At the Medical Libraries Association annual conference, held in Pittsburgh, 29 April-3 May 2025, a panel of three librarians told their stories about how they market to and engage with their users.
First up was Erinn Aspinall, Director, Health Sciences Libraries, University of Minnesota. She sees health science libraries as mirrors of society and responsive to the needs in society. Although librarians have unique skill sets, they must pay attention to the larger trends in higher education.
At her library, they use many library news channels, such as social media, newsletters, annual reports, and the library homepage. They tell other peoples’ stories, not just their own, stories that the library is excited about, stories about how library services benefitted users. They customize content to the channel they are using. Aspinal characterized this as a "both-and" rather than an "either-or" approach.
One example of communication that is "high touch" is the annual report. Only 2 pages long, she prints copies to distribute to management. She sends them with a hand-written note. Laughing, she told the story of on recipient, who thanked her for sending the report and complimented the library for its work—several months after he received the report!
Alice Henry, Strategic Marketing Manager, The Ohio State University, comes from a marketing, not a library, background. She stressed three key marketing principles:
- Prioritize the user
- Meet people where they are
- Build your brand
She advised librarians to look at library services and resources from the user perspective. Recognize that the library homepage is not as important to users as librarians would like—Google is more likely to be the starting place for research and social media for news. Look at how library users prefer to consume information, then determine a strategic balance of content. Make the library message matter by taking "people-first" approach.
The library brand should be consistent across how the library looks, what is said about the library and how it is said. Use a common language, highlight humans and nurture your audience.
Library Services & Patient education Manager at Alina Health, a non-profit hospital, Carissa Tomlinson has a different user base than those in an academic setting. She concentrates on showing the value of the library to staff. Being visible is important. Unlike in higher education, the hospital library does literature searches for others, although they do offer training for those who want to do it themselves.
Her goal is to make staff aware of what the library can do for them and management aware of how the library contributes to the bottom line. It’s a "constant drumbeat" to reiterate both messages. Embedding library services at the point of need and sharing not just medical and health services information but also business articles has proved very effective.
Although the three panelists came from different settings, a common theme in demonstrating value was "repeat, repeat, repeat". Use many channels for messaging and concentrate on aligning with the goals of the institution, whether it’s patient care or medical education.