From the Director's Desk

August 14, 2007

Beverly J. Obert, Executive Director

Telling the Library Story

Throughout the coming year, we will feature a series of articles that will focus on the many ways you can tell your library story. Who is the audience for your story? There are many different people that need to know about your library, but the message you give each of them will be different, because they each have a unique interest in the library.

One audience that needs to hear your library story is the governing authority for the library. If you work in a public library, that would be the city officials, township officials, or if you are a district library, it would be the voters as the funding source for the library. In schools, you want to share the library story with the Board of Education, Superintendent, and principals. For special libraries, it is the person you report to or under whose authority your library runs. While you may not meet the CEO or head of your organization, you want to have a message that can be sent to them and understood in just a few seconds. Academic libraries may report to a specific dean in the school or the chancellor or vice chancellor. Each of these people has a different level of understanding of what the library is, what it does, and how your own library community benefits by having the library available to them. Along with a varied knowledge base about the library, there is also a wide range of interest levels and support.

The staff at the Rolling Prairie Library System had an opportunity to tell the RPLS story to the Illinois State Library on July 19th. Each year the systems submit an Area and Per Capita grant to the State Library that serves as our request for funding. This year is the fourth time that we have had the opportunity to go to the State Library and report face to face with various staff members of the library. Anne Craig, the Director, and Lawren Tucker, the new Deputy Director, were there along with various other staff people and consultants from Library Development. This year there were three RPLS Board members, the incoming President of the LLSAP Users Group, and seven RPLS staff members who presented. Even though this is termed a presentation, I look on it as a conversation between the System and the State Library. We talked about each of the areas of service as outlined in our Long Range Plan. We highlighted various accomplishments in the past year, but focused primarily on our plans for the coming year such as the Farm Progress Show, Membership meeting, and LLSAP upgrades. This was our chance to tell them what we do and how we do it. The Board members and LLSAP President-elect told about how the System helps their libraries.

How do you tell your story to those who have governing authority over you? Do you send reports and if so how often? Do you create an annual report that explains your budget, what was spent, the programs presented, books circulated, etc.? Do you keep track of the stories or “ah-ha” moments when a patron’s need was met? These are the little gems of information that can liven up a report and give it a human touch and not just words or numbers.

In the next few weeks think about how you tell your story to the library’s governing authority. How can you make it better?

Rolling Prairie Library System
A Library for Librarians
Helping Libraries Serve Illinois Citizens