Miss Crail's ruminations: Ah, yes...the M Word

The delicate subject of marketing was introduced to us last July at the user.ed@cambridge meeting. And there was a talk given in March by that charming young gentleman from Scopus, who gave us all a free book ‘A Short-cut to Marketing the Library’, where ‘furniture as a marketing tool’ was suggested. You’ll see later that I have taken this on board.

Certainly won’t be going the pencils and pens route, as this might be more appropriate for new undergrads. Nor mugs either – and a certain well-known serials supplier might like to know that getting our journals in time [or at all] would be appreciated more than getting free mugs at libraries@cambridge. Have decided on posters instead.

But, all right, seriously, if we must. What's my JOB? The most important thing is that people realise it is not about ‘the library’ or books, but about them getting information in the most efficient and reliable way available. And to '.. train people to take the intellectual initiative' as Seth Godin put it in the Prezi thingy. THAT'S the important bit. And, surprise, we tweed-clad harpies can help! I still think a real person is worth a thousand Facebook profiles.

Working in two smallish department libraries, I am lucky in that department members know that the physical libraries are right there, accessible 24/7, so there's no serious bums-on-seats issue. Yes, Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen would have a meltdown at the physical environment, but there's a cold financial wind blowing - so there's not much to be said for that. Students are mostly 3rd years and PhDs when they arrive, and they get compulsory library talks and separate www sessions, so half the battle is won already. The intention is to convey that the library is there if they need it, and I am around if they need help with finding information. The main problem is the attitude of some senior people, who insist ‘everything is on the web these days’ and ‘nobody uses libraries these days’ – ie they have their own offices and they only ever look for specific cited papers. We have to be ‘out there’ to counteract that.

[I am by the way well aware that people other than department members are potential marketing, er, targets, but that’s a different ball game]

Right, I haven't answered the question, essay returned, where's the Crail Bartle Bogle Fogarty interface in the Infotheque? How can I use all these Web 2.0 toys to help others’ information needs? If anything, it won’t be for marketing, more for publicity [= different]. Yes, yes, this is reaction not proaction, but anticipating and innovating needs time and careful consideration. Despite a lengthy period spent in several educational emporia at the bottom end of the THE charts, Crail is no specialist in the skills required. Andy’s list of possibles would require a heck of a lot of time ergo staff to set up and even to maintain/evolve. Jane has listed the updates to be done already in Zoology.

OK, so what would help MY users?

Appropriate info and news on the websites, via RSS if necessary, but certainly not bloody Tweets

Have already done but will develop:

Bookmarks on Delicious, that’s a definite, but for user ed, not for marketing

Encouraging people to organise their work with Mendeley/EndNote … and now Zotero

Helping them set up appropriate RSS feeds for their own research interests

For sure they are most interested in making their lives easier, but I do believe a good website, tied to the ‘brand’, is important, and still the most obvious place to look for information [Yes, Crail’s current websites are decidedly doo-doo but these are undergoing extensive cosmetic surgery as we speak]