Survey Results

16 libraries responded to the survey The Connect theme lent itself to a huge range of

new and existing activities- from internet classes in Cantonese to a chocoholics meeting, a Libraries Building Communities Expo, and a highly successful bookmark campaign aimed at Councillors

Events emphasised connecting online and connecting with the community

Over 9500 people attended events in 15 libraries Many libraries tried new training sessions for

their online resources, with good results Library and Information Week also ran during the

month, and helped gain local media coverage

Overview

Stand-out programs included :

Bilingual storytimes and internet training were popular and successful in many libraries

Spoil Yourself – chocoholics session at Casey-Cardinia had 27 attendees- 10 of whom exchanged details and are organising another group tour about chocolate

Morning teas were very successful, bringing together different groups (eg Chinese and English speaking Seniors groups)

The Connies- a troupe of former tramways staff- did a hugely successful series of performances on the history of Darebin, and handed out packs of historical cards

Newcomers Evening/Day, new book discussion group, and a high profile “Councillors at your library” campaign at Gannawarra Libraries

Connect with a friend- booked out Internet sessions at Hobsons Bay

Event highlights

Event highlights

A huge program at Moonee Valley included Hypnosis & You: A Holistic Perspective, Health Help for Parents of Vietnamese Teenagers, Homework on the Internet, Connect to the World- internet class in Cantonese, Stories around the Campfire, Are you ready for retirement?, Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, and Top Kids, Top Searching

Author & writing workshops, such as Scott Gardner, Jill Koolmees, Michelle de Kretser

Connect with the past theme with displays of photos/information of “Historic & Notable Graves” at 6 Wimmera branches

Bedtime storytime with Auslan signing at Kew library Libraries Building Communities Expo – Mornington invited

60 local community groups to set up stalls in each of their branches. Groups ranged from rescue squads, girl guides, toastmasters to regional bands

Boroondara said “There were excellent attendances for the author talks with more people turning up than had actually booked. The database demos were heavily booked. The Auslan storytime attracted one deaf family, but feedback was that the hearing children were fascinated watching the different form of communication.”

Yarra Plenty felt their success was due to a strategic approach, promotion, excellent theme, and helpful staff- all working to a regional goal, working with community groups & resource sharing

Whitehorse Manningham had a variety of activities and target audiences which resulted in good attendances at all sessions

Mornington’s Community Building Day was “very successful”

During Library and Information Week Hobson’s Bay offered a free library bag if you joined a friend or with a friend – attracting 170 new members

What worked?

What worked?

Moonee Valley said “Nearly everything was well attended but we were particularly surprised at the response to 'Top Kids, Top Searching' and will run this again”

As a result of their program, Casey-Cardinia recognized the importance of promoting databases to students and have since delivered presentations in several schools

Gannawarra said “One of the major successes of the program for us was the “Councillors at your library” campaign, as bookmarks were handed out which included the wording “If you love your library please tell a councillor”. This raised public community awareness of financial support by council to the Library Service and the community response to councillors demonstrated the high level of appreciation of the Library Service. This was carried out prior to the budgetary allocations and was very effective in promoting community support.”

Some activities didn’t attract the attendance organisers were hoping for- eg family-oriented activities rather than specific adult/ children’s/ youth events

Otherwise there were no major difficulties

What Didn’t Work?

Champions were asked to rate how the number of inquiries during the Connect @ your library program met their expectations

11 libraries reported 3281 inquiries 6 libraries had above-expected

inquiries 9 matched expectations, and one

reported a below-expected response

Inquiries

Champions were asked to rate how the number of attendees during the Connect @ your library program met their expectations

6 libraries reported above-expected attendance at events, 7 matched them, and 2 did not meet expectations

9508 people attended Connect events at 15 library services

Attendance was around 85% of estimated capacity

All libraries matched or exceed their expected loans from LOTE collections, web hits, and online database searches

Attendance

Newspaper coverage: Herald Sun Learn section, Melbourne Weekly Bayside, many local newspapers

Radio coverage: RRR interview with Patti Manolis (3/5)

Listings: The Age Metro (12/5 & 25/5), Melbourne’s Child, Leader newspapers, That's Melbourne (web), citysearch (web), Saturday Herald Sun What’s On

Extensive coverage was also achieved for Library & Information Week: Radio- ABC Statewide Drive, 774 Red Symons, regional ABC stations, RRR, etc; Newspapers inc the Herald Sun and The Age, Fifty Plus News, Melbourne Weekly, The Age EG 48 Hours

Media Coverage

Campaign overview – 7 Ideas – 9 Materials – 16 Logo – 13 Media release template – 3 Calendar of Events - 3 (16 responses)

How many Champions used…

Campaign material use

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Campaignoverview

Ideas Promotionalmaterials

Logo Media releasetemplate

% o

f Cha

mpi

ons

Your Future Just Ask Doing Business Life is LearningTreasures Holiday Fun Read Connect

Very effective

Effective IneffectiveVery

ineffectiveUnable to comment

Posters/ bookmarks

56% 38% - - 6%

Print ads 13% 44% 6% - 38%

Editorial 19% 25% 12% - 56%

Campaign material rating

About the theme: Fantastic theme, very easy to promote a variety

of events under the one banner (We) liked both aspects of the Connect theme I think it’s been our best theme to date It was a wonderful promotion for what our Library

Service has to offer, whether it be to new people to the area, school children who are not often exposed to visits to the public library and its fantastic storytelling

This ran a lot more smoothly than last year. The Libraries Building communities expo was a great success and really helped us to connect with our local community. We have already started talks of what we would do differently next year

Comments

About the media: Had lots of newspaper coverage for Connect & Library Week We used 'Valley View' which goes to all residents & this was

great advertising. Also had articles in local papers. Not many people indicated that they learned of the program via the website.

We need to get coverage in our local press. The Leader advertisements do not really serve us well. We had coverage for our events in both local papers, also on our local radio station

Gained great coverage in Council newsletter that goes to each household. Melbourne Times did a great promo of The Connies event. Leader had snippets of events in the What's On section.

Warrnambool now has a fortnightly radio spot on community radio and we always make a point of featuring any @ your library promotions and the radio plays the promos sent by the SLV.

Comments

About the material and support: It would be good if future posters

could be different in format e.g. a long banner

The fact that posters, bookmarks, press releases etc. are all there to help you is great as time is an important factor for all, especially those who work part time

Comments

Connect is a great campaign to run joint activities with other community groups

Morning teas can be a great way to bring different people together

Find out about new migrant or refugee communities in your area and welcome them to the library

Connect with a Friend, a connect-a-Councillor campaign, and Top Kids, Top Searching internet classes would be easy for many libraries to run

Recommendations