FOPL: Developing a Brand Strategy for Ontario Public Libraries

By Stephen Abram, executive director, Federation of Ontario Public Libraries

We dream about a major marketing push province-wide for public libraries in Ontario to promote our value and impact.  How do we rise above promoting our branches, collections and programs and complement local marketing with a collaborative push? How do we turn these dreams into a reality?

In 2014, FOPL led a joint study with SOLS, OLS-North and OLA (with funding from the Libraries 2020 project) of public library branding in Ontario.

Ever wondered what goes into planning a major marketing campaign for public libraries?

We asked ourselves, “What do we need to know?”  We need to know a lot before we make an investment in a campaign and we made progress this year.  For this project we:

  1. did a census of public library e-presences (websites, social media and social networking) This may be a critical channel for marketing libraries across our province.
  2. collected public library taglines from their websites. The word cloud below shows how we represent ourselves today.
  3. reviewed the research on major public library “value” branding campaigns in Canada and the U.S.
  4. held focus groups and interviews with key internal and external stakeholders including librarians, library staff, library board members and municipal administrators.

Some highlights:

This Wordcloud shows the key terms from public library taglines (larger size indicates that this word is used more).

Picture1

  • Public Library Website Presence
    • 29 (i.e. 9%) did NOT have a website;
    • 2/3 (i.e. 19) of those libraries without a website were identified as First Nations 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 Francophone; all the Large Urban; 10 North; 6 Rural; 43 Small-Medium
    • 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.

We found some interesting results from our small telephone survey of municipal administrators (CAOs).  They were well aware of our good work with literacy, kids, seniors, and teens.  They felt that we needed to engage more effectively with other municipal departments as well as develop and communicate our role in business and economic development.

Should you want to read the summary report, here’s a link:

http://www.slideshare.net/stephenabram1/fopl-finalbrandingstudyreport1

In 2014 FOPL has also been analyzing the longitudinal data from the Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport’s public library data collection, to which you all contribute, that was made available as open data from 1998-2010 for the first time.  We now have a good line on statistics and metrics for our sector province-wide form 2000-2010 and will add 2011-2013 in early 2015 so that we have fairly up-to-date data for the first time in years about public libraries in Ontario.  There are a number of emerging insights in these data so far.  For example our cardholder growth is not generally keeping pace with population growth.  While circulation is plateauing we are seeing striking increases in program offerings and digital resource usage.

For our next step, FOPL has issued an RFP to conduct a major Ontario-wide public opinion poll in early 2015 to gauge how things have changed from our 2003, 2006, and 2010 provincial polls about the views of the public about public libraries.

So, in 2015 we should have all the pieces of the pie we need to plan some initiatives around marketing – one of your goals expressed in the Libraries 2020 Vision.  We’ll have:

  • Data on Ontario public library performance over time
  • Data on our marketing channels, market positioning, and preparedness for a ‘push’
  • Insights from stakeholders in libraries, boards and municipalities.
  • A new public opinion poll of Ontarians attitudes towards public libraries and how they’ve changed from our 2003, 2006, and 2010 polls.

It’s exciting and we’re getting there.  We’re trying to be strategic and plan well.

For more information, contact Stephen Abram, executive director, FOPL  sabram@fopl.ca