First and most importantly is that we start with a quality product. If we are to build a strong library brand then it is important that the product (the library) and our services are of the highest quality. We must also recognize that this high quality product is not enough to give libraries a brand advantage over the other organizations that may perform some of the same functions in the community such as a corporate bookstore. In fact, the high quality of products and services is simply a prerequisite to having something worth branding.

If we look at a competitor’s brand such as Borders, we notice that they do have a high quality product behind their brand. The Borders product is not books, instead the company recognizes that their customers have home and work as two integral spaces to their lives. With this recognition they are striving to create a third space for their customers away from work and home, this is their product and not books. The space is well-lit, well-organized, calming colors, easily understood rules, comfortable to sit in and rest with a good book and a cup of coffee. I’m not sure that libraries can compete in the market of creating third spaces but we don’t have to. Our role is slightly different than Borders.

I think that Kenneth Dowlin presents the formation of the product that libraries have to offer in his article “The Centrality of Communities to the Future of Major Public Libraries.” In it, states;

“The key to the future of a democratic society rests with the ability of its citizens to recreate a sense of community with common social purposes. This holds true for neighborhoods and cities as well as communities that go beyond geographic boundaries, such as those formed on the Internet. A library that meets community needs and expectations will succeed.” (Dowlin)

So then, the library’s product is the service that it provides to the community, not the contents of the library, but its function within the community. If this is true then it is important that libraries strive to become more community centered, if they are not already, as they are beginning to to form their brand image.

All Library Branding Posts

Branding Libraries: Step 1 – Defining Branding

Branding Libraries: Step 2 – A Brand Audit

Branding Libraries: Step 3 – Quality Products/Services

Branding Libraries: Step 4 – Library’s Brand Distinction

Branding Libraries: Step 5 – Owning a Phrase 

Branding Libraries: Step 6 – Tapping into Emotion 

Branding Libraries: Step 7 – Building the Libraries Brand Image

Branding Libraries: Step 8 – Advertise the image

Branding Libraries: Final Steps- Live the Message! – Measurements – Conclusion

When attempting to brand a product or service it is important to first consider what position that product or service already has in the minds of the customers. If it has been around for a significant number of years, in the same way that libraries have, then it is possible that the public perceives it as having an already established brand. Because of this, one of the first things we should consider is that it is possible that the library is already branded. By this I mean that because libraries already convey a certain emotion, perception, and impression in the minds of the community then the community might already have a perceived inherent value placed on libraries. Since all of this is what a brand does, then the library is already branded. But a few questions arise from this. The first; what is the perception of the library in the community? The second; is this the brand image that we want to continue to convey? And the third; If not, then what can we do to change our brand image in the minds of our patrons?

To find the answer to the first question I will first look at the current brand image of the librarians themselves. Librarians convey to the public a specific set of perceptions, emotions, and impressions of the library in the same way that the workers of such companies as Abercrombie and Fitch convey that company’s brands image. When the public thinks of an individual Abercrombie and Fitch worker they generally visualize an attractive, “cool,” outgoing, tall, white male or female. In the same way, when the general public thinks of a librarian they generally visualize a very different set of attributes. I am not arguing that libraries should follow the hiring standards of Abercrombie and Fitch, but I am arguing that we need to recognize that we are branding the library without realizing it and without any attempt to control it.

So what is the brand image of a librarian? Stephen Walker and V. Lonnie Lawson discuss the stereotypes (brand image) of the public’s view of a “typical” librarian in their article The Librarian Stereotype and the Movies. In this article they found that:

‘To the general public the word “librarian” is a readily recognizable label. The label need not include those aspects of librarianship that librarians want to claim. Several years ago on the “Family Feud” game show a group of 100 people were surveyed and asked what they believed to be typical “librarian” characteristics. The top 5 Characteristics disclosed showed that librarians were:

1) Quiet
2) Stern
3) Single/Unmarried
4) Stuffy
5) In Glasses. (Kirkendall 1986, 40-2)

“American Libraries” has a semi-regular column (”Image: How They’re Seeing Us”) with a quote, advertisement, cartoon, or other reflection of society’s view of the librarian. Some of these examples are positive reflections, but more often they reinforce the negative stereotype librarians repudiate.’ (1993)

When we recognize this brand representation of librarians as the norm we then must decide what characteristics of this brand we can change (or at least control) if any. If it is not possible to change the view of the librarians then perhaps we can change the public’s perceptions of the library itself. So what are the public’s perceptions of a library?
To answer that question we can see that in a letter from the ALA’s past president, Nancy Kranich, she noted that:

“In 1999, ALA contracted with BSMG Worldwide, a New York-based public-relations firm, to develop a major public-awareness campaign. BSMG’s first step was to assess public perception of libraries. Not surprisingly, they found that libraries are popular and well liked, accepted often without strong feelings or real understanding. Libraries are everywhere, rooted in nearly every school, campus, and community, but they are most visible when under siege. They noted that libraries are unique, playing a role of no other institution in our democracy, but not always able to communicate that uniqueness. And, on the negative side, they found that consumers see libraries as somewhat archaic, their resources limited and dated, and their facilities intimidating and difficult to navigate.” (Kranich, 2001)

There are a number of things to note within this quote. In fact, it points many of the positive and negative public perceptions of the library. For example, we can see that libraries are viewed as well liked, important, and integral to a community by a large percentage of the population but they still have a perception of being archaic, limited, dated, and intimidating.

Now that we recognize the current state of the library brand we can ask ourselves if this is the brand image we want to continue to cultivate or do we want to change it and begin to cultivate a very different brand? Since there are some negative perceptions of the library in a few areas I would argue that it is time to change the way we present ourselves to the public through a change in our current brand image. Finally we can ask ourselves how it is that this is accomplished or the third question as previously mentioned; what can we do to change our brand image in the minds of our patrons?

All Library Branding Posts

Branding Libraries: Step 1 – Defining Branding

Branding Libraries: Step 2 – A Brand Audit

Branding Libraries: Step 3 – Quality Products/Services

Branding Libraries: Step 4 – Library’s Brand Distinction

Branding Libraries: Step 5 – Owning a Phrase 

Branding Libraries: Step 6 – Tapping into Emotion 

Branding Libraries: Step 7 – Building the Libraries Brand Image

Branding Libraries: Step 8 – Advertise the image

Branding Libraries: Final Steps- Live the Message! – Measurements – Conclusion

Many businesses are taking advantage of the benefits of branding their company. (Hendry, 2006) The library should not dismiss this opportunity to take the same advantages that private businesses are and brand the library in the same way. This set of blog posts will review the current brand image of the library and outline the importance of controlling that image as well as outlining the important steps in creating a well-branded community centered organization. Through this discussion I hope to promote the idea that libraries need to gain a better understanding of a more holistic approach to branding and of the steps in doing so.

Defining “branding”
“Branding is often narrowly and inappropriately defined as the development of a consistent look and logo, but that definition misses the power of a real brand strategy” (Dempsey, 2004) It has been my experience that libraries have exactly this view of the creation of a library brand. I have discussed the creation of a library brand with a number of librarians and I have consistently received the response that their library does have a brand. They then continue by describing the look of the library logo or the look of the libraries within their system and have no mention of the most important aspects of branding such as “the emotions, perceptions, and impressions experienced by the person.” (Chominsky, 2002) To this I would also include that a brand is also the associations and inherent value of the organization within the minds of the customers (AllBusiness, 2006). Or in our case, our patrons. These next sets of Blog posts over the next few days are attempts to persuade those libraries that are attempting to create a library brand to include some discussion of cultivating a more holistic brand. This means cultivating a brand that is easily recognized and cultivates positive emotions, perceptions, and impressions (Lindstrom, 2005) about the library.

All sources will be Fully cited at the last post. (stay tuned!)

All Library Branding Posts

Branding Libraries: Step 1 – Defining Branding

Branding Libraries: Step 2 – A Brand Audit

Branding Libraries: Step 3 – Quality Products/Services

Branding Libraries: Step 4 – Library’s Brand Distinction

Branding Libraries: Step 5 – Owning a Phrase 

Branding Libraries: Step 6 – Tapping into Emotion 

Branding Libraries: Step 7 – Building the Libraries Brand Image

Branding Libraries: Step 8 – Advertise the image

Branding Libraries: Final Steps- Live the Message! – Measurements – Conclusion

Let’s understand one thing upfront.  I’m not a web designer but have somehow fallen into that role in whatever job I have taken in my library career.  It started in college where I was the Co-Chair of the Student Chapter of the ALA.  I thought it would be a good way to begin being involved in the ALA when I knew little about its organizational structure.  But after I was given the position I was told I was also to be the web-coordinator and was in charge of the ALASC’s entire web-presence. Now, I’ve had blogs/vlogs for a long time, I have an online portfolio, and have made many websites.  But that’s just out of necessity in an online era and not because I really consider myself good at it at all.  In fact, I would say I know just enough to really mess up a webpage if I had to make it from scratch or try to fix it.

So because of this history but more so (I believe), due to my age in the library world where the median age is in the forties, I am expected to know all of the technology stuff that has ever been invented and I am now expected to work on our library’s website (in fact I made it originally and am solely responsible for it).  So how did I do it knowing so little about it?

It’s easy.  I got a Mac.  I know there are a number of large drawbacks to using iWeb to design webpages.  So let me tell you why I decided to go this route, besides my lack of really strong scripting and programming skills.

1)      I wanted some way to make a website that could be easily updated by other librarians with little to no HTML knowledge.  Since, in essence iWeb is as easy to use as Microsoft paint or Powerpoint and contains many of the same functions it is easy for others to update the website.

2)      Functionality of the blog and other features.  I know that there are ways to integrate a lot of the iWeb features into a website and make it look great.  But honestly, I don’t know how to do it and neither does anyone else in this library system.  I could learn, but then if I left, or got sick, nobody else would be able to fix it if anything went wrong.  So instead we are just using the features from iWeb.  It works fine.

3)      Since it’s a Mac, everything just works.  No viruses, no software conflicts, none of the kind of stuff you put up with in a PC.  (I am biased here because I am a Mac user to begin with)

4)      All of the programs work together.  You can integrate a calendar of events, a slideshow, make movies, and so much more so seamlessly with all of the features of a Mac.  And it’s easy.

5)      It’s super cheap.  It costs us $100 per year for hosting and after the initial cost of the Mac (1,000-2,500 depending on what you buy) it is still far cheaper than the $1,000-10,000 per year to hire a web design company and not be able to update it ourselves or be limited by them and the structure they create.

So what are the drawbacks?

1)      Some web features are hard to integrate using HTML.  Such as drop down buttons.  This is because iWeb makes new frames for every HTML snippet.  But there are ways around that.  Most other HTML snippets work.

2)      Slow loading.  If I make a lot of boxes with shadows and special designs it can take a while to download.  That’s fine anyway I think a website needs to be simpler not more complex so I’m eliminating them.

3)      There are some limits to design.  But not many, once you figure it out.

4)      Internet explorer.  Well ok this is a problem everywhere.  I’m surprised anyone still uses it.  But for iWeb occasionally you’ll design something that just won’t work with internet explorer.  If I was a better programmer I could probably fix this.  But I’m not, so I’ll leave it to you.

Some Myths…

1)      At first some people told me that we wouldn’t be able to use our OPAC with it.  This isn’t true, that is a separate platform anyway and usually comes with your Library System Software and needs to be designed outside of your library website.  It’s easily integrated however, with a WebWidget.

2)      You can’t have your own web address.  This is not true anymore and in fact, I have a personal business with its website designed on a Mac and its own web address.  For our library however, I chose to mask the website so everywhere you went it showed our website in the URL box.  Another easy fix.

3)      You’re limited by not being able to use HTML or other web language on the website.  This isn’t true with a webwidget.  I have made quit a few HTML/JAVA based features on our site.  Such as scrolling text, rotating banners, search boxes, and a few others.  Occasionally some problems crop up (usually with IE) , but not often and there is almost always a way around it.

That’s about it.  If you want to visit the library website I made on a mac its located at http://www.libraryatlincoln.org but I don’t work their anymore, so if you see something you don’t like on it, I’ll just say they did it after I left.  If you have any questions let me know!