Ask a Librarian day was a success!

Our first Ask a Librarian Day was this past Friday, and thanks to your enthusiastic participation and abundant creativity, it was a complete SUCCESS!

We had about a 75 percent increase in usage from the previous weekend, and we know that your word-of-mouth marketing efforts caused our numbers to jump. We couldn’t have asked for better results!

Although Ask a Librarian Day is over, we hope you will continue to speak to your customers every day about our wonderful service. Word-of-mouth marketing is most successful when it’s ongoing.

Here are just some of the great stories that I heard from our participating libraries about the event:

• The dean, assistant deans, and every staff member at FSU’s Harold Goldstein Library wore an Ask a Librarian t-shirt, and they raffled off two t-shirts to customers.
• Staff at the Melbourne Public Library handed out stickers, wore Ask a Librarian t-shirts, and gave a tour group of college students and other patrons information on Ask a Librarian.
• Staff at Florida Keys Community College Library posted information about Ask a Librarian on its blog (http://fkcclibrary.blogspot.com/2009/02/ask-us-about-ask-librarian.html) and MySpace and Facebook pages. 
• Library students at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Warren Library wore Ask a Librarian t-shirts during their service desk shifts. It went over so big, that other students who work at the library wanted to know if they could have Ask a Librarian shirts of their own. They have enjoyed being asked about Ask a Librarian and having the opportunity to pass on the information.
•  Staff at Leon County Library was interviewed for the local news, WCTV in Tallahassee.

We’d love to hear your stories as well! Tell us what your library did for Ask a Librarian Day, how your customers reacted, and send us pictures of folks wearing the t-shirts and stickers or of any displays you put together in your library. Include names whenever possible so we can properly attribute the photographs.

We’ve started a Flickr page for all of your Ask a Librarian Day photographs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35694759@N02/.   We’ll be updating it over the next few days as your pictures continue rolling in, so be sure to check back.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm! But, just don’t let your efforts end just because the day is over. Make every day Ask a Librarian Day by talking to your customers about our wonderful service.

Click here to see our sample talking points.