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How Will You Solicit the Support of Your Library Administration and Staff?

It is important to bear in mind that you are engaged in an exchange relationship with library administration and staff that is very similar to the one you have with Reading Club customers. In the case of the customers you are asking them to trade time and interest for the reading materials and activities you provide. In the case of library administration and staff you are asking for an exchange of support and good will for - what?

That is the central question as you develop strategies to solicit support: What can a library director, branch manager, reference librarian, or circulation clerk expect in their Reading Club exchange? What value do you place on their support and what are you willing to exchange for it?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to quickly conclude that your Reading Club efforts result in increased circulation, increased traffic (and probably noise) in the library and an overwhelming surplus of books to shelve. At best, such increases can only be viewed as mixed blessings by those who are already "working as hard as they can!" You may quickly retort that you are only doing your job and that the staff is in fact getting paid to work so they really shouldn't complain. This argument may make you feel better but it probably won't ingratiate you to the support staff.

While you know that you are indeed working hard to make the Reading Club a success, it might be useful to consider your "work" from the perspective of a support staff member. He/she sees you engaging in lots of friendly conversation. You are laughing and singing and reading stories. You are watching films. You are playing with puppets and making crafts. Children are hugging you. Parents are looking on with pleased smiles as you reward their children's success. You are getting lots of positive feedback. You call it work, but it looks a lot like FUN!

And of course, it is fun. Sure it is work, but it is fun work. Perhaps the most valuable and appealing exchange you have to offer is letting the support staff in on the fun. Do not keep the support staff out of the Reading Club fun. Invite them in! Acknowledge and applaud the work they do that assures the success of the Reading Club and find ways to increase their participation.

Begin by providing the support staff an opportunity for input as you plan the Reading Club. They may have vivid memories of past Reading Club successes that will inspire you. They may just as likely have horror stories of previous Reading Club disasters. Listen to these, too. There is no need to repeat old mistakes. If the manager of the Circulation Department has a consistent staffing shortage on Friday afternoons, you want to know that before you schedule a weekly puppet show at that time. In these pre-planning discussion sessions, however formal or informal they may be, keep in mind what you want to happen. You want the staff to know that their input is valued. You want them to feel that they are a part of the Reading Club endeavor.

As Reading Club plans are finalized, it is important to inform the support staff of your intentions. Copies of any flyers or brochures you produce to publicize Reading Club activities should be distributed to all staff members, particularly those who have any occasion to deal with potential customers. Knowing that you will not be the only one who is asked questions about the Reading Club, it is important that all public service staff have access to accurate information. If possible, take time to talk with the staff about the information supplied in printed form, giving staff a chance to hear, as well as read, about the plans and programs.

As you discuss the Reading Club with support staff, before and after planning takes place, be sensitive to interests and to inclinations that may come to the surface. If you really want the staff to be a part of the Reading Club, you will have to listen carefully and intuitively. A shy but artistic shelver may not ask to help put up the bulletin board but welcome the chance if it is offered. An outgoing circulation clerk might enjoy distributing certificates at the closing celebration. If you tape the scripts for your puppet shows prior to performances, the sound of a different voice might be a nice change for your audience and just the right way to get the reference librarian to participate. Be creative. It is your responsibility to find ways for the support staff to join in the fun.

It is also your responsibility to acknowledge the many ways in which the support staff assists in the success of the Reading Club. Thank them for registering all those new library card holders, for checking out all those books, for checking them all back in and getting them all back on the shelf. Thank them for answering all those phone calls about the time of the puppet show, for patiently explaining the overdue policies to overheated customers, for smiling when they were tired but the line was still very long! Thank them and share credit for the success. The Reading Club doesn't belong only to the children or the children's department. It belongs to everyone on the staff. And everyone deserves a pat on the back, during the club and as it concludes.

Think back now, about the Reading Club exchange. What will you offer to the library staff in exchange for their support and good will?

Most succinctly, you will offer consideration and acknowledgment. You will consider their feeling, their concerns, their input. In doing this, you offer them the chance to be a part of the fun and to enjoy an equal share of the credit for a successful endeavor.

Like the support staff, the library administration is also engaged in an exchange relationship with the Reading Club. In some cases the administration may be actively involved in the Reading Club in ways very similar to the support staff. If you are lucky enough to have a director or branch manager who wants to sit in as a guest storyteller, help pass out the cookies, or hand letter the names on all the certificates, by all means take advantage of that willingness. Make him/her an honorary Reading Club member, figure out ways to make the interactions fun and thank you lucky stars for the support!

It is more likely that your administrators will take a less active role in the Reading Club. This means that you must try harder to determine what to offer in the exchange relationship. What can you give your administrator in exchange for his/her support? What does the administration need from the Reading Club? Two things come immediately to mind. You can offer information and you can offer visibility.

Perhaps more than anything else, an administrator needs to know what is going on in the facility that he/she administers. The Reading Club is a major project/program of the library and consequently, the director/manager needs to know about it. If you have taken the time and trouble to articulate goals and objectives for the Reading Club, prepare a copy of this document for your director/manager. If you have developed a program schedule and distributed it to your potential customers, remember that your director/manager is a customer, too. If you are enjoying increased attendance at school age read-aloud sessions, tell your director/manager. Do not assume that he/she knows what is happening. It may seem obvious to you, but you are right there in the thick of it. Your director/manager cannot applaud your efforts and value your ultimate success unless you make sure to inform him/her about it!

Increased knowledge of the Reading Club can also lead to increased awareness of a more subtle benefit: visibility. If the director/manager knows that you are sending out press releases, talking to school groups, publishing the schedules, he/she can quickly deduce that the library is increasingly in the public consciousness. An astute administrator realizes that increased awareness can lead to increased use and/or increased support. In fact, through increased information about, and understanding of, the Reading Club your director/manager can more effectively utilize increased public awareness. When he/she speaks at the weekly Lion's Club meeting and can say specifically, this year's Reading Club has over 800 participants, the seeds of support are being planted. When he/she tells the Friends of the Library that circulation increases between 18 and 25% during the eight weeks of the Reading Club, similar seeds are being sown.

The results of these plantings may not be immediately known. It is unlikely that anyone will jump up with their checkbook and offer to underwrite next year's Reading Club. It is equally unlikely that anyone will rush to City Hall recommending an increase in the library budget. And certainly, it is not your intent in planning and in carrying out the Reading Club to use it as a fund-raising vehicle. It is however, important to see the larger library picture and to know just as you are engaging in an exchange relationship with your customers and supporter, the library administration engages in similar exchanges. While the administrative exchange may have a greater complexity to its relationships, the marketing principle is the same.

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