Public sector library outreach: how to boost your resource usage and engagement

Users with easy access to quality digital resources can do better work - IF they know what their e-library offers. So, this public sector library put face-to-face outreach front and centre in its digital resource strategy.

When this organization set up its e-library four years it implemented OpenAthens to make discovery simple. Its books, journals and databases include everything from general introduction to topics, to highly specialized academic works. But with its people working across the UK the message about the library's benefits only spread slowly in its first months.

Developing a library outreach program

Demand for a dedicated library had come from users themselves, so the library's team developed a program to spread the word. For example, the have:

• Produced internal news stories, promoted by internal comms staff

• Developed more user-friendly site pages using MyAthens+

• Attended as many of the organization's internal events as possible, giving practical demonstrations of the library in action and promoting its value - for example by inviting attendees to suggest a topic and showing how quick and easy it is to find rich, high-quality resources. Often, they found people weren't aware of the library

• Visited individual team and followed up with blog posts about their area of interest, including links to useful resources

With no physical library space for users to visit the library has, instead, visited them.

Early in the promotional program a hard-to-miss roadshow appeared at each of the organization's three office sites. The library team set up posters and a large table outside the canteen, and offered widgets provided by suppliers to start conversations about how the library can support staff to work more effectively and keep up with developments in their field.

The aim was to introduce the library and show how easily OpenAthens gets them to peer-reviewed content that might otherwise be behind paywall. The library outreach program is having a "massive impact".

Twelve months after the library launched it had 138 users. Promotional activity in year two took active user numbers up to 441.

In year three the focus was on getting buy-in from the team leads, for example by making time during monthly team meetings for the library to do a ten-minute chat. In it, they promoted library resources that were relevant to the topic being discussed. Explaining how logging in once with OpenAthens gives them access to everything the library subscribes to was a big selling point, taking the number of active users to 860.

This last tactic was so successful in increasing resource use that they have since taken it further. Now, the library produces a bi-monthly newsletter with a 'what's new?' section focused on a particular topic, such as robotics or AI. Typically, it includes links to new subject resources and broadens out into an associated area such as project management. The aim is to encourage deeper, wider reading.

The newsletter also introduces bite-size information that librarians traditionally share with their patrons - search strategies, citation, referencing and so on.

"Although people had been asking for a dedicated library for a while it has been a challenge to get them engaging with it", comments the head librarian.

"We worked with OpenAthens from day one to make the library work optimally for our organization. Sometimes people don't use that expertise enough".

"We met with our account manager very early on and she helped us add bespoke resources and arrange seamless access to content from highly specialized sources. She have us advice on how to describe and promote resources, as well as step-by-step demonstrations of anything we weren't sure about".

Benefits

Has it been a lot of work? Definitely - there are just three library staff and much of this outreach is outside their comfort zone. But user numbers are growing, and their feedback is positive. The library is now so embedded that information on using it optimally is part of the new recruits' onboarding process.