Marketing

A one-pager with ideas for small steps you can take to promote AskAway at your library.

Tips to improve patron survey response rates.

A big factor in whether patrons make use of AskAway is patrons knowing about AskAway. And one great way to tell them about the service is through marketing.

Now is the time to start thinking about marketing plans for the coming term.

What do Gumby, Bugs Bunny, and mini-horses have to do with UVic? They each feature in one of UVic library's instructional videos- 2-minute YouTube clips that cover topics such as academic integrity, scholarly vs. popular sources, and defining a thesis statement. The videos give step-by-step instructions with visuals of the library’s catalogue, website, and databases when relevant.

Looking for fresh content for your library’s Twitter or Facebook updates? We have some ideas for how to find interesting tidbits to share with learners in 140 characters or fewer.

• Share the AskAway.org website to publicize the service

Want library or research help? Help with citations or journal articles? Try AskAway online chat - askaway.org

From the OCLC QuestionPoint team:

We invite you to attend a free webinar, Finding your users online, May
17 at 1 PM ET.

Seeking Synchronicity found that one of the biggest obstacles to a
successful virtual reference service was getting users to simply know
the service existed. How do you find your users online? How do they find
you?

From the QP listserv:
The recording for our March 18 webinar on Promoting Virtual Reference Services On and Off Campus is now available at: http://www.oclc.org/us/en/questionpoint/overview/websessions.htm
To post comments or questions for our speakers, visit the Blog posting at: http://questionpoint.blogs.com/questionpoint_247_referen/2008/03/webinar-promoti.html

From the QP listserv:
Join us for a webinar on promoting your virtual reference service, Tuesday, March 18, 11:30 am – 12:30 p.m. EST [3:30 – 4:30 pm GMT] ***Note corrected time***
Academic librarians, are you looking for ways to position your library as the information provider of choice?

Today Trish Rosseel and I demo'd AskAway to enthusiastic faculty and staff from institutions around the province at the Educational Technology Users Group (ETUG) Spring Workshop in Kamloops. Their excitement and interest in the service reminded me how important it is to market the service to the educators at our institutions.

I just returned from my local public library, where they have a stack of nifty AskAway fridge magnets. I was tempted to take a bunch but managed to restrict myself to just one. Are there any magnets for academic libraries to give our patrons so I won't have to continue to resist temptation?
- Ross Tyner (Okanagan College)