(Track B "Web Presence", session B103 "It's All About the Customer'"; presented at Internet Librarian 2011, Monterey CA)
With heavy reliance on Google and other search engines an overwhelming first choice for end-users in their information seeking, and convenience often dictating the selections of student and faculty alike, how best can the library connect end-users with the information they seek? Learn what's working and what isn't as we share the results of multiple trials utilizing various tech approaches to marketing library e-resources at the point of need, directly to the customers of the library. From printed bit.ly links and QR codes on traditional library display materials to Google AdWords and FaceBook ads targeted to individual searchers' information needs, learn practical tips that you can use to start targeting e-content at little to no cost to your end-users; including a peek inside the recent enhancements to the Google AdWords API to explore the possibilities of use in the context of the academic library.
2. Problem statement: “Librarians have long espoused the belief that 80 percent of a library’s circulation is driven by approximately 20 percent of the collection.”1 “The analysis of a year’s circulation statistics from this study indicates that 80 percent of the circulation is driven by just 6 percent of the collection.”1 1 Press release, 21 September 2011: “OCLC Research and OhioLINK release report and related data to support understanding of book usage patterns in academic libraries”, retrieved 9/26/2011 from http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=16083
3. “Idiom”: Book sculpture, by MatejKrén - displayed in the entrance hall of Prague Municipal Library: Image credit: Bruno Delzant, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 2.0 Generic. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruno_1802/3434227528/sizes/l/in/photostream
4. (The view inside “Idiom”: Image credit: licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.0 Generic on flickr by Mar.tin. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dermartin/2955625983/sizes/o/in/photostream/
5. Visualized: If the nearly seventeen foot Height represents the collection… Image credit: Bruno Delzant, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 2.0 Generic. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruno_1802/3434227528/sizes/l/in/photostream
6. Visualized: a little over three feet represents the belief… Image credit: Bruno Delzant, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 2.0 Generic. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruno_1802/3434227528/sizes/l/in/photostream
7. Visualized: Less than one foot accounts for 80% of the circulation. Image credit: Bruno Delzant, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 2.0 Generic. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruno_1802/3434227528/sizes/l/in/photostream
8. Maybe they don’t even know that the other 94% are there. dabbling with bringing library resources to the attention at the point of need… Remix of original image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.0 Generic on flickr by mary hodder. Original image retrieved October 9, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryhodder/966994992/sizes/o/in/photostream/
12. Reasons it won’t work: “Nobody reads signs.” “It’s already on the library website.” “They’ll have to write it down <or email it, text it, or …>? Come on.”
14. No-muss targeted outreach that continues to introduce essentially a person a day to the e-resource. Rather than canceling the subscription, we’vehad to more than double the number of licensed seats.
16. But on the @One eReader Bar: Images credit: Lisa Kurt, of Kurt, L. & Colegrove, P. T. (October 17, 2011). “The @One eReader bar: Apple inspired, library designed”. Internet Librarian 2011, Session A106.
22. Surely a targeted ad on FaceBookcould get the word out? “Great idea! They’re always on FaceBook…”
23. FAIL. “twitter failwhale blowfish” - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licensed by buzz bishop. Retrieved 9/26/2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzbishop/3323389892/sizes/o/in/photostream/
24. Despite our best efforts, over the course of the 30-day period of the trial, we were unable to successfully target the ad geographically. YMMV.
25. We simultaneously ran the same display ad using Google AdWords: Remix of original image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Share-alike 2.0 Generic on flickr by eric731. Original image retrieved October 9, 2011 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eric731/5375878032/sizes/l/in/photostream/
29. In short: The AdWords campaign was seen and acted on by the target audience. Success.
30. Working on the larger problem: We’re launchingan A/B trial using two pools of titles randomly selected from the pool Running AdWords campaigns built around the metadata in the catalog record associated with each title programmatically. Similarly, developing keywords to target introduce selected subscribed databases
31. In other words: …put a dent in the universe. - Steve Jobs Snell, J. (October 6, 2011). “Steve Jobs: Making a dent in the universe”. MacWorld blog, retrieved October 13, 2011 from: http://www.macworld.com/article/162827/2011/10/steve_jobs_making_a_dent_in_the_universe.html Image of Hale-Bopp /Steward Observatories 61-inch dome retrieved October 13, 2011 from: http://james.as.arizona.edu/~psmith/61inch/#mark3
Editor's Notes
Speaker background: Separated at birth from this clan of librariansGoogle profile: “scientist, librarian”Scientist: PhysicistEntrepreneur:Librarian!
“Ninety institutions participated in the study, including 16 universities, 23 community/technical colleges, 50 private colleges and the State Library of Ohio. The size of the combined collection and the number and diversity of participating institutions make this by far the largest and most comprehensive study of academic library circulation ever undertaken.”
Mirrors at both ends create the visual effect of a deep, deep well of wisdom…(Not unlike our view of the library. ;-)
Information Commons/Learning CommonsPhotoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro… Large-format printing
Note customized/memorable url
Targeted display of library e-resources specific to the “Summer Scholars” reading programTarget: incoming first-year undergraduate students
Over the course of the month-long trial, we were unable to successfully get the ad to run in the geographical area.
During the same timeframe, numerous faculty were announcing the page to their classes.The link (and a photo ad linking directly to the page) were prominently displayed on the library home page.And yet clearly, all traffic to the page came from the AdWords campaign.Anecdotally, all entrants to the competition (a handful only) indicated they heard about it from the AdWordsad.