With all the exciting things that are going on with Ask a Librarian – our successful transition to InstantService, out continually rising statistics, our second year of The Director’s Chair – we’ve decided to celebrate with the first ever statewide Ask a Librarian Day on Feb. 20, 2009. And we need your help to make this event a success!

Please share this email with your supervisors and directors to ensure your library will be able to fully participate in Ask a Librarian Day. 

We are asking every staff member at all of our libraries to participate in Ask a Librarian Day in some way. Some of you might feel comfortable talking openly to customers about our service. Others might prefer just wearing an Ask a Librarian sticker. And we’re okay with that. Even the most subtle promotion is still good promotion!

So here’s what’s going to happen:

1.       Within the next two weeks, your library will receive a package of Ask a Librarian goodies containing t-shirts (courtesy of Gale), a roll of stickers, and a stack of business cards. On Feb. 20, your most outgoing librarians who interact with the public should wear the t-shirts to work.

All other employees are welcome to wear a sticker, and also feel free to pass those stickers out to all of your customers.

Keep a few business cards in your pocket, and when you talk to a customer about Ask a Librarian, hand them a card so they’ll remember us when they get home. We’ve left room on the back of the card for you to write a note or your name for your customer.

2.       BRAG ABOUT OUR SERVICE! Take this opportunity to tell every customer who walks through your library’s doors about Ask a Librarian. Give them a sticker and a business card. Show them how to use Ask a Librarian. Talk about what a great service we are! Make sure that when they leave your library, they know that Ask a Librarian is the first place they should go to for online reference help. We will provide key talking points for you to share with your staff closer to the day.

3.       What you’ll be doing is promoting Ask a Librarian through word-of-mouth marketing, which is the most effective way to promote something. You’ll tell your customers about Ask a Librarian, and they’ll tell their friends, who will tell their friends, and so on. And if all 101 of our libraries participate in Ask a Librarian Day, think of all the people who will be talking about our service statewide!  

4.       In the meantime, back at headquarters, we will be promoting Ask a Librarian Day to the media statewide, to various email listservs, and on our websites and blogs. We think that every one of our libraries throughout Florida promoting Ask a Librarian in a huge way on the same exact day is exciting news – and we think the media will too.

Be on the lookout for your package of Ask a Librarian goodies, and in the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions about Ask a Librarian Day on Feb. 20. We’ll send out a reminder email as we get closer to the big day.