LIBRARY PR — NUTS, BOLTS AND GRAND DESIGN

Let's start at the end the customer sees. Why do librarians, who are good at being librarians, waste time being bad at publicity management, promotion and graphic design — if they attempt any of them at all? For all too many library services, PR and marketing are yet to be invented. The textbooks are on the shelves in the 650s, but as far as those libraries' managers are concerned they might as well be on Mars. When it comes to library promotion (which seems to be something you do a quick burst of when the mood takes you) it is a case of do it yourself and do it cheap — and probably do it nasty.