
includes the three categories of service of the
1971 Survey together with estimated percentages
of responding libraries providing these services.
Individual services provided by the 1981 Illinois
Survey are given with percentages of libraries
responding. Some services of the 1981 survey
could be compared with the three categories of
the 1971 survey, while others required a category
of their own, oActivities Not Categorized in
National Survey.�!* This category adds services for
consideration for the present study and leads to a
more indepth analysis of older adult services in
North Carolina. Further, the addition of this cate-
gory shows that services to older adults are mul-
tiplying. Casey says that, in Illinois, special
services to older adults grew from 40 libraries
(identified by the 1971 Survey) to 219 libraries (in
the 1981 Survey). In 1971 an estimated 3 percent
of American public libraries were providing
extension services. However, this percentage
appears to have increased greatly. In the 1981
Survey, 66 percent of the libraries were offering
homebound service. Group programs grew from
an estimated 2 percent of American public librar-
ies (1971) to almost 50 percent of Illinois libraries
(1981).17 Casey emphasizes the provision of
information and referral, and consumer and
health education programs as widespread in Illi-
nois libraries by 1981, although these were not
included in the 1971 study.!8

Casey surmises that, because of the increase
in the number of services, public libraries today
are more aware of the information needs of the
aging. Nevertheless, more awareness is neces-
sary. That is, oa substantial majority of Illinois
libraries are not fully aware of their elderly popu-
lation, are not cognizant of the network of agen-
cies providing services for the aged, are not
providing innovative programming for the elderly,
are not fully utilizing the various media to pro-
mote, inform and attract this group.�°

Illinois is a progressive state that Casey de-
scribes as being more enlightened than other
states?! regarding library services to older adults.
If this is indeed true, how many and what types of
services can be expected from other enlightened
states such as North Carolina! That is, what per-

centage of public libraries in North Carolina will
offer the various services? The present study
seeks to address these questions.

Site Descriptions

Betty J. TurockTs study of Public Library Ser-
vices for Aging in the Eighties�* lends significance
to services chosen for the present study. She
determines that since the 1971 survey, onew pro-
grams have developed to serve older adults which
are responsive to their needs ... 2 Her study con-
centrated on collecting examples of library servi-
ces. By collecting these, she sought to illuminate
the character of a given service and, thus, to pro-
vide a framework from which oto design new
directions for library services for the aging in the
emerging decade.� Her citings of specific situa-
tions will be included within the context of des-
cribing oServices/Programs/Activities� and will
lend significance to the importance of providing
such services.

Services/Programs/Activities
Services/Programs/ Activities to older adults
will be discussed categorically: those listed by
1. the 1971 National Survey include, a. Exten-
sion, b. Group Programs, c. Special Materials;
2. those Activities Not Categorized in the 1971
National Survey but Included in the 1981 Illinois
Survey; and 3. Other Services of notable impor-
tance, taken largely from Betty TurockTs 1981
study. Included in this last category are services
listed by Celia Hales?® and Stephen Jefferies.�

Extension Services

Extension Services may be defined as those
services initiated within the library but taken out-
side the library to people who are unable to come
to the library for reasons such as lack of transpor-
tation, poor health, and physical disabilities; and
institutions that serve older adults at locations
not in the library itself (churches, senior centers,
etc.).

The importance of these services should not
be underestimated. Wendy Robinson notes that
older adults tend to be physically and psychologi-
cally isolated from society.?T Isolation can cause
feelings of rejection.*®

Extension services can play a major role in
combating isolation and feelings of rejection by
keeping the older adult in touch with the world.
The Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie,
New York supplies materials via station wagon to
shut-ins, nursing homes, drop-in centers, govern-
ment sponsored meal sites, private homes, and
residential housing units.2® Materials include reg-

ular and large print books, magazines, music and
spoken word recordings, framed art prints, and
films.®° Other programs include deposit collec-
tions, books-by-mail, and transportation to carry
older adults to the library for programs and activ-
ities. Today some libraries provide bookmobiles
with hydraulic lifts to bring persons in wheel
chairs into the truck to view films and borrow
materials.*!

Group Programs

Group Programs may be defined as library
programs designed to reach large groups of older
adults at one time, rather than serving a single
individual (e.g. bedside service). The advantage of
group programming is that it provides an effec-
tive way to meet information and entertainment
needs,22 while being cost effective.®? Further, it
alleviates the need for the older adult to oask� for
information. oAsking� is often interpreted by the
older person to mean odependency.�

One of the most innovative programming
techniques was developed by the Baltimore
County Public Library (BCPL). Prepackaged pro-
grams of professionally produced films and slide
shows are grouped into specific programs of
interest to older adults.3 Accompanying the films
and slides is the manual, Gray and Growing, with
step-by-step guidelines for optional scripts, dis-
cussion questions, activities, and resources.*
Examples of programs include: crime prevention,
health, gray conciousness, nutrition, remember-
ing past events, art, crafts, and sexuality.%�
Recently Generations, which highlights news and
events of the the BPCLTs community, was intro-
duced.*8

Other group programs include preretirement
programming,®® book talks, book reviews, story-
telling, music appreciation, poetry and creative
writing, drama, religious programs, games, and
bus trips.*°

... the majority of services
offered was largely outreach
to impaired older adults.

Special Materials

Special Materials are primarily directed to
the impaired older adult. Many reasons exist for
providing services to the impaired. Public Law 89-
522 says that the National Library Services users
oshould have access to the same books and infor-
mation made available to the non-handicapped.�*!

The National Library Service (NLS), through
56 regional and 102 subregional libraries, sends

Fall 1988" 165

materials to public libraries. For example, the
Greensboro (North Carolina) Public Library re-
ceives a deposit collection of talking books
(cassettes and flexible disks) from the North
Carolina Regional Library for the Blind and Phys-
ically Handicapped in Raleigh, which in turn
received materials from the National Library Serv-
ice.

Interagency cooperation is
most important in meeting the
comprehensive needs of the
older adult.

In addition to those services provided by NLS,
Greensboro Public Library purchases large print
books and magazines, provides replacement equip-
ment to patrons while their machines (cassette or
record player) are being sent to Raleigh for repair,
and maintains a vertical file of information on
problems of blindness available for blind patrons
and their families. Large print items are also sent
with the general circulating materials to the
homebound.

Some libraries, like BaltimoreTs Enoch Pratt
Free Library, provide more in-depth service. A
specially-equipped center for the visually and
hearing impaired includes a Kurzweil Reading
machine, a telephone/teletypewriter unit, and a
Visualtek device which magnifies items.42 Radio
Reading programs are popular in Seattle, Washing-
ton. One program is Food Facts which presents
lists of grocery advertisements of the best buys for
the week.*8

Activities Not Categorized in the 1971 National
Survey but Included in the 1981 Illinois Survey

The most pertinent activities from the 1981
list of services for the present study are: Informa-
tion and referral; adult basic education; and oral
history programs.

Information and Referral

Information and referral is defined by Chil-
ders as ofacilitating the link between a person
with a need and the service, activity, information
or advice outside the library which can meet the
need.�44 The present writer interprets this to
mean that public libraries cannot provide oall�
information. Thus, in keeping with its philosophy
of oservice to all,� the public library must tap other
sources (agencies, organizations, etc.) in order to
adequately serve its older adult patrons when
local sources are lacking.

Information and referral was mandated by

166"Fall 1988

law in the 1973 Amendment to the Older Ameri-
cans Act to help older adults through a maze of
agencies. That is, due to the numerous agencies
that serve older adults, information and referral
services provided by the public library can direct
an older adult to the osource� that could most
probably meet his needs. The Older Adult Act
calls this oconvenient access.�45 An example is the
Forsyth County (North Carolina) Library System
that offers information and referral to link older
adults to educational sources on topics like travel
and death. MarylandTs public library systems pro-
vide information and referral related to part-time
jobs, business and restaurants offering senior citi-
zen discounts, tax advice, health care, and lists of
local recreational opportunities.**

Online information and referral is provided
by some public libraries. Turock says that, while
online data bases cannot provide interpretation
chelpfulness of human interaction with the librar-
ian), they can provide a regular update of services
and a broad information file for dissemination.
Online services at Monroe County (New York)
Library System provide directory of human ser-
vies.*T Because of online services, Hale encourages
the public library to serve as a single access point
for cooperating agencies. The older adult can
make one request at the library, and the compu-
ter will identify all programs and services avail-
able for a given older adultTs needs.*8

Oral History

Oral or spoken words are valuable when
researching the history of a town or area. An
older adult who lived through a certain time
period can provide first-hand knowledge otherwise
unavailable. Joint ventures of younger genera-
tions with older adults can help break stereotyp-
ing and show the older adults as viable resources
to the community. Hale suggests interviewing the
older adult.4® Certainly the younger generation
could accomplish this. Taping the interview for an
oral history collection could preserve information
for others.

Adult Education

Adult education is the second pertinent
activity from the 1981 Illinois Survey. In order to
remain a viable resource to society, the older

The library profession is not
adequately training librarians
in the aging process and its
problems.

adult must have the opportunity to sharpen old
skills and develop new ones.®° Whether the older
adult chooses formal education through a local
college, university, or community college, or
whether he/she chooses the informal route of
self-education, the public library should be avail-
able to help. Through information and referral
service, the public library can play an important
role in advising and referring the older adult to
the appropriate educational institution. Converse-
ly, the public librarian and the older adult can
jointly plan a self-paced experience via public
library programs and resources.

Whether learned formally or informally, cer-
tain areas of notable importance should be
included in older adult education. Stephen Jeffries
describes some areas of need:*!

1. Financial education is needed to deal with the
unexpected drop in income at the time of retire-
ment. Incomes can drop as much as fifty percent
and continue in a downward slope as the years
pass. While income drops, inflation rises, espe-
cially in the areas of food, housing, medical care
and transportation.�

2. Work and Retirement. The older adult must be
prepared for the fact that retirement omarks the
end of ... a relationship between the kind of work
an individual does and the kind of lifestyle and
livelihood he enjoys.�** Preretirement education
can help ease the change to a potentially lower
standard of living.

3. Health. Many older adults experience a decline
in health and, consequently, a limiting of physical
activities. Costs of medical care go up as the indi-
vidual grows older. Common chronic illnesses
afflicting the older adult include arthritis, rheu-
matism, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma,
hay fever, diabetes, chronic bronchitis, and
ulcers. Education about health problems can
help the older adult understand and cope with
them.

4. Nutrition. As a class, older adults do not eat
well. Reasons for not eating well include poverty,
physical and mental illness, isolation (meals are
associated with social activities), physical disabil-
ities, immobility and lack of transportation to get
to the proper foods.® Knowledge of nutritional
needs may help the older adult seek transporta-
tion to grocery stores or to seek such services as
Meals on Wheels or meals at senior centers (the
latter providing a social atmosphere).

5. Consumer Fraud. Older adults should be edu-
cated to protect themselves from such scams as
phony medicine hustlers, land swindlers, dubious
home improvement schemes, ocures� for arthri-
tis, and the selection of faulty hearing aids.*®

To conclude, educating the older adult is
important. Knowledge of the aging process and its
challenges can keep the older adult viable to the
community. That is, if the older adult knows what
is happening within himself (physically, men-
tally,) and outside himself (the community), he
can be better prepared to meet the challenges of
aging. Educating the older adult can help in pro-
ducing a happier, more satisfied individual with a
better self-concept.®�

Examples of formal educational programs
for older adults include: 1) the Fromm Institute
Sor Lifelong Learning, affiliated with the Univer-
sity of San Francisco, which provides opportuni-
ties to individuals fifty years and older to pursue
academic work in the humanities and liberal arts:
2) the Institute for Retired Persons of the New
School in New York City, which uses retired
teachers, lawyers, and doctors to conduct their
own programs; and, 3) the Elder-Hostel, a net-
work of over five hundred institutions in the Uni-
ted States and Europe, offering low-cost, short-
term residential academic programs for older
adults who are at least sixty years old.°§ Programs
such as these could be provided through informa-
tion and referral services from the public library.
Self-paced programs offered by the public library
can include advice from the librarian about var-
ious activities for inclusion. Examples have
already been mentioned such as the Gray and
Growing program provided by the Baltimore
County Public Library.®®

Gerontological concepts
within library literature are in
a stage of infancy.

Other Services

The final category of services for inclusion in
the present survey is oOther Services.� While they
are largely derived from the work of Betty Turock
(Public Library Services in the Eighties), other
services, notably those from TurockTs studies in
Serving the Older Adult, studies by Celia Hales,
and Stephen Jeffries will be included as well.
These services are: bibliotherapy, inter-agency
cooperation, intergenerational activities, educa-
tion for service providers, career and employment
information service, services to ethnic groups,
and removal of architectural barriers.

Bibliotherapy. Rhea Rubin defines biblio-
therapy as oa program of activity based on the
interactive process of media and the people who
experience it. In bibliotherapy print or nonprint
material, either imaginative or informational, is

Fall 1988 " 167

experienced and discussed with the aid of a facil-
itator. Its goal is either insight into normal devel-
opment or changes in emotionally disturbed
behavior.�®! Within the public library, the librarian
may lead group discussions around the problems
of aging which can lend insight into what is onor-
mal behavior� for elders. If a patron is emotion-
ally disturbed, the librarian contributes as part of
a clinical team of therapists and other mental
health workers in hope of changing the odisturbed
behavior.� The Santa Clara County (California)
Public Library provides bibliotherapy services as
an outreach service to older adults in convales-
cent hospitals.

Interagency Cooperation. According to John
Balkema, interagency cooperation includes two
major components: coordinated service delivery
systems and liaison between agencies to develop
and run programs. Coordinated service delivery
ois a network of community agencies and organi-
zations linked together so that individuals, using
the agency of their choice, will receive any needed
guidance and help in finding and choosing
appropriate services in the community ... to meet
the spectrum of their personal needs.� The goal
of coordinated services is to look at the older
adult as a whole person with a variety of needs
that interconnect. One example is the coordi-
nated services of public libraries and senior cen-
ters. oCenter literature and publicity are dissemi-
nated from the library and the library serves both
the needs of the centerTs patrons and the profes-
sional information needs of the staff�66

In regard to liaison and developing programs,
othe public library may be a resource for pro-
grams to other agencies; it may develop programs
using resources of other agencies; or it may col-
laborate with other agencies to develop and oper-
ate programs in liaison.�67 One example of the
latter is the Daniel Boone Regional Library in
Columbia, Missouri, which became the advisor to
an information and referral service set up by the
Council on Aging.® The library advised the agency
on how to locate service agencies, the type of
information needed from these agencies, and the
organization of information for ease of access.®

Another example of liaison and cooperative
programming is the BRAVO program, oBringing
Reading to the Aging through Volunteer Out-
reach,T in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. More than
fifty volunteers are mobilized to provide services,
including library services, to over three hundred
homebound individuals.� The service is publi-
cized through librarians accompanying home de-
livered meal programs to talk to potential patrons
about the integrated service programs, and

168"Fall 1988

through advertisements on radio, newspaper, bil-
Iboards, window displays, and civic events.7! In
Brooklyn, New York, the Public LibraryTs project
SAGE (Services to the Aging) is part of the cityTs
coordinated delivery system. Books and other
materials are delivered through othe Friendly Vis-
itor� and oMeals on Wheels� programs.� Intera-
gency cooperation is most important in meeting
the comprehensive needs of the older adult. No
one agency can do it all. Good relationships
between cooperating agencies is essential in order
to provide adequate services and programs for
the elderly.

Intergenerational Activities. Intergeneration-
al activities are those activities performed when
various age groups act together. In the case of the
older adult, programs utilizing their services can
help promote these individuals as viable resour-
ces to the community. One example is found in
the Newton (Kansas) Public Library where the
older adult is used as an expert resource person
for childrenTs interest groups, motherTs discussion
seminars, adult literature programs, and puppet
making.�? In helping to promote oaging aware-
ness� by youth, a mock trial on the statute requir-
ing registration of eighteen and nineteen year olds
was sponsored by VISTAS (Volunteers in Service
to Area Seniors) in the Birmingham-Bloomfield
library system in Michigan.� The jury was com-
posed of high school students and retirees.�

Education for Service Providers. The library
profession is not adequately training librarians in
the aging process and its problems. Turock cities
studies by Kanner and Ferstl. The former gave oa
continued indictment of the failure of the library
profession to adequately absorb and integrate
gerontological (aging process) knowledge into
service provision.� Gerontological concepts within
library literature are in a stage of infancy. Be-
cause of the lack of combining gerontology and
library training, the stereotyping of older adults
remains a distinctive problem. According to
Ferstl, librarians are no different from the general
American public in stereotyping older adults.�
Education of service providers needs more atten-
tion in the eighties.

Career and Employment Information Serv-
ice. Career and Employment Information Service
is important in providing the older adult with the
opportunity to seek the means to a second or
even third career. With inflation rising, especially
in the costs of health care, food, and transporta-
tion, the older adult may need additional income
above his retirement monies. Besides increased
income, there are other positive benefits of being

employed at an elderly age. These include com-
panionship, gratification, enjoyment, and a sense
of value.�

An example of career and employment serv-
ice is a successful network of Job Information
Centers (JIC) in New York State. Located in twen-
ty-two library systems, the network provides basic
services such as supplying the libraries with com-
puterized daily job listings on microfilm.� The
libraries in turn, according to local conditions,
post job listings from private agencies and display
classified advertisements from local newspapers.

Services to Ethnic Groups. Turock says that
programs are targeted to ethnics as an overall
group. In attendance, however, the groups often
include older adults.�® Through these programs,
older ethnic adults have access to bilingual pro-
grams and services and to outreach programs
emphasizing information, education, survival
skills, cultural pride, and communication oppor-
tunities.�9 It is important to remember that these
individuals have a double challenge. They have to
deal with the aging process, and they have to deal
with problems in an English speaking environ-
ment (language barrier). Especially important to
these adults is the maintenance of ties with their
own cultures and countries. The Asian Commu-
nity Library in California has a bilingual project
for its ethnic population. Within the project, bilin-
gual books, magazines, and films become special
to its older adults in preserving these ties.®° Other
examples of library service include large print
cards with phone numbers of community services
(for a Spanish speaking population in Texas),®!
and the provision of skilled translators and inter-
pretors.®

Removal of Architectural Barriers. The last
area of the oOther Services,� category is concern
for architectural barriers which have the poten-
tial to limit or prevent physical access to the
library building itself by older adults, especially
the impaired. Turock says, owhile legislation has
mandated attention to removing architectural
barriers in public buildings, lack of funds has
limited all but recently constructed libraries and
a handful of others from fulfilling that mandate.�®*
There are some libraries that do offer special help.
Turock cites the Montgomery (Alabama) Library
which provides sliding doors, rounded corners,
and furniture tested for safety.*4 She also men-
tions the need for ramps, elevators, automatic
doors and specially designed restroom facilities.®

Summary of Literature
Betty Turock says that there is an oabsence of

comparable current data on the status of service�
when studying the needs of older adults. Data
consists of isolated site cases. While progress has
been made in the number of services offered,
(since the 1971 and 1981 surveys), the services are
not widespread. Further, she says, the library pro-
fession has failed to adequately absorb geronto-
logical knowledge into librarianship. Knowledge
of the aging process can aid in breaking down the
stereotyping of older adults, and can promote
these adults as viable resources to the commu-
nity. Turock does believe that public libraries are
headed in the right direction. That is, they are
beginning to use older adults as resources.
Further, libraries are beginning to provide older
adults with information, programs, and materials
necessary to keep them in the omainstream� of
life.

Casey says that even with the increase in the
total number of services, a substantial majority of
libraries (in the case of the Illinois Survey) are not
fully aware of their elderly population; and agen-
cies providing services to older adults do not pro-
vide innovative programming, and do not fully
utilize media to advertise their services. It is the
intent of the present survey to provide informa-
tion on services to older adults in North Carolina
in the hope that library directors will provide
innovative programs for this needy patron class.

Services Offered by North Carolina Public
Libraries

As noted above, Casey felt that the 1981 Illi-
nois Survey accomplished in-depth for one state
what an update of the 1971 National Survey might
have accomplished.®T That is, the Illinois survey
showed a significant increase in services to older
adults since the 1971 survey. The present survey
will serve to reinforce this observation of in-
creased services in North Carolina (1986).

Of the 108 public libraries surveyed in the
state of North Carolina, 93 or 86 percent provide
services to older adults. Although this figure
represents multiple responses per library, it is
representative of the fact that a majority of public
libraries participate in providing services to their
elderly clientele.

Table 1 lists in order services that are most
frequently offered and those least offered to older
adults in North Carolina public libraries. Only five
services received responses from over half of the
libraries. Four of these, large print books, ramps,
bookmobile service, and talking books, appear to
address impaired older adults. One may consider
asimilar situation noted by Casey, that extension
services of the 1971 National Survey generally

Fall 1988 " 169

TABLE 1
Percentage of Libraries in North Carolina State Providing Service

SE NT SE IE ES SI RE LE EE ES PRN L TEE P TT A UE EPS E

% of Libraries

Service Provided Providing Service
Large print books 95%
Community agencies files 66%
Ramps 59%
Bookmobile service 59%
Talking books 56%
Library sponsored visits to nursing homes, etc. 49%
Genealogy searches 47%
I & R to other agencies offering informational courses 47%
Home delivery service 43%
Storytelling 43%
Job Listings 41%
Newspaper advertising of services 40%
Rooms with climate control mechanisms 35%
Nursing homes (coordinated service delivery) 32%
Deposit collections 30%
Community activities files 29%
Senior citizen clubs (coordinated service delivery) 28%
I &R to universities/colleges offering formal courses 26%
Other programs 22%
Provide educational opportunities for staff on OA needs 22%
Craft programs 20%
Prepackaged programs of films, slide shows, etc. 20%
Nutritional programs (coordinated service delivery) » 20%
Booktalks 18%
Meeting rooms with high intensity lighting 18%
Books by mail 16%
Music programs 16%
Financial programs 16%
OA participation in planning services 16%
Council on Aging (coordinated service delivery) 15%
Survey OA patrons for their preferences in services 15%
oHow to use the libraryT programs 14%
Funding agencies files for OA services 14%
Current events programs 13%
GED programs (educational) 13%
How often OA were surveyed for preferences 13%
Intergenerational programming 11%
Oral history programs 11%
Consumer education programs 11%
Poetry and Creative Writing programs 10%
Other extension services 10%
Special telecommunications devices for the deaf 10%
Travelogues 9%
Other ways of advertising , 9%
Health programs 8%
Nutritional education programs 8%
Advisory service 8%
Large print items in a foreign language 6%
Bibliotherapy 6%
Other OA educational opportunities 5%
Other facilities 5%
Aging process (gerontology) programs 4%
Translators/interpretors for OA in special ethnic groups 4%
Drama programs 3%
Other Career and Employment Information for OATs 3%
Other services for OATs in special ethnic groups 3%
Other coordinated service delivery with other agencies 3%
Transportation for OATs to the library 2%
Religious programs 2%
Games 2%
Work and retirement programs 2%
Other files 2%
Radio reading programs 1%
NN ee
170"Fall 1988

addressed the impaired®® and that, in fact, two-
thirds of the responding libraries in both the 1971
and 1981 studies emphasized extension to the
homebound or to institutionalized older adults.®
Based on the above services, it appears that North
Carolina public libraries are following the same

trend.
By integrating extension and special mate-

rials one may see that, of the top four services to
the impaired, homebound/institutionalized, large
print books, talking books, and bookmobile serv-
ices are generally provided by all sizes of public
libraries in North Carolina (Table 2 and Table 3).
To be more specific, over half of all public libraries
offer large print books, and over half of the large
and medium libraries offer talking books and

Congress) via the State Library in Raleigh. This
may account for the fact that even small libraries
with limited operating funds and staff are able to
provide large print books and talking books to

their elderly. It is also notable that the small
libraries can provide at least some bookmobile
service.

Indeed, from the above information, North
Carolina is following the trend noted in the pre-
vious surveys in emphasizing extension service to
the impaired. The importance of emphasizing this
service is that many impaired elderly may not
potentially become as physically and psychologi-
cally removed from society. In extension areas
not integrated with special materials, North
Carolina (1986) is actually offering more services
than Illinois in 1981. This shows that libraries, at
least in North Carolina, are beginning to become
more aware of older adult needs in the area of
extension. Special materials, (e.g., talking books
and large print books) not integrated with exten-
sion, are generally well represented in the 1971
National Survey (2.8 percent of all U.S. libraries,
Appendix B). Among North Carolina public
libraries not integrating extension service, large

TABLE 2
Number of Libraries Providing Various Extension Services, Cross Analyzed by the LibraryTs Size

Extension Service Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)
Bookmobile service 12 (30%) 16 (76%) 26 (84%) 55 (59%)
Library sponsored visits to nursing homes 9 (23%) 13 (62%) 23 (74%) 46 (49%)
Home delivery service 10 (25%) 9 (43%) 21 (68%) 40 (43%)
Deposit Collections ie (18%) 10 (48%) 10 (32%) 28 (30%)
Books by mail 3 (8%) 3 (14%) 9 (29%) 15 (16%)
Other library extension services such
as: house to house visits: programming
in nursing homes: visits to hospitals:
films at location 2 (5%) 1 (5%) 6 (19%) 9 (10%)
Transportation for older adults to the
library 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (2%)

Coordinated service delivery with other
agencies such as:

Nursing homes 8 20%
Senior citizen clubs/centers 8 20%
Nutrition programs 3 8%

Council on Aging 5%)

38% 13 (42%) 30 (32%
24%) 13 42%) 26 (28%)
(19% 10 (32%) 18 (19%)
5%) Il (35%) 14 (15%)

TB] OU OO

Other service delivery such as:
adult day care: cooperation with

the department of social services f (3%)

0 (0%) 2 (6%) 3 (3%)

Fall 1988"171

libraries did, however, provide some service
(Table 3).

An area of need is in the realm of programs
for older adults. Programming for the elderly is
important in order to reach more adequately a
large number of individuals, thereby providing
them with one way of integrating themselves
socially. Entertainment and informational needs
can be met in a supported communal atmos-
phere, thus aiding the fight against feelings of iso-
lation and rejection that often come with older
adult living.

Of the three surveys, none indicated that over
half of their libraries provided programming ser-
vices. This may indicate that over half of their
libraries provided programming services. This
may indicate the need for improving services.
Casey, however, does see a growing trend in
increasing service. She said that ogroup programs
offered in 1971 by two percent of all U.S. public
libraries were provided by almost fifty percent of
Illinois libraries in 1981.� North Carolina (forty-
three percent) statistics remain consistent with
IllinoisT. Furthermore, because North Carolina has
maintained this consistency, growth in providing
programming has not significantly diminished
since 1981 (Table 4).

oActivities Not Categorized in National Sur-
vey� category in the 1981 Illinois Survey was a
potpourri of services offered in that state.
Appendix B includes a variety of new services not
given in the 1971 study, an indication of new
interests in services to older adults. Although the
present study does not match this category item

for item (Tables 5-10), general trends can be eval-
uated and lend credence to the statement that
North Carolina has continued the trend of becom-
ing more aware of older adult needs in varied ser-
vices than the previous surveys.

Information and referral (I&R) services,
unlike the 1971 study, were present in both the
Illinois and North Carolina surveys. I&R is impor-
tant in helping older adults through a maze of
organizations/agencies in order to effectively put
the elderly in contact with resources the library
itself does not provide. Illinois reported a thirty-
nine percent response for its category of I&R.
The North Carolina study, (Table 5), divided this
category into: 1) Career and Employment (the
greatest response to a service in this area by the
state, 42 percent); 2) Adult education (the grea-
test response to a service in this area by the state,
47 percent); and 3) Files of various community
items (the greatest response to a service by the
state, 66 percent). Although the categories can-
not be compared exactly between the 1981 and
1986 surveys, it can be stated generally that North
Carolina is providing more I&R services.

Regarding library sizes in North Carolina, the
larger the library, (especially those with more
operating expenses and staff), the more I&R serv-
ices were offered. Conversely, the small libraries
with limited funding and staff provided less serv-
ice.

Service to older adults in special ethnic
groups is a new survey category in 1986 and was
recognized as important in retaining ethnic ties
with each individualTs culture and country.�

TABLE 3
Number of Libraries Providing Various Special Materials, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

i ee

Special Materials Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
and Equipment No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)
Large print 35 (88%) 21 (100%) 31 (100%) 88 (95%)
eee
Talking books 14 (35%) 15 (71%) 23 (74%) 52 (56%)
ee
Genealogy searches 16 (40%) 7 (33%) 21 (68%) 44 (47%)

Orr

Other special materials and equipment
such as: circulating collection of
hearing assistive devices; information
on special materials offered by the
State; enlarging machines; table top
magnifiers 3 (8%) 6 (29%) 2 (6%) ll (12%)

"_"_"_"_"_"""""""""""""""

Special telecommunication devices
for the deaf 0 (0%) 2 (10%) + 4 (23%) 9 (10%)

SS SSS SSS SSS SSS

172 "Fall 1988

Although service was provided by less than half of
the North Carolina libraries, the presence of some
services indicates a beginning awareness of the
need to serve this class of older adults (Table 6).
That is, all sizes of libraries are providing a little
service to older adults in ethnic groups, and from
the comments given, some libraries are taking
advantage of the North Carolina Foreign Lan-
guage Center at the Cumberland County Public
Library and Information Center in Fayetteville to
serve their patrons. The large libraries with better
funding and staff provide the most service to
older adult ethnics.

Another new service, bibliotherapy, is helpful
in treating emotionally disturbed older adults.
Table 7 indicates a beginning awareness of inter-
est in this area. A few libraries of all sizes in North
Carolina were represented as providing biblio-
therapy service; the large libraries provided the
most.

Facilities was a new category (Table 8). All

libraries provided rooms with climate control
mechanisms, and generally provided more facili-
ties than the medium and small libraries.

TABLE 4
Number of Libraries Providing Various Programs, Cross Analyzed by the LibraryTs Size

Programs Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)
Storytelling 16 (40%) 10 (48%) 13 (42%) 40 (43%)
Other programs such as: films (in house
and at remote locations): book
discussion groups; summer and
seasonal entertainment programs:
slide shows; story hour (meet the
author); cultural enrichment
programs; aerobic class; teas
sponsored by Friends of the library 6 (15%) 5 (24%) 9 (29%) 20 (22%)
Craft programs 5 (13%) 3 (14%) 10 (32%) 19 (20%)
Booktalks 1 (3%) 4 (19%) 12 (39%) 17 (18%)
Music programs " 4 (10%) 3 (14%) 8 (26%) 15 (16%)
oHow to use the library� programs 3 (8%) 4 (19%) 6 (19%) 13 (14%)
Current events programs 2 (5%) 3 (14%) i, (23%) 12 (13%)
Intergenerational programs 4 (10%) 0 (0%) 6 (19%) 10 (11%)
Oral history programs 1 (3%) 1 (5%) 8 (26%) 10 (11%)
Poetry and creative writing programs 0 (0%) 5 (24%) 4 (13%) 9 (10%)
Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
Travelogues 0 (0%) 5 (24%) 3 (10%) 8 (9%)
Drama programs 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (10%) 3 (3%)
Religious programs 1 (3%) 0 (0%) i (3%) 2 (2%)
Games 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (2%)
Prepackaged programs of films, slide
shows, discussion questions,
activities and resources on particular
topics of interest to older adults 4 (10%) 3 (14%) 10 (32%) 18 (19%)
Locally prepared programs such as:
Financial programs 1 (3%) 2 (10%) 12 (39%) 15 (16%)
Consumer education programs 1 (3%) 0 (0%) 9 (29%) 10 ( 11%)
Health programs 1 (3%) 2 (10%) 4 (13%) or (8%)
Nutritional programs of (3%) 2 (10%) 4 (13%) 7 (8%)
Other programs such as: gardening
local history, entertaining 3 8% 1 5% 1 3% 5 (5%
ing process 0 0% 0 0% 4 (13%) 4 4%
Work and retirement 0 0% 0 0%) 2 6%) 2 2%
Radio reading programs (special ;
programs for the visually impaired) ir (3%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) A (1%)

Fall 1988 " 173

TABLE 5
Number of Libraries Providing Various Information and Referral Services, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

SPE SSS SSS SSS SSS ST SSS

I&R Services Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)

KKK neni

I&R to Career and Employment
Inforamtion:

Job Listings ui (18%) 12 (57%) 20 (65%) 39 (42%)
Advisory service 3 (8%) 1 (5%) 3 (10%) 7 (8%)

Other career and employment
information such as: civil service
test books; microfiche of job
openings 2 (5%) 1 (5%) 0 (0%) 3 (3%)

nn

I&R to Adult Education opportunities:
I&R to other agencies offering

informal courses 12 (30%) 8 (88%) 23 (74%) 43 (46%)
I&R to universities/colleges 10 (25%) 3 (14%) ll (35%) 24 (26%)

GED (General Educational
Development programming) 6 (15%) 2 (10%) 4 (13%) 12 (13%)

"_"_"_"_"_""_"" eee -::_OCO nn nm mk "_"

I&R Files:

Community agencies 19 (48%) 15 (71%) 27 (87%) 61 (66%)
Communities activities 8 (20%) 3 (14%) 16 (52%) 27 (29%)
Funding agencies 2 (5%) 2 (10%) 9 (29%) 13 (14%)

Other I&R files such as: community
directory for I&R; government
addresses; club rosters;

Elderhostels; travel advice 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 1 (3%) 2. (2%)

Facilities service is an area of need. Proper Marketing or advertising library services to the
access to and through the library building can elderly was a new category. Many older adults
increase use by the elderly who otherwise would may be unaware of services available from their
avoid the physical inconvenience of steps and local library. Table 9 indicates the need for
other physical barriers. Turock said that olack of increased awareness by library directors in mak-
funds has limited all but recently constructed ing their services visible. The need is made evident
libraries� from removing architectural barriers.%2 by the fact that advertising in the newspaper was
Clearly North Carolina has overcome this diffi- the only marketing service provided by over half
culty in some libraries, but further improvements of the well funded, large libraries. The remaining
could still be made. services were provided by less than half of all sizes

TABLE 6

Number of Libraries Providing Various Services to Older Adults in Special Ethnic Groups, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

SSS

Services to Ethnic Groups Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)

OO)

Large print items in a foreign

language 1 (3%) 0 (0%) 5 (16%) 6 (6%)
err OC rr
Translator/interpretors 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 3 (10% 4 (4%)

eee

Other services to older adults in
special ethnic groups such as: refer
special language need to or ILL
from the Foreign Language Collection
in Fayetteville, NC; depository
collection from the Foreign Language
Collection 0 (0%) 2 (10%) Lt (3%) 3 (3%)

SSS st

174"Fall 1988

TABLE 7
Number of Libraries Providing Bibliotherapy Service to Older Adults, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

Bibliotherapy Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)
UE UEE EEE EEE IEEEESEReT
Bibliotherapy t (8%) 2 (5%) 4 (13%) 6 (6%)
RS SL PT NP EE ERS SD MN A ATT RATT TT TEA EE ID
TABLE 8

Number of Libraries Providing Various Facilities to Older Adults, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

Facility Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)
eS
Ramps 21 (53%) 13 (62%) 21 (68%) 55 (59%)
a EEE
Rooms with climate control mechanisms 8 (20%) 6 (29%) 19 (61%) 33 (35%)

Sn ee UU EI EE I UIE EER DR SEEEEEEE SESS SESE

Meeting rooms with high intensity
lighting 7 (18%) 2 (10%) 8 (26%) 17 (18%)

Other facilities such as: library
structure iself designed for the _
handicapped (designed for wheel
chairs, restrooms, etc.) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 4 (13%) 5 (5%)

Automatic doors 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 3 (10%) 4 (4%)

TABLE 9
Number of Libraries Marketing their Services to Older Adults, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

Marketing Service Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries
No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (83%) 93 (86%)
ee
Newspaper advertising 9 (10%) 8 (38%) 20 (65%) 37 (40%)
a
Radio advertising 4 (10%) 3 (14%) 14 (45%) 21 (23%)

Older adult participation in planning
for their own services 5 (13%) 3 (14%) 7 (23%) 15 (16%)

Mail advertising 3 (8%) 1 (5%) 10 (32%) 14 (15%)

Surveying older adults library users
for their prefrences in
programming/services 4 10% 3 14% 7 23% 14 15%

Indicated frequency of surveying
older adults for preferences
(ex. twice a yr; annually, etc.) 4 (10%) 2 (10%) 6 (19%) 12 (13%)

Television advertising 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 9 (29%) 10 (11%)

Other advertising such as: word of
mouth; brochures; librarian speaking
at club programs; monthly
newsletters 3 (8%) 1 (5%) 4 (13%) 8 (9%)

Fall 1988 "175

TABLE 10
Number of Libraries Providing Various Continuing Education Opportunity on the Needs of Older Adults for Staff Members
Who Work with This Age Group, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size

Continuing Education Small Libraries Medium Libraries Large Libraries Total Libraries

Service No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
40 (43%) 21 (23%) 31 (33%) 93 (86%)

Continuing education for staff 4 (10%) 0 (0%) 16 (52%) 20 (23%)

of libraries. Most advertising services surveyed,
however, did receive some response. Libraries in
North Carolina are beginning to offer this service.

The last category for interpretation was con-
tinuing education opportunities for library staff
members on older adult needs. Staff training is
important to insure understanding of older adult
problems and concerns. Table 10 reveals that a
few libraries in North Carolina are beginning to
offer this service and that, in fact, over half of the
large libraries are educating their staffs.

Why Are Some Libraries Providing Better
Service to Older Adults?

The answer to the above question requires
the recognition of factors which influence librar-
ies to positively respond to providing services to
older adults. For reference, libraries serving
70,000+ persons were considered to be large;
those serving 35,000 to 70,000 persons were con-
sidered to be medium sized; and those serving
under 35,000 persons, small. Of the ninety-three
libraries responding, forty (43 percent) were
small; twenty-one (23 percent) were medium
sized; and thirty-one (33 percent) were large
(Table 11.)

TABLE 11
Number of Libraries Responding (93),
Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size
NET SN ALDER TENE KPMG LOS AOC E DEO 8 ZORA OAT RTE ACME RPS NN

Size of Number of ~Percent of
Population Served Libraries Libraries
Small"under 35,000 40 43%
Medium"35,000-70,000 21 23%
Large"over 70,000 31 33%
Unidentified l! 1%

TN FR AC OPT ST CR

Although these three categories present a
fairly equal representation of responses per
library size, the survey deduced that the large
libraries provided more services to their elderly.
Increased library size was the first factor asso-
ciated with a higher level of service to older
adults. In fact, several other factors of library size
and wealth were associated with the provision of
service to older adults; staff size, operating
expenses, and collection size. Based on a sample

176"Fall 1988

group from the ninety-three libraries that re-
sponded, (those with the most, medium, and least
responses of all the questions from the survey),
these other factors will be discussed.

TABLE 12
Average Number of Professional and
Nonprofessional Staff of Sample
Libraries, Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size*

Average Number Average Number
of Professional of Professional
Library Staff (FTE) Staff (FTE)
Small ai 25 " 88
Medium 3.0 9.4
Large 11.6 33.0

Factor number two was the number of pro-
fessional and nonprofessional staff members each
library had. The survey found that the larger the
library, the moreT professional and nonprofes-
sional staff members were provided and the more
services to older adults were offered. Table 12
shows that of the sample libraries which re-
sponded and are providing services to older
adults, more professional and nonprofessional
staff members were present in the large libraries.

TABLE 13
Average Amount of Operating Expenses of Sample Libraries,
Cross Analyses by LibraryTs Size*

Average Responses

Library from Sample Libraries
Small 59,570.8 **
Medium 315,962.5
Large 1,238,040.7

The third positive factor for providing more
services to the elderly was the amount of operat-
ing expenses spent by each library. Table 13 shows
clearly that the large libraries had the most oper-
ating expenses from which to extract funds
needed for resources/services for older adults. A
fourth factor, total volumes (collection size), con-
tributed to providing more services. Table 14 indi-
cates that the large libraries provided more books
than the medium or small libraries. Other factors
such as age,�"� percentage of adult books (collec-
tion size), volumes per capita (collection size),

TABLE 14
Average Total Volumes (Size of Collection)
of Sample Libraries,
Cross Analyzed by LibraryTs Size*

| PBS LEAL IS LET AT II EP AIL OO NATE LEE ETE ICTS ST MERTEN EARL TO
Average Volumes

Library from Sample Libraries
Small 21,581.31 2
Medium 70,923.5

Large 217,833.3

| EE SS NR DA EIRP

and per capita income were considered and
found insignificant in providing increased serv-
ices to the elderly. That is, there was no signficiant
differences between: 1) small, medium, and large
sample libraries as to percentages of their popu-
lations that were sixty-five and over (4 percent -
11 percent), or 2) percentage of adult books
within a collection (70 percent - 74.7 percent)
and increased library size. Volumes per capita did
not influence providing materials. In fact, small
libraries which provided the least services had the
most volumes per capita (4.2) as opposed to
medium (1.6) and large (1.5) libraries. Per capita
income was not a factor. Small libraries offering
less service were provided the most per capita
income (12.29) while the large (8.39) and medium
(7.10) libraries provided less.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it appears that public libraries
in North Carolina are providing more services (68
percent) to older adults than the National 1971
Survey (20 percent of the total U.S. public libraries
responding)® or the Illinois 1981 Survey, (37 per-
cent).% Although there were differences in sur-
veying procedures (for example: the National
Survey included only public libraries that were
thought to offer services to older adults;%� Illi-
nois® and North Carolina surveyed all public
libraries in their states; Illinois surveyed more
services than in 1971; North Carolina surveyed
more services than both previous surveys), trends
could be ascertained that can give insight on pub-
lic library service to older adults since 1971. There
is a trend of increasing services to older adults in
the areas of extension, special materials, and
information and referral. New services were
added from the 1971 to the 1981 survey, and
increased in the 1986 study (such as services to
ethnic groups, bibliotherapy, facilities, marketing
libraries, and educating staff to older adult needs).
Service in the area of programming increased
from 1971, remained constant from 1981 through
1986, and is an area that generally needs more
attention. Moreover, those libraries that were
large, had more professional and nonprofessional

staff members, more operating expenses, and
more total volumes, provided more services than
medium or small libraries in North Carolina.

Appendix A
QUESTIONNAIRE

Does your library offer/provide regularly the following ser-
vices/programs/materials for older adults? (Check only the
items that apply to your library).

1. Extension Services (Outreach) such as
_"_" Home delivery service
"" Books by mail
____ Transportation for older adults to the library
_"_" Bookmobile service
____ Library sponsored visits to nursing homes, senier cen-
ters, churches, etc.
_"_" Deposit collections
"+_ Other

2. Programs: Does your library offer regularly scheduled pro-
grams such as:
____ Intergenerational programming (e.g. those involving
older adults and children).
"" Booktalks
"__ Crafts programs
"" Storytelling
"" Music programs
__" Poetry and Creative Writing programs
"" Drama
____ Current events programs (speakers, etc.)
"_" Religious programs
"_" Games
____ Oral history programs
_____ oHow to use the library� programs
"_" Travelogues
= Other

3. Special Materials: Do you provide:
____ Talking books for the visually handicapped
____ Large print items for the visually handicapped
"" Genealogy searches
____ Special telecommunications devices for the deaf
___ Radio Reading programs
"" Other

4. Other: Do you provide special programs such as:
A. Adult Education opportunities for older adults:

Formal:

____ Information and referral to universities/colleges,
etc.

____ GED (General Educational Development
programming)

Informal (non-diploma oriented):

____ Information and referral to other agencies offering
informal courses (e.g. YMCA, churches, etc.)

____ Prepackaged programs of films, slide shows,
discussion questions, activities, and resources on
particular topics of interest to older adults (e.g.
nutrition, finance, aging process, etc.)

Locally prepared programs of interest such as:
"" Financial programs
"" Work and retirement programs

" Aging process (gerontology) programs
"_ Health programs

"" Nutritional programs
"_" Consumer education programs
"" Other

Fall 1988"177

B. Career and Employment Information for older adults
such as:
"" Job listings
"_" Advisory service
ean 011) eee onal seine as ae Oe PME See ee
C. Services to older adults in special ethnic groups such as:
"_" Large print items in a foreign language
"_" Translators/interpreters (e.g. bilingual staff
members)
wea OUNCY Ss Serengeti sue eho tps
D. Bibliotherapy for the mentally ill and emotionally
disturbed.
ites "_".No
E. Coordinated service delivery with other agencies such
as:
"_" Nursing homes
"" Council on Aging
"" Senior citizen clubs/centers
"" Nutrition programs for older adults (e.g. Meals on
Wheels)
"_ Other
F. Facilities for older adults such as:
~__. Automatic doors
"__. Ramps
"" Meeting rooms with high intensity lighting
""_" Rooms with climate control mechanisms (e.g. heat,
air-conditioning, humidity, draft control, etc.)
"._.. Other

G. Do you advertise your services directly to older adults in
areas such as:
"_" Newspapers
ai Radio
soe,
"" Mail (to older adults and/or to other agencies that
serve them)
"" Other

H. Do you survey older adult library users for their pre-
ferences in programming/services:
ide NOS su2/NG How Often?

I. Do you maintain files on:
"" Community agencies (e.g. phone numbers,
addresses, types of services, materials offered)
"" Community activities (speakers, events)
"" Funding agencies for older adult programming,
materials services.
2 Other

J. Do your older adults participate in planning for their
own services (e.g. serve on advisory committees):
Abas YOR 25 NO

K. Do you provide continuing education opportunities on
the needs of older adults for staff members who work with
this age group (e.g. workshops, programs, forums):
es uLiNo

Appendix B.
eae eeeee errr eS SSS SSS ESS SS
Services Offered by Public Libraries Surveyed in National (1971)

and Illinois (1981) Studies
centennial

Percentage of Libraries
Activities in Sample Offering Service

National Illinois
(1971) (1981)

Extension 54% (211)
(Est. 3% of
all U.S.
Public
Libraries)
Homebound service 66% (161)
Delivery to nursing homes for aged 56% (137)
Deposit collections 23% (56)
Books by mail 13% (81)
Take books to senior citizens meetings ~
& other such sites 1% (3)
Senior citizens transportation to
library 4% (1)
Group Programs 48% (190)
(Est. 2.7%
all US.
Public
Libraries)
Book Talks, reviews, discussion groups 26% (63)
Movie and slide programs 44% (106)
Crafts 12% (29)
Storytelling 5% (12)
Music appreciation 5% (11)
Poetry and creative writing 2% (6)
Drama 2% (5)
Current events 4% (9)
Religious programs 2% (4)
Games 2% (6)
Health programs 1% (2)
Bus trips SoG)

Percentage of Libraries

Activities in Sample Offering Service

National Illinois
(1971) (1981)

Special materials 51% (200)
(Est. 2.8%
of all U.S.
Public
Libraries)
Talking books and other services of the
division for blind and handicapped (44)
Large-print books 5% (11)
Art loans (including sculpture) 39% (95)
Genealogy searches 4% (1)
Activities Not Categorized in National
Survey
Information and referral 39% (95)
Oral history 9% (23)
Consumer education 8% (19)
Adult basic education 7% (16)
Art and other classes 2% (5)
Public library as site for fuel aid
programs 4% (3)
Friends of the library 4% (1)
Radio programs 4% (1)
GED classes 4% (1)
Annual conference 4% (1)
Mean Number of Activities per
Respondent 2.46 4

SSAA SS ATC EE SE MES ES EE PE SAREE TS a, ee

178 "Fall 1988

References

1. Cleveland Public Library, National Survey of Library Serv-
ices to the Aging (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Office of Education,
1971).

2. Illinois State Library Task Force for Library Service to the
Aging. Service for the Elderly in Illinois Public Libraries: A
Survey. Report no. 6 (Springfield, Illinois: State Library, 1981).

3. Betty J. Turock, Public Library Services for Aging in the
Eighties. A 1981 White House Conference on the Aging Back-
ground Paper. (Washington, D.C.: White House Conference on
Aging, 1981). ERIC ED 215 285:26.

4. Ibid.

5. National Survey, 1971. :

6. Illinois State Library, Service for the Elderly, 1981.

7. National Survey, 1971.

8. Genevieve M. Casey, Library Services for the Aging.
(Hamden, Connecticut: Library Professional Publications, 1984),
4l.

9. Ibid., 42.

10. Ibid., 43.

11. Ibid., 46.
_12. Ibid., see chart; 47-48.

13. Ibid., 45.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid., 47-48.

16. Ibid., 48.

17. Ibid., 53.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid., 54, quotes from Illinois State Library Task Force,
Services for the Elderly in Illinois Public Libraries:
A Survey. 25.

21, Casey, 53.

22. Turock, 4.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Celia Elaine Hales, oPlanning for the Information Needs of
the Aging: A Delphi StudyT (Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State
University, 1982).

26. Stephen R. Jeffries, A Model For Service to the Elderly By the
Small/Medium Sized Public Library (Denton, Texas: Center for
Studies in Aging, North Texas State University, 1977).

27. Wendy Robinson, oMeeting the Psychological and Social
Needs of Older Adults: The Library's Role,T Drexel Library
Quarterly 15, (April 1979): 5.

28. Ibid.

29. Turock, cites Esther K. Odescalchi, oLibrary Extension Serv-
ices for Older Adults,� Catholic Library World 50. (February
1979): 290-291.

30. Ibid.

81. Turock, 21.

32. Barbara Webb, oGray and Growing: Programming with Older
Adults� Drexel Library Quarterly 15 (April 1979): 45.

33. Turock, 60.

34, Webb, 45.

35. Turock, 60.

36. Ibid.

37. Webb, 49-50.

88. Turock, 61.

39. Hale, Appendix One.

40. Casey, 47.

41.American Library Association. Association of Specialized and
Cooperative Library Agencies, oAppendix C) Revised Standards
and Guidelines of Service for the Library of Congress Network of
Libraries for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, 1984
(Chicago: American Library Association, 1984), p. 35 discusses
Public Law 89-52.

42. Turock, p. 19 cites oEnoch Pratt Opens Center for the Handi-
capped, Library Journal 105 (February 15, 1980): 462.

43. Turock, cites Serving Citizens with Special Needs. Back-
ground Paper for the White House Conference on Library and
Information Services (New York: New York Public Library,
1980).

44, Thomas Childers, oTrends in Public Library and Information
and Referral Services,� Library Journal 104 (October 1,
1979): 2036.

45. Hale, 39.

46. Turock, cites Roger DeCrow, New Learning for Older Ameri-
cans (Washington, D.C.: Adult Education Association of the
USA, 1974).

47. Turock, p. 57, cites oInformation and Referral Services in the
Public Library,T Drexel Library Quarterly 104 (October 1, 1979).
Entire Issue.

48. Hale, Appendix One.

49. Hale, 30,

50. Turock, 28.

51. Jeffries, 21.

52. Ibid.

53. Ibid.

54, Ibid., 23.

55. Ibid., 27.

56. Ibid.

57. Turock, 31.

58. Casey, p. 20, cites Ruth Weinstock, The Graying of the Cam-
pus: A Report From EFL (New York: Educational Facilities
Laboratories, 1978).

59. Turock, 60.

60. Turock, Serving the Older Adult: A Guide to Library Pro-
grams and Information Sources (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1982).
61. Turock, ibid., p. 137-138 cites Rhea Rubin, ed., Bibliotherapy
Sourcebook (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1978), 3.

62. Turock, Serving the Older Adult, 138.

63. Ibid.

64. Turock, Public Library Services for Aging in the 80's, 18-19,
65. John B. Balkema, oInteragency Cooperation for Services to
Older Adults, Drexel Library Quarterly 15 (April 1979); 32.

66. Ibid., p. 35 cites Betty Ransom Shepherd and John Bal-
kema, oThe Public Library: Another Community Resource,T
Senior Center Report 1, (December 1978); 4-6.

67. Balkema, 35.

68. Balkema, cites Larry D. Weitkemper, oA Library Cooperates
with a Triple A Information and Referral Program.� Paper given
at the Annual Conference of the National Council on Aging,
1978.

69. Balkema, 36.

70. Turock, Public Library Services for the Aging in the 80's, 23.
TI, Aids

72. Ibid.

73. Turock, Serving the Older Adult, 112, cites Serving Citizens
with Special Needs. Background Paper for the White House Con-
ference on Library and Information Services (New York: Public
Library, 1980), p. 6.

74, Casey, 63.

75. Turock, Serving the Older Adult, p. 10 cites Elliot E. Kanner,
oThe Impact of Gerontological Concepts on the Principles of
Librarianship� (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madi-
son, 1972).

76. Turock, ibid., cites Kenneth Ferstl, oPublic Librarians and
Service to the Aging: A Study of Attitudes� (Ph.D. dissertation,
Indiana University, 1977).

77. Turock, Public Library Services for Aging in the 80's, 49
cites Ruth Jacobs, oRe-Employment and Unemployment in Old
Age� Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 11 (1978), 79-80.

78. Turock, ibid., 49.

79. Turock, Serving the Older Adult, 112.

80. Ibid.

81. Turock, ibid., p. 112 cites Serving Citizens with Special
Needs. Background paper for the White House Conference on

Fall 1988"179

Library and Information Services (New York: Public Library,
1980), 26.

82. Hale, Appendix 1.

83. Turock, Serving the Older Adult, 114.

84. Ibid., 115.

85. Ibid.

86. Ibid., 114-115.

87. Casey, 45.

88. Ibid., 43.

89. Ibid., 52.

90. Appendix C lists extension services surveyed by the Illinois
study.

91. Casey, 53.

92. Turock cites descriptions of services to older adults in spe-
cial ethnic groups, p. 17 of the present paper.

93. Turock, Serving the Older Adult, 114.

94. Age information from the sample libraries was averaged
from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, 1980
Census of Population (Washington D.C.: GPO, 1983). Other sta-
tistics were averaged from the Statistics & Directory of North
Carolina Public Libraries, July 1, 1984-June 30, 1985 and where
reports were unavailable from Statistics & Directory of North
Carolina Public Libraries, July 1, 1983-June 30, 1984. Some
statistics were unavailable and were omitted from the averages.

of the United States
in order to...
establish Justice ...

The DN. GRights

IV.

ne people tebe

Caldecott Honor winner Ann Grifalconi has created a full-
color, 25 inch x 37% inch Bill of Rights mural for the ChildrenTs
Book CouncilTs celebration of the bicentennial of the Bill of
Rights. For a full-color brochure that includes price and or-
dering information, send a stamped (1 oz. postage), self-
addressed, #10 envelope to: CBC, P.O. Box 706, 67 Irving Place,
New York, NY 10276.

180" Fall 1988

95. Casey, 45.
96. Ibid.

97. Ibid., 46.
98. Ibid.

*Tables 12, 13, and 14. Statistics and Directory .. . July 1,
1984-June 30, 1985, ibid.
**Tables 12, 13, and 14. Ibid., July 1, 1984-June 30, 1985; Ibid.
July 1, 1983-June 30, 1984. Some statistics were unavailable and

were omitted from the average. al
(ae

ER SRI A ME SA STI a FP ON ME SSO
Instructions for the Preparation

of Manuscripts

for North Carolina Libraries

1. North Carolina Libraries seeks to publish articles, book
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Manuscripts should be directed to Frances B. Bradburn, Edi-
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University, Greenville, N.C. 27858.
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ge

Lam

om

a

mt

Issue deadlines are February 10, May 10, August 10, and
November 10.

Forsyth County Public Library
and the ConstitutionTs Bicentennial:
Building Relationships for Our Library

Barbara L. Anderson

oYou couldnTt be undertaking a more timely,
more vital project because the Constitution is in
jeopardy"it is under attack.� So remarked one
Winston-Salem alderman in her 1986 letter of
inquiry to the Federal Commission for the Consti-
tutionTs Bicentennial, which was routed to the
North Carolina Commission and then on to our
library. Months before communities across the
nation began to plan for local Constitution pro-
grams, the Forsyth County Public Library became
a leading institution in the promotion of public
programming for the Bicentennial.

The Forsyth library system, comprising a
headquarters library and eight branches, serves a
county of 267,000. Forsyth County uniquely
blends urban and rural elements. Headquarters
Library, centrally located in Winston-Salem on
the edge of a revitalized downtown and a reno-
vated historic residential area, is considered the
entire county's library, and serves as the site of
our community-wide programs.

For the past two years our library has been at
the center of Forsyth CountyTs celebration of the
Constitution and in the forefront of North Caro-
linaTs Bicentennial initiatives. The Bicentennial
has presented our library with an opportunity to
promote itself as a place to talk about books and
ideas; as a place to turn for varied delights; and, of
course, as Forsyth County's first information
resource.

We have secured speakers, respondents,
actors, and funding support; planned at length
with community leaders; promoted our projects
with vigor; filled punch cups; managed complex
seating and lighting arrangements, and found the
right costume miles away; faced the public to tell
them Magna Carta exhibit tickets were all given
out before noon; ordered new books and pre-
pared bibliographies; and built new bridges in our
community.

Barbara L. Anderson is Reference Librarian at the Forsyth
County Public Library in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Fall 1986 Program Series"Forsyth County
Celebrates the Constitution

In October 1986 the library presented its first
Constitution project, oForsyth County Celebrates
the Constitution.� This project was not only one of
the earliest in the nation to commemorate the
Bicentennial, but also has been used as a model by
the N.C. Commission on the Bicentennial of the
Constitution. Extending for five weeks, weekly
programs of lecture and discussion on contem-
porary and historical issues opened and closed
with historical dramatizations. These events
broke all past attendance records for a library
program series. Official auditorium seating capa-
city is 150 persons. October 1986 audiences
ranged from 150 to 250, with countless other citi-
zens aware of these events.

Openness to new ideas and cooperation with
our colleagues and with friends outside the
library profession marked the beginnings of the
1986 program series. Above all, we wanted the
library to make a mark in the community. We
proceeded with the freedom to explore new
alliances and try for significant results.

Early in 1985, we began to explore a program
at the library dealing with issues of church and
state. We received materials and advice from
Diane Sasson, who was coordinating the oNorth
Carolina Dialogue on Church, State, and the First
Amendment� at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. We felt the library could make an
uncommon addition with a program outside the
university.

Before we began to organize our church-state
thinking into a definite library program, Dr. How-
ard Barnes, a history professor at Winston-Salem
State, came by one day to ask, oWould you con-
sider a cooperative program on the Constitution,
to be held at the public library?� The idea
appealed to us instantly, and church-state issues
later became a significant component of the fall
1986 project.

Fall 1988 "181

Wanting our programs to have as diverse and
as large an audience as possible, we knew that
having other organizations invest in the project
would be good for its success. Therefore, we con-
vened a community-wide planning committee.
Individuals representing the League of Women
Voters, the N.C. School of the Arts, Salem College,
Wake Forest University, the Winston-Salem Jour-
nal, Winston-Salem State University, and Con-
gressman Steve Neal's office came together with
us to create a program series. Later outreach into
the community for all manner of program sup-
port built on that initial coalition.

In the publicity for our series, we constantly
emphasized that we would cover issues that
touched peopleTs lives. We covered North Caro-
linaTs delayed ratification of the Constitution,
including concern for state and individual rights;
attempts to change the Constitution, including
the politicization of the personal abortion issue;
the ConstitutionTs omission of blacks and women,
including the drastic economic implications for
all those left out; and American pride in religious
diversity uncomfortably coexisting with the spe-
cial status of the favored religion. In a dramatic
close, we presented a personal view of the Con-
stitutional era through the experience of elder
statesman Benjamin Franklin. RespondentsT com-
ments and audience questions turned each even-
ing into a true public dialogue. Several programs
had identifiable special-interest audiences. We
chose subjects that covered the range of high
interest Constitutional issues.

Inviting individuals from our
community to participate in
library programs has been a
choice course of action.

Speakers and respondents represented the
black community, the Catholic Church, our local
elected officials, freelance writers, the judiciary,
the newspaper media, and, of course, our local
universities. Our Constitution project was local in
the points of view expressed each evening as well
as in its conception and planning. Unexpected
talent that emerged from all parts of our county
was indispensable to our program series.

To make the project truly memorable for our
audiences, the series opened and closed with
dramatization. Major Joseph Winston, Revolu-
tionary War hero for whom the town of Winston
was named, and Dr. Benjamin Franklin were on
stage in authentic dress. Winston, played by local
veteran actor Jim Austin, changed his mind

182"Fall 1988

between the Hillsborough and Fayetteville con-
ventions and decided to endorse the new federal
Constitution. Franklin, played by School of the
Arts Design and Production Dean John Snedon,
commented broadly on the debate over the Con-
stitution and the new world created by independ-
ence. Local historian Sam Brownlee wrote the
Winston dramatization; local teacher Julia
Sneden prepared the Franklin vignette.

In Forsyth County, which has one daily
newspaper and many special interest groups
competing for public attention, publicity is a chal-
lenge. Publication for the 1986 project, as with all
further Bicentennial programs, was done with the
personal touch. Unofficial channels turned out to
be as important as the major media. The library
staff directed a barrage of publicity. There is
never too much publicity.

Newspaper coverage included standard calen-
dar and press releases, a Sunday front page piece
on Ben Franklin, editorials, and day of the event
reporting in the weekly newspapers, including the
influential black weekly. Radio provided public
service announcements and key 5 P.M. reminder
announcements, featuring a program participant
or the librarian, on program evenings.

Announcements were made at meetings of
the Daughters of the American Revolution, the
League of Women Voters, the Bar Association,
and a number of civic groups, including Rotary
and Kiwanis. When these organizations had news-
letters, they also published the announcement.
Many of our churches promoted the church-state
program.

The newspapers, the radio, and the leader-
ship of community organizations established
decidedly friendly contacts that conveyed the
community importance of the events. They were
part of the team making the program.

This Constitution programming came at a
time when we had just attended American
Library Association programs on marketing and
the library's graphic image. That experience gave
us a great boost in seeking out the director of our
hometown Sawtooth Center for Visual Design for
consultation. Our Design Director led us by the
hand through the execution of a brochure that
incorporated the Old Salem coffeepot and the
Liberty Bell, and photography from the newly ac-
quired Frank Jones collection. Photographs sug-
gested the content of each program. The result
was excellent, much better than previous graphic
efforts. In addition to announcing the details of
the upcoming series and the statement of library
purpose, we chose to devote space to the Wake
Forest University Tocqueville lectures on the Con-

stitution, to be held soon after the library pro-
grams.

It happened that library programs for the
general public preceded WFUTs more academic
programming on the Constitution. (Wake Forest
was well represented in the planning of our ser-
ies.) The library and the University efforts com-
plemented each other, and our colleagues at Wake
Forest judged our use of the Tocqueville Forum
mailing list, for well-targeted publicity, most
appropriate.

Community participation even on small de-
tails makes us nostalgic as we look back. Mapping
Dr. FranklinTs dramatic entrance, finding Major
WinstonTs shoes, and the last minute brilliant
replacement for an absent clergy respondent, all
were communal accomplishments.

Our efforts to secure funding brought us one
grant from the North Carolina Humanities Coun-
cil, and another from the Winston-Salem Founda-
tion for substantial additions to the library's
collection of Constitution-related materials.

Planning meetings, voluminous correspon-
dence and telephone calls made for us a new
niche in the minds of the community. Gradually,
our public came less to expect the librarianTs call
to be about an overdue book.

Convening of County Committee

The October 1986 series brought our library a
completely unexpected community role. The N.C.
Commission on the Bicentennial had taken note
of our efforts, even as we planned, and turned to
the library to convene the new Forsyth Commit-
tee. The library staff built upon its strong plan-
ning committee assembled for the 1986 project
and on instincts, developed from years of refer-
ence conversations, for trying to make everyone a
friend of the library. We attempted to identify all
those individuals and groups in the community
whose talents and interests would strengthen
ForsythTs Constitution effort. Widespread con-
tacts were infused with an extra dose of credibil-
ity by virtue of the librarys completed Con-
stitution series.

Dr. Jack Noffsinger, then Pastor of Knollwood
Baptist Church and long-time civil rights advo-
cate in Forsyth County, agreed to serve as chair-
man. On February 5, 1987, the new committee
was convened at the library. On April 13, 1987,
the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners rec-
ognized the committee as its official designee for
the Bicentennial; subsequently, both the state and
federal commissions recognized the county com-
mittee.

sit 4

Local actor John Sneden played Benjamin Franklin in the For-
syth County Fall 1986 program series celebrating the Constitu-
tion.

To date, the library has organized and hosted
Constitution Committee meetings and co-spon-
sored with that committee further Constitution-
related programs. In April 1987, Wallace Carroll,
former editor and publisher of the Winston-Salem
Journal and Sentinel and foreign policy advisor
to the President and State Department during the
Cold War, delivered an address, oOur Constitu-
tional Heritage; Guide to a Sane Foreign Policy.�
The text of CarrollTs address was later published
in the Winston-Salem Journal, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch, and the American Thought
Leader.

Most recently, Sam Ervin, III, U.S. Court of
Appeals Judge and son of the late Senator Sam
Ervin, Jr., visited Forsyth County to dedicate the
Kate B. Reynolds Oak at Tanglewood Park as the
StateTs first Bicentennial tree and to spend an
oEvening on the Constitution with the People� at
the public library.

Magna Carta
When the Forsyth County Committee was

Fall 1988" 183

asked by the U.S. Constitution Council and the
N.C. Bicentennial Commission to host the Win-
ston-Salem stop of the American Express/Magna
Carta tour, it turned to the library for sponsor-
ship and assistance.

We recognized the magnitude of the event
and invited Old~Salem to serve as the site and to
co-sponsor the outdoor exhibit. The event re-
quired coordinating efforts with Old Salem, Salem
Congregation, local government officials, and a
vast network of organizations and individuals.

On avery hot August 18, 1987, Salem Square
was packed with thousands for the magnificent
Magna Carta opening ceremonies, which featured
the Army Signal Corps Band, the City Police Color
Guard, dignitaries, and children in Moravian cos-
tume. Remarks by Judge Sam Ervin, who was
then making the first of his two Bicentennial visits
to our county, preceded the Magna Carta ribbon
cutting and a picnic lunch on the Square. The free
admission tickets for the day-long exhibit were
gone even before the opening ceremonies com-
menced.

In the planning of the Magna Carta event,
meetings and calls to our colleagues in county
and city government were frequent. The govern-
ment contributions as well as contributions from
organizations such as the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company, the English Speaking Union, the Cham-
ber of Commerce and the Girl Scouts were signifi-
cant. Vital, though, was the libraryTs ability to
converge these many entities and act as our
intermediary. With the library and Old Salem at
the center, the cooperative undertaking reflected
the genuine community spirit.

Public Forum with Our Congressman"TodayTs
Constitution: Loyal or Disloyal to Its Beginnings

Several of the events especially demonstrated
principles of community relations we learned dur-
ing the 1986 project. On September 16, 1987, the
evening before the Bicentennial of the Constitu-
tionTs signing, Congressman Steve Neal met with
community leaders at the library in a round table
discussion on contemporary issues. Respondents
included a Wake Forest politics professor, a city
alderman, an attorney with judicial experience
and a conservative constitutional perspective,
and a prominent black leader. Each one had his
following; each spoke from a decidedly different
community vantage point.

Inviting individuals from our own community
to participate in library programs has been a
choice course of action. There is greater likelihood
the library will be successful in finding the right

184" Fall 1988

community person to accept its invitation and a
better possibility of producing a larger audience.
Prominent individuals draw their friends and
backers and often these individuals gain from
new exchanges across political, intellectual, and
institutional lines. These public programs on the
Constitution have brought our speakers, re-
spondents, and planning partners closer to their
library and to the countyTs quarter million resi-
dents.

Local university faculty appreciated invita-
tions to participate and to bring their knowledge
to out-of-school adults. Lay presenters brought
their own fresh insights and life experiences. We
have attempted in almost all of our Constitution-
related efforts to include presenters from both
the academic and non-academic sectors to con-
vey the real-life content and ogeneral audience�
quality of our programs.

Congressman NealTs forum was an occasion
for typical community support. Our locally-based
Piedmont Airlines actually delayed the evening
flight from Washington, D.C. for a few minutes so
that our Congressman could meet his public
library commitment after a day of critical House
votes. The community-centered publicity was,
again, effective. Our public radio station featured
a lengthy interview with two panel members, the
politics professor and the alderman, on the Sat-
urday morning (a peak listening time) before the
event. Our community, though large, has enough
small-town qualities to ensure that interviewers
will receive fan phone calls from our public soon
after the broadcast. Our black newspaper fea-
tured a front-page advance story on the event,
which focused on the black participantTs strong
views.

The role of Winston-SalemTs weekly black
newspaper raises a significant issue for library
program planners. Black participation in the
Bicentennial commemoration of the Constitution
has been low at the national and state levels. Yet
in Forsyth County where blacks make up twenty-
six percent of the population, the library and
later the Forsyth Bicentennial Committee aimed
at fully integrated citizen support, and in fact
achieved a good degree of success. In retrospect,
we were most effective in solving this issue by
incorperating the minority point of view into our
fall 1986 program on blacks and women. oThose
Left Out� featured a widely respected black
Superior Court Judge expressing his profound
disappointment with the limitations of the Con-
stitution. Again in the Congressman Neal pro-
gram, the black respondent rejected any sug-
gestion that the ConstitutionTs framers intended

unity. Private conversations with black commun-
ity colleagues bore out our belief that the asser-
tion of a oblack point of view� in an integrated
setting gave to that view more universal persua-
siveness than would have been achieved in an all-
black setting. And participation by black Forsyth
residents ensured a more diverse and reflective
discussion of the ConstitutionTs impact two
hundred years ago and today.

A Historical Dramatization"Major Joseph Win-
ston and the New Federal Constitution: Novem-
ber 3, 1787.

Our events built upon each other. The brief
Joseph Winston monologue that opened the
October 1986 Constitution series was so well
received that we produced at our library a fuller
dramatization.

The drama, oMajor Joseph Winston and the
New Federal Constitution: November 3, 1787,�
was presented at our library on Election Night,
November 3, 1987. We saw reenacted, with cos-
tumed cast, a public meeting actually called by
Revolutionary War hero and state assemblyman
Joseph Winston to air views over the new federal
Constitution. Several current Forsyth residents
created colorful and contentious characters for
the town meeting. The production covered timeless
Constitutional issues, with an accent on local his-
tory.
The entire effort, the public event of the even-
ing and the work before and after November 3,
made a beautiful showcase for what the library
stands for in the community. The production
opened with the usual warm library welcome,
which emphasized that our library was a place to
talk about books and ideas and a place for further
direction from the reference staff. We provided
bibliographies of the best books on the Constitu-
tion available at the library. This was followed by
the dramatic presentation. Following the drama,
the audience was uninhibited in its questioning.
The evening ended with a reception given by the
Col. Joseph Winston Chapter of the DAR. DAR
support of our Constitution programs has been
unfailing. In the midst of the reception, the
Library Director was able to report on the suc-
cessful library bond vote of that day. The produc-
tion was judged of such value that we arranged
for a two-camera videotaping, several months
later, of a second performance before a live
audience.

A Future Project for Forsyth and Guilford Coun-
ties

Neighboring Guilford County became aware

of ForsythTs successful Bicentennial efforts and,
through one of its county commissioners, con-
tacted the library to review our programs and
methods and to explore the possibility of a joint
effort. A Triad (Greensboro, High Point, Winston-
Salem) Bicentennial Committee has formed to
plan a major event to be held in November 1989,
on the anniversary of North CarolinaTs ratification
of the Constitution. Our library is taking a major
role in developing this event.

Our Bicentennial project has taught us
approaches that we will turn to again and again.
We have learned to avoid preset formulas, and to
stay flexible and open to the content and
methods that will bring us the most project suc-
cess in the eyes of our community. The content of
our five-part 1986 project was outlined gradually,
with a sense of group purpose that carried us
along. Contemporary Constitutional crises, for
instance, with judicial appointments; church-
state conflicts; minority rights"all these were
readily identifiable and had their audiences in our
community. Speakers and respondents again
were chosen with program success in mind; we
wanted the range of presenters to represent the
diversity of Forsyth County. When we convened
the county committee or when we sought assist-
ance with program details, we assumed we were
paving the way for further contacts.

We learned to include elements that would be
considered exciting by our community at large. In
the case of our Constitution project, dramatiza-
tion brought to life personalities that shaped our
history and encouraged the audience to imagine
what it was like in the 1780s. We emphasized
audience discussion, sometimes a concluding
reception, and the assortment of personalities on
stage. We could always say ahead of the event
that this would not be a dry academic lecture.

We would always aim to appeal to all seg-
ments of the community. Reaching out at the
start to make selected library patrons our plan-
ning colleagues has helped us to succeed.
Through this approach, a greater number of indi-
viduals gain a stake in our success. We always
seek out the opportunity to display our new
alliances publicly. The community recognizes the
non-librarian colleagues and sometimes has
greater trust in the worth of the project.

One of the successes of the 1986 project was
the diversity of citizenry who supported us. Our
neighboring universities could never boast such a
mix of citizenry at their programs, nor could the
League of Women Voters, the Black Kiwanis Club,
the DAR, or the Bar Association. Unlike the
library, these organizations cater to specific con-

Fall 1988 "185