Marketing Yourself and Your Library

Posted on December 5, 2012. Tags: marketing

Let’s talk about MARKETING this month.

Marketing is an important part of the law librarian profession. Not only do law librarians do research for marketing personnel in law firms, but we also need to market our services and ourselves within our own organizations. Here are just a few quick tips to keep in mind…

MARKETING YOURSELF AND YOUR LIBRARY

Make sure your users understand what you can do for them and how you can add value to your organization and your clients’ organizations.
Speak to users in terms that they can understand and try not to use library jargon.
Be sure to read research requests carefully, to make sure you understand completely what you are being asked to do.
Always reply to e-mails promptly and professionally.
Get in the habit of re-reading e-mails that you are composing before you send them.
If you are dashing off a response based on an emotional reaction, it may be better to wait awhile before responding.
Take advantage of the few minutes you are in an elevator with an attorney to market your services and your library resources.
Try to think up creative ways to connect with your users. For example, one librarian I know started posting a single-page library newsletter in each of the stalls of the washrooms!
Invite your users to visit you in the library – set up an open house or arrange regular training sessions for online resources. Food is always a great motivation!
Be open to visiting your users in their offices and helping them with whatever issues they might be having.
If possible, get involved with your in-house Intranet website and develop web pages for the library.
Try to foster a good working relationship with people in your Marketing Department.
If you get a research request from someone in your Marketing Department, be sure to find out which attorney has requested the information and then copy the attorney on your research results.
Set up alerts to monitor news about your firm, your particular office, and key members of your organization. Send out articles of interest to key members of the organization.
Retain copies of all national and global surveys on your industry (For example, AmLaw 100, AmLaw 200, AmLaw Global 100, Of Counsel’s Annual Survey, National Law Journal’s 250 Annual Survey).
Retain copies of all state and local surveys pertinent to your office as well.
Retain an archive of at least 5 years of annual surveys.