In 2014, FOPL led a joint study with SOLS, OLS-North and OLA (with funding from the 2020 project) of public library branding in Ontario.
For this project we:
a. did a census of public library e-presences (websites, social media and social networking)
b. collected public library taglines from their websites
c. reviewed the research on public library “value” branding campaigns
d. held focus groups with internal and external stakeholders
We are pleased to share the final report with you.
Some highlights:
This wordcloud shows the key terms from public library taglines (larger size indicates that this words is used more).
- Public Library Website Presence
- 29 (ie. 9%) did NOT have a website;
- 2/3 (ie. 19) of those libraries without a website were identified as First Nation libraries;
- 3 of the 29 without websites were FOPL members.
- Facebook: 144 libraries have a clear Facebook presence(45%): Large urban (including TPL) have adopted at 100%; Small medium = 85% (55). Of the non-FOPL libraries, only 24% (29) used FB.
- Twitter: 106 libraries have a clear Twitter presence (33%): 1 FN; 1 Franco; all the Large Urban; 10 North; 6 Rural; 43 Sm-Med.
- 48 libraries have blogs (15%)
- Uptake of media sharing tools was not as robust as the social networking tools. Too few were using YouTube (%) or Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Goodreads, etc.
- There is some good research to use as models for our next steps:
- So Much More: The Economic Impact of the Toronto Public Library on the City of Toronto. University of Toronto – Martin Prosperity Institute. Dec 2013.
- How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities. Pew Research Center. Dec 2013.
- Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. OCLC. 2011.
- How Canadian Libraries Stack Up. OCLC. 2012.
Here is the report with a lot more about the data, process, and recommendations:
FOPL – Final Branding Study Report (1)
For our next steps FOPL has issued an RFP to conduct a major Ontario-wide public opinion poll to gauge how things have changed from our 2003, 2006, and 2010 polls about the views of the public and public libraries. We hope to conduct this study as a member benefit in early 2015.
For more information, contact Stephen Abram, executive director, FOPL sabram@fopl.ca