Your summer program or busy season is winding down. It is important to carve out time regularly to reflect on the goals for your services, programs, summer program and how you share information with your community and stakeholders. Start with reserving fifteen minutes per week or every other week.
Reflect on the mission of your library. How does programming support your library’s mission and goals? Now communicate with your team and stakeholders.
In her ALSC post “Telling Your Summer Reading Story,” Krissy Wick, Director of Public Services at the Madison Public Library in Madison, Wisconsin, outlines a few ways to communicate quickly with the right people.
Wick’s first suggestion is sending brief, weekly summaries to your director with “photos, program numbers, the teaching objective of the week, and a comment from a parent or child participant.”
Developing this simple habit of engaging with library users, collecting user stories, and sharing with leaders and the public is integral. These stories speak volumes more than stale, faceless statistics. These stories put a face and new perspective on library service for the public compared to statistics which no longer accurately represent library service.
A consistent, regular effort is far more effective than advocating only during annual report and budget season. You have a busy schedule and demanding duties, but a quick regular communication updating and advocating for youth services is integral for public awareness and library advocacy efforts.
Please take a few minutes to read the full post.