After interviewing hundreds of library patrons and nonusers, we found that many people value the library as an asset for our community but do not view it as an institution with resources for their own families. Most residents in Memphis, including regular library patrons, knew very little about the majority of programs offered at MPL. Without careful curation and promotion of services and programs, visitors cannot connect to what offerings are personally relevant and desirable.

In April, all staff who interacts with library visitors participated in concierge level customer service training. The campaign includes capital improvements to each branch, engaging welcome materials for new cardholders, an updated website, social media and email ideas to encourage audiences to engage with the library online, print advertisements, broadcast marketing, billboards and some guerrilla marketing tactics, such as the installation of “readbox” structures and phones that solely dial our resource hotline.

The results of this campaign will affect the library’s future planning by allowing us to better communicate with our visitors and host improved programs with higher attendance. We aim to distribute as many resources as possible, and this campaign will allow us to expose new families to the library who will grow with us and share the resources of the library with others beyond the campaign’s implementation.