bluesyemre

• Library consultants Donna Fletcher of Donna E. Fletcher Consulting and Paula Singer of The Singer Group shared their tips and tricks for reaching citizens that don’t use the library to a packed house at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual conference in Chicago. They were joined by librarians Su Bochenski, director of Lincolnwood Public Library, IL, as well as Elizabeth Stearns, Assistant Director, Community Services, and Carmen Patlan, Community Engagement & Outreach Manager, Waukegan Public Library, IL. Among the commonsensical, yet often overlooked, points made by Fletcher and Singer is that non-users cannot effectively be reached by focus groups, surveys on the library website, or other such mechanisms that may be useful for capturing the opinions of active library patrons. To reach this other group, libraries must go where they already are: malls, daycare centers, coffee shops, commuter rail stations, houses of worship, farmer’s markets, senior programs, etc. The Pikes Peak Library District, CO, even went to a feed store!

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