Advocacy 101: Be seen, Be heard, Be felt

ad·vo·cate/ˈadvəkit/

As teen services librarians we find ourselves doing multi-level advocacy: We advocate to our co-workers, our administrations, our communities.  We want support and resources; we want our front line staff to be our voice; we want our administrators to make sure we have the time, space and money we need to effectively serve our teens.  That is why we must advocate.

Goals: Move your patrons and community members from thinking of it as “the library” to thinking of it as “my library.”  Creating a sense of pride and ownership on the behalf of the community means less advocacy work for you as they now become your greatest advocates.                                

How? Relationship, customer service, social media and presence

Presence                                                                                                
Get your name in the press as often as possible.  Contact the local newspaper and ask them if you can write a regularly occurring guest column.  Attend community planning and development groups.  If they don’t exist, start your own (see Mpact: Building an Asset Builder’s Coalition in the November 2011 edition of VOYA Magazine).  Have regularly occurring programming events that keep your library’s name on the tips of patrons tongues.  These events should range in variety and audience but generate buzz. 

Relational Librarianship                                                                                                                                                        
When members of the community feel that they know and are known by their library staff members – at all levels – we enter into a relational partnership.  Some of this can be accomplished through the library’s effective use of social media. Blogs can be your friend.  At my last two library positions I have created staff picks displays (like all good librarians, I borrowed the idea from elsewhere).  Here, staffs picks are continually put out with a staff name and face to go with it.  Over time patrons find the staff members that they have common reading interests with and seek them out for personalized RA services. 

Phase II: Networking with your community leaders
Goals: Build partnerships with your community leaders and maintain relationships that keep your library moving forward and viable.           
                

How?: Meet and greet, extend an invitation, and social media

Extend an Invitation        
Find out where your community leaders are active – Rotary Club, Key Club, Community Foundations, etc. – and offer to be a part.  Regularly attend meetings and contribute meaningfully to the dialogue and goals.  If you see, or hear expressed, a need in your community, create an organization to help meet that need and invite others into partnership with the library.  Let your leaders know that the library is available to help provide information research, meeting rooms, or staff to do programming.

Filed under: Advocacy, Teen Librarian, YA Librarian