• Main
• T.O.C.
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• App. A
• App. B
• App. C
• App. D
• Biblio.

Who are the Reading Club Customers?

As you have noted, the Reading Club program sets up exchange relationships with several different client groups. However, the primary customers from among these groups are most assuredly the children. While it may be obvious that you will not reach all the children who are out there, it is important to try and determine just who all of them are.

In 1992, the American Library Association published Output Measures for Public Library Service to Children. Written by Virginia A. Walter as part of the Public Library Development Program, the manual suggests standardized procedures for measuring and reporting children's services statistics. What is noteworthy about the manual, and of particular interest from a marketing perspective, is Walter's suggestion that children's statistics be reported in relative terms: circulation of children's materials per child, library visits per child, school/library contacts per school, etc. Reporting statistics in this manner provides library administrators and other governing officials with concrete, understandable, and significant information (Walter, 1992).

This concept can easily and appropriately be applied to the Reading Club. What percentage of the children available participated in the Club? What percentage completed the Club requirements?

In order to answer these questions, you will first have to determine your library's service area. Walter (1992) refers to this as the legal service area and defines it as "the geographical area for which a public library has been established to offer services and from which (or on behalf of which) the library derives income" (p. 24). The service area may be an entire city, town or county or it may consist of parts of one or more of these. If you library has only one service point, a main library, then defining your service area will not be too difficult. If however, you are part of a multi-branched system the task becomes more complex. In such cases, the children's services providers from the various locations, in conjunction with administrative personnel, will need to work together to define service areas.

Acknowledging that the process is difficult in multiple outlet library systems, Walter suggests several strategies for determining legal service areas and their corresponding children's population (25). While service areas defined by census tract will be the most precise, it will take considerable time and effort to realize such divisions. You might consider defining service areas by zip code zones. Such zones are more easily identified than census tracts and zoned maps, as well as the actual zip codes assigned to schools, day care providers, etc., are increasingly available in telephone directories. Additionally, your library will most likely have zip code information in hits patron database.

After defining your legal service area, you will also have to determine the children's population of that area. This may be an even more difficult task requiring considerable coordination and creativity. Walter (1992) suggests working a "combination of school enrollment figures and census data" but warns that "the method used for calculating the children's population [be] consistent for each branch of the service area" (p. 25).

You may well be thinking that all this is too confusing, too complex, and ultimately too inaccurate to pursue further. Don't despair! Realizing that the best you can do is estimate the children's population of your service area, do your best and move on.

To give you a concrete example, and hopefully some inspiration, consider the 1990 Reading Club from a statewide perspective. Approximately 488,000 children participated in the club that year. Census figures for 1990 reported just over 4 million children in Texas aged 14 and under. This means that 12% of the state's children participated in the Reading Club. If the population figure is adjusted to more accurately reflect the Reading Club's target audience and only the 2 million children between 5 and 12 are considered, the participation figure increases to 24%. Surely even the most cynical public official would be able to appreciate such a success ratio!

In her 1988 dissertation on the Effectiveness of Summer Reading Programs in Public Libraries in the United States, Jill Locke suggests that engaging 8% or more of the children in the service area's population in the Reading Club constitutes an effective and successful program. She further indicates that for the 200 libraries in her study, the average rate of participation was 5% (Locke, 1988). These figures will give you some basis for comparison as you consider the participation rate for your Reading Club.

In conjunction with estimating the children's population of your service area, you need to identify the schools, day care centers and other agencies located in the area. These organizations will be useful to you as you begin to publicize the Reading Club.

Past experience, or perhaps just common sense, may inform you that you will not be able to serve all the schools, day care centers, etc., in your area. However, it is important to be aware of all the potential participating groups. This will help you to identify audiences that you are serving adequately, as well as those you might be neglecting or excluding unintentionally.

The schools in your area will no doubt be easy to identify. Between the telephone directory and the school district office you should be able to compile a list of names, addresses, and enrollment figures.

Day care providers are more difficult, but not impossible to identify. Again, the telephone directory is a good place to begin. However, the information in the phone books may be out of date and/or incomplete. The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) is the state agency responsible for regulating and licensing day care providers. TDPRS identifies and regulates three different types of day care facilities: day care centers, group day care homes, and registered family homes. Day care centers are authorized to care for the largest number of children per facility and are most likely to be found in the Yellow Pages.

For a complete and timely listing of all the licensed child care providers in your service area, you should contact the TDPRS office nearest you. These offices maintain lists of licensed child care providers, arranged by zip code, that are updated quarterly. Many towns have a local TDPRS office that can be located via the phone book. If you are unable to locate a local office, contact one of the larger regional offices to ask for assistance.

Central Texas Area
P.O. Box 15995
Austin, TX 78761
(512) 834-0162

West Texas Area
P.O. Box 10276
El Paso, TX 79994
(915) 521-4343

Dallas/Fort Worth Area
111 W. Ledbett
Dallas, TX 75224
(214) 302-4216

Houston Area
P.O. Box 16017
Houston, TX 77222
(713) 696-7241

Panhandle Area
P.O. Box 3700
Amarillo, TX 79116
(806) 356-3123

South Texas Area
P.O. Box 23990
San Antonio, TX
(210) 257-8111

After you have defined your service area, estimated its children's population and identified its schools, day care providers and other child related agencies, it is time to identify target groups for Reading Club participation.

As public institutions, libraries have traditionally attempted to serve everyone. While this is appropriate, it has not proven to be particularly successful or entirely realistic. Public relations consultant, Charles Leonard suggests that librarians in pursuing patrons might take a lesson from the political strategist. "It is senseless for a liberal Democrat to spend a lot of time campaigning in an ultra-conservative Republican neighborhood. [The candidate] may ultimately win or carry that area -- that happens. But it is much more practical to spend one's time, money and efforts in two other areas -- the neighborhood more favorable to you and in what is called a swing area in politics. Four our purposes, we can translate the word swing to possible user" (Leonard, 1985, p. 8).

Taking Leonard's cue, you might want to consider as your primary Reading Club target audiences, those children who are or have been library users as well as those who you think you have a definite chance of winning over. You will be the best judge of who your swing groups are. Perhaps they are the children in schools close enough to your library to allow for walking or biking to Reading Club programs. Perhaps they are the child care centers who promote the educational aspects of their programs.

Establishing target audiences does not mean you will ignore certain sections of your population. You will continue to provide information about the Reading Club program to any and everyone who will listen. Establishing target groups is simply a way of acknowledging that the time and effort you have to expend are finite and therefore you want to make the most of them. For example, you may have time to visit a limited number of schools to promote the Reading Club. You set aside all the time you can and begin to accept invitations and make appointments. Before you realize it, all your time has been appropriated by schools whose past participation has been minimal at best.

If however, early in the Reading Club planning process, you had determined which schools are most likely to contain your swing group, you could have targeted those schools and arranged for well timed and meaningful visits. The result will be increased participation from students in those schools due to your efforts.

It will certainly be appropriate to establish multiple target groups. If your Reading Club plans include a read-to-me component as well as one for independent readers, you have already made a preliminary decision to target two groups that you define based on age and ability. While the Reading Club product may be quite similar for these two groups (Reading Logs, an incentive games, and ultimately the certificate), how you engage members of each group in the Reading Club will be quite different. Establishing target groups and being aware of their various needs and interests can save you time, effort, and frustration as you plan and implement the Reading Club.

return to top