How is your library successfully performing outreach to the members of your community? Do you have a great example of how your library was able to advocate for support and funding? One of the examples that you will find in this section is from the staff at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Virginia. They created a great video called "Who Needs the Library" to show local decision makers and to help better tell the story of the library and the users who depend on library services.
And remember, if you have a good example of something that worked well for your library, you can publish your own article directly to this topic page.
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How to Talk Business
Advice for business people that translates to librarians. How do you effectively communicate with business leaders?
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How People Should Approach their Representatives and Senators
Beth Edmonds, past Maine Senate President and current director of Freeport Community Library, summarizes key points from a recent speech on how people should approach their representatives and senators to talk about libraries.
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Why Public Libraries Close (Webinar)
Webinar archive and additional resources.
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Keeping the 'Outreach Brand' Viable
Highlights from a presentation given by Kathy Mayo which cover some of the factors that can strengthen your outreach service and move it into the ranks of the other stellar programs in your library and the community.
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Outreach Services around the United States
A collection to links from libraries around the country and the outreach services that they provided to their community and how they get the word out about their services.
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Online Resources for Rural Librarians Promoting Public Libraries
From the March 2006 workshop, Promoting Public Libraries: Using Data and Advocacy to Build Public Support and Funding, a list of web resources for rural librarians, covering the topics discussed in the workshop.
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InfoSpeak: They Call it the Living Library Parts 1 and 2
Ulla Brohed at the renowned Malmö library in Sweden, in one of her last media interviews before her recent retirement, discusses the Living Library program which allows patrons “check out” a human being for 45 minute chat. Nancy Huling, of the University of Washington Suzzallo Library, and Deborah Jacobs of Seattle Public Library also offer their views on the program.
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Outreach Brainstorm
A list of outreach ideas and resources collected from the Rural Library Sustainability workshops, training institutes, and from other discussion areas on WebJunction.
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Sample Information Gathering Tools: Surveys, Focus Groups, etc.
Many examples of actual surveys and focus groups used by libraries.
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Who Needs the Public Library? (video file)
A 9 minute video production from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library about all the people in the community who continue to use the public library in this information age. The video includes multiple profiles which prove libraries to be more essential than ever before.
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Online Library Survey Examples
Here's a list of online surveys created by public libraries.
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From Outreach to Equity Live Event Archive
This is a recording of the WebJunction live online discussion hosted on Wednesday, July 7, 2004, by From Outreach to Equity editor Robin Osborne. Please note that this file is very large (59.9 MB). Downloading it is not recommended using a dialup connection.
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SC Toolkit Chapter 13, Establish A Speakers Bureau
Create opportunities to promote your public access computing program. A speakers bureau is a great way to reach out to community groups.
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SC Toolkit Chapter 12, Advocate for Your Library
Be your own advocate: befriend officials; develop relationships; keep them apprised of concerns, trends, and successes. Voila, you have created champions for your library!
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