Jan 23, 2019
Hello everyone! This is your host Tyler here. I’m excited to announce our very first podcast episode with Angela Hursh. On today’s show, Angela shares some of the struggles a public library faces in today’s digital world, the strategies she’s currently using to increase library attendance in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and why re-education of our librarians in so important to help them adapt to this new environment.
Key Takeaways:
- What is Angela’s primary marketing goal for this year?
- There’s been less attendance at public libraries in the past couple of years due to a lot of the reading material being accessible online.
- What kinds of struggles do libraries face in today’s world?
- In order to increase attendance in the library, Angela has been working to change the mindsets of the librarians in our system.
- Sometimes we just have to forget about the quotas. Hosting five programs a week at the library might ‘feel’ like the right thing to do but there’s actually a better way to approach it.
- In this case, Angela has seen an increase in attendance at her library because they’ve introduced fewer but higher quality programs.
- By having fewer programs in your calendar, you will also have more of a budget to bring in presenters who might cost a little more.
- Angela overseas 41 locations across Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Each of these locations has different demographics and interests. These events need to be customized to the residents of each location.
- What kinds of metrics has Angela been tracking?
- On any given day, there are probably 5-10 storytime events happening at libraries in Angela’s system.
- It’s important to form a relationship with cardholders so that they not only attend the events but come in for research projects, get a passport, etc.
- Angela encourages staff to talk to the people in the community to see what they’re up to and what’s important to them.
- It’s important to help librarians become aware of changes in society and technology as well as keep them connected to pop culture.
- What would Angela do differently if she could go back in time?
Mentioned in This Episode: