To Make the Invisible Visible:

eBook Promotion in School Libraries

In many ways the circulation of digital library resources (eBooks, and databases especially) is invisible.  Collecting usage data for many of the services we subscribe to is only possible in aggregate at the district level (43 school libraries).  Additionally the collection itself is mostly invisible to patrons used to physically browsing the shelves.  The Kentlake Library staff has made an effort to promote the eBook collection to staff and students over the past couple of years through formal and informal channels (Information Literacy Instruction, Professional Development, Reader’s Advisory and Promotional Signage), but perceived and anecdotal patron reports of usage are still very low or show a lack of familiarity of the services.

                Traditional promotional activities (such as book talks, booklists, and staff and student reviews) have had a minor impact on overall eBook usage.  Library staff has been developing and implementing additional methods to increase eBook familiarity during the last few years unsystematically.  This investigation was undertaken to systemize our efforts while highlighting ideas and materials developed by other institutions and develop an understanding of best practices.

                After searching various academic and periodical databases, various library collections and the internet a collection of relevant resources was compiled.  This collection was further scrutinized to select the ten most useful publications.  This collection skews heavily toward practical application presented by practitioners (Teacher-Librarians) professional development provided by venders and professional trade literature.

Collette, Matt. "Getting to E." School Library Journal, vol. 61, no. 9, Sept. 2015, pp. 28-31. Web. http://www.slj.com/2015/09/technology/getting-to-e-the-state-of-the-school-ebook-market/#.

Getting to E is a survey of the state of eBook adoption and use in school libraries as of the fall of 2015.  As such it does not directly address specific promotional activities by school libraries to increase eBook usage by staff and students.  EBooks are becoming more popular among librarians and patrons as the experience moves away from requiring proprietary devices and platforms and toward a more agnostic environment that streamlines access for patrons, and publishers and venders.

Many of the issues discussed in depth by the author concern development and management of eBook collections such as publishers’ resistance and/or varying license limitations that limits both the available materials and patron access to a library’s collection.  At the same time the fact that many students prefer physical books, either as an escape from technology or from familiarity, are mentioned as reasons some school libraries are reluctant to aggressively develop eBook collections.

Two sections of Getting to E indirectly address the need for libraries to specifically promote their eBook collections.  One of the vender representatives interviewed, Amy Cox from Capstone, makes the point that “The format [eBooks] is not appealing enough to make a kid read a bad book, so it all has to start with the content.”  (Paragraph 18).  Making the point that an eBook is still a book and that the quality of the content and usability is key to promoting material of any format.  Likewise it is impossible for a patron to use material they cannot find.  Because it is difficult to browse an eBook collection that does not have a physical presence many patrons do not know what they are missing.  As Monte Kuehl from ABDO comments “It doesn’t matter how good your collection is if no one can access it.”

The article does not present any concrete solutions to these problems.  It does a good job instead of highlighting issues and suggesting avenues for a library staff to investigate to develop their own solutions to developing a useful and well used eBook collection.

Fitzgerald, Sue.  “Tips for eBook Promotion.”  The Unpretentious Librarian.” Blog post. Blogger.com, 5 May 2013.  Web. 19 April 2017.  unpretentiouslibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/05/tips-for-ebook-promotion.html

The previous entries have focused on the role of the library and library staff in promoting their eBook collections, and while Sue Fitzgerald highlights the role of staff, this article also emphasizes how our patrons and community can be overlooked resources.  She lists fourteen ongoing activities that have successfully continuously increased eBook circulation in her school library.

Most of Fitzgerald’s ideas reach out of the library and into the classroom and incorporate teachers as eBook advocates through professional development, class visits, and professionally making eBooks a priority within the library collection and identity.  Many of these ideas are commonly expressed across the literature as best practices but she also includes a couple of ways that students can be enlisted as advocates beyond word of mouth promotion.  The fifth suggestion is to (formally) train students as eBook experts, give them and verbally request their assistance with eBook questions.  This is a great and unique way to use student volunteers and assistants that I have not encountered elsewhere.

All fourteen ideas shared by Sue Fitzgerald were implemented early in her eBook promotion (2012).  They are based on successful experience and reiterated in other library communities.  It was wonderful to discover an enthusiastic advocate willing and excited to share her successes.

Johnson, Doug.  “Ten Ways to Promote Online Resources.”  Library Media Connection.  32:1 (2013):  98.  Academic Search Complete.  Web.  19 April 2017.  https://moe.highline.edu:2596/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=a9h&AN=89933514&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Doug Johnson’s short article does not mention eBooks.  Instead, he provides a “starter list” of ideas for promoting digital resources as a class of potentially invisible resources. 

After praising school librarians for our ability, passion and energy in promoting print resources Johnson demolishes the idea that our “digital natives” will use high quality databases and other digital resources just because they exist.  Johnson’s ten ideas are intended to “start the conversation” about the how of promoting digital resources.  He provides clear and easy ways to accomplish “do now” suggestions best summed up as:  “Just because a resource doesn’t fit in a display case, doesn’t mean you can’t make it visible.  It just takes a little more ingenuity.”

Holt, Morgan “EBook Promotion.” Pinterest, 13 May 2017. Web. 18 May 2017. https://www.pinterest.com/morganalanholt/ebook-promotion

In the past I have used Pinterest as a way to find Sci-Fi/Fantasy Art and other ideas for hobby and personal interest.  Just as I was beginning the eBook promotion project, my wife, a second grade teacher, asked if I knew of something she could use with her “My Community” class project.  After finding several ideas she liked on Pinterest I immediately thought about eBooks.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality ideas pinned by other Teacher-Librarians, Children’s Librarians and eBook venders.  Everything from games and displays to kiosks and shelf markers.  It is amazing what other librarians are doing to promote their eBooks.  The pins definitely caught my attention and following them to their sources inspired my imagination, and enthusiasm to try or adapt some amazing ideas.

Lamb, Annette. "Marketing for Libraries." IUPUI Distance Learning. Eduscapes, n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.  http://eduscapes.com/marketing/

“Some librarians say they are too busy to think about marketing… but are they busy providing the customer service needed for a thriving library?”  

The opening quote on Doctor Lamb’s Overview section of her “Marketing for Libraries” course website intrigued me.  I had not considered the importance of marketing library services or resources until I had discovered Terrence Young’s article “Always Open, Never Visible: Challenges and Opportunities in Marketing and Promoting Your Informational E-Books” discussed below.  It was not that I naively believed that merely having a strong useful collection was enough to bring in patrons or encourage them to use the resources, only that I viewed promotion of the program and resources as something different from “marketing.”  As she notes: “Christie Koontz (2009) notes that many library professionals confuse publicity and promotion with marketing.”

Doctor Lamb’s course website is extensive and with a wealth of information and links emphasizing the importance of marketing to the library program as a whole.  This is my introduction to how marketing can benefit a library and enhance the visibility and utilization of its services.  I consider this resource to be my starting point to the study and application of marketing concepts, strategies and techniques to my library program and especially promoting eBook (and other digital resource) use.

Maughan, Shannon. "Going Digital: How Schools Buy and Use E-Books." Publishers Weekly, vol. 262, no. 35, 31 Aug. 2015, pp. 18-33. EBSCOhost, http://moe.highline.edu:2048/login?url=https://moe.highline.edu:2596/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=a9h&AN=109226404&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

The main audience for Maughan’s Going Digital are the educational eBook providers, publishers, venders and service/platform providers such as ABDO, Mackin and Follett.  It examines some of the barriers to schools’ adoption of eBooks as classroom and library resources (varying licensing schemes, access method, device/platform compatibility, etc…) from the point of view of content providers.

While library eBook promotion and circulation is not directly addressed, there is actually a lot of valuable information on the topic in the article.  The entire second half of the article (pages 25-33) does discuss library concerns of technical support, discoverability and promotion, and usage patterns.  The mix of content provider and educator information presents some novel ways of looking at eBook promotion and user concerns that are absent in the rest of the literature examined for this project.

Miller, Shannon McClintock. "10 Easy Ways to Promote MackinVia." Blog post. MackinVIA Community. Mackin Educational Resources, 01 Nov. 2016. Web. 26 May 2017. http://www.mackinviacommunity.com/2016/10/31/10-easy-ways-to-promote-ebooks-eresources-in-your-library-with-mackinvia/.

An excellent blog post by an elementary librarian focusing on both vender created promotional materials (bookmarks, posters, how to videos, etc…) and her own creations (“Readbox,” Book Trailers, and an eBook Summer Reading Program).  Miller highlights many of the print on demand resources available from Mackin as well as features built into the MackinVia platform (user “Backpacks” and site specific “Groups”) that can be used to quickly promote an eBook collection.

While most of the ideas mentioned in the post are specific to the MackinVia platform, most can be easily adapted a school library’s specific needs.  We are a MackinVia school and were very excited to implement a couple of the promotional ideas immediately (bookmarks and shelf markers).  It is always useful and exciting to discover other teacher-librarians’ solutions to problems or issues confronting our own practice.

Moore, Claire. "Marketing EBook Collections." ALSC Blog. Blog post. American Library Association, 26 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 May 2017. http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2014/04/ebook-marketing-in-your-library/

A relatively brief blog entry by a children’s librarian in Connecticut.  The first half of the article highlights the advantages for parents and “young patrons” of eBooks, no overdue or lost books, and increased access (digital copies of popular items) that can make digital materials more convenient. 

In the second part of the entry, Moore provides examples integrating eBooks into regular programing and promotional activities in addition to activities specifically intended to introduce or support digital services.  Her examples are good, easy suggestions for “making the seemingly intangible a bit more accessible” and integrated in to regular activities and readers advisory.

We, as professionals, often forget that what we find easy or simple to use and access can seem opaque and mysterious patron, even those who are “tech-savvy.”  Moore’s article is a great antidote to the frustration some library staff express  when patrons are unfamiliar or unable to access digital resources.

Sockel, Adam. "Give EBooks a Physical Presence: Sacramento PL Shares Marketing Ideas." Blog post. OverDrive Blogs. Overdrive, 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 May 2017.  http://blogs.overdrive.com/promotional-ideas/2013/01/03/give-your-ebooks-a-physical-presence-sacramento-public-library-shares-marketing-ideas/

Starting with the question “How do you make the intangible tangible,” Sockel’s blog post does a great job of highlighting the success one public library had doubling their eBook circulation through passive promotion techniques.  Although his post is extremely brief, our library staff was able to immediately implement some of the same ideas in our library with a noticeable increase in patron interest in our eBook collection.

Blogs, such as Overdrive’s, MackinVia’s and Follett’s are great resources.  Not only are they used to highlight vender created promotional materials and templates, but also a way for other users to share their own creations.  The willingness of library staffs to share ideas and successes is greatly beneficial and efficient.  We can build off each other’s successes instead of starting from scratch at each library.

Young, Jr., Terrence E. "Always Open, Never Visible: Challenges and Opportunities in Marketing and Promoting Your Informational E-Books." Library Media Connection, vol. 31, no. 3, Nov/Dec2012, pp. 48-52. Web. https://moe.highline.edu:2596/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=a9h&AN=82981879&site=ehost-live&scope=site

When I started this project, my concern was individual student/patron use of eBooks, especially fiction.  I had not really considered the classroom use eBooks to support Common Core State Standards’ (CCSS) requirements for the use of Informational Texts before discovering this article.

The most important point raised by Young is the need to market the library’s digital collection, including and emphasizing eBooks, to classroom teachers as a solution.  He really emphasizes the ability of eBook and other digital resources to provide companion Informational Texts to classroom standards such as To Kill a Mockingbird by highlighting several services (Gale/Cengage, ABC-Clio, Salem Press and McGraw-Hill) and promoting their features that benefits students and staff.  Many of the promotional strategies Young suggests are repeated by many others in the literature but his point of view, emphasizing marketing and not just promotion sets this article apart as especially useful.

The most important point in the article is that promoting items, resources or collections is not enough.  It is important for a library to have or develop a real marketing strategy or plan to advertise and encourage use.  I had never really considered the utility or importance of marketing for health of my library program and do not really know much about the practice of marketing and it inspired me to seek out how to apply it to promoting eBooks and ultimately the whole school library program.

Afterword

I started this exploration focused solely on discovering “do now” activities I could implement to boost the use/circulation of a growing eBook collection from three services (MackinVia, FollettShelf and the Gale Virtual Library).  I discovered and implemented several ideas (shelf markers, bookmarks, and more booktalks and demonstrations) but have broadened my goal to “make the invisible visible” as Doug Johnson eloquently stated in his article Ten Ways to Promote Online Resources.

The library program at Kentlake High School has always focused on promoting our digital resources.  The results have been mixed over the years but after exploring eBook promotion for this project, I feel reinvigorated and better prepared to develop more a coherent plan.  I now feel that I have a better idea of how other school librarians have approached this goal and how these ideas, materials, displays and actions can be adapted to our library environment and clientele.  It will always be a work in progress, but now I see a direction we can start down and more inclusive methods of measuring success than circulation numbers.