Not to be repetitive, but it is important to identify the needs and opportunities that employees and the institution faces, and then provide services and products that fill the gaps. I have worked hard to identify “influencers,” key leaders in the hospital. The administration, of course, is the obvious department to find influencers, but each department in the hospital has people who go above and beyond their job description to truly know the issues their peers face and lead them to improve. Influencing the influencers is a powerful method of increasing visibility and impact. If you can get them on board by showing them what you have to offer, they will take care of spreading the word.Also, I cannot overestimate the power of “Tell-a-Friend.” Word can spread if you can make it easy for people to recommend the library to their peers. For example, I write emails explaining library resources and invite users to forward it to those who they think would be interested. People are more likely to use resources if people they identify with recommend it to them.
Finally, simple print signs and business cards — even homemade ones(https://medium.com/@PodcastLib/how-i-promote-my-library-with-cheap-but-effective-business-sized-cards-efc36eb202b2) — are very useful.
Sheryl Ramer, Director, Health Sciences Library, NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS / Elmhurst, USA. T: @podcastlib Blog: https://medium.com/@podcastlib
What are your tips for increasing visibility and impact?
“A comment from Annie Mauger (CILIP HLG, 2014) hit the nail on the head – something along the lines of ‘it’s not what we do, it’s what we’re for’. If we can get a fix on where our services are of most benefit within our organization and build our role around that, then we’ll make a positive impact and promoting these services will raise our profile for all the right reasons”.
Anne Madden, Assistant Librarian, Library & Information Services, St. Vincent’s University Hospital,Dublin, Ireland.
Bernadette Colley is a solo Library Administrator at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. She shares her thoughts on being a librarian.
What are you top tips for increasing visibility and impact?
“The answer is two-fold really: Join the dots for people. As you say in your book, ‘Cherry on the cake service’. If people come looking for a book, push them to Athens and your current awareness service. If someone is looking for an ILL and you find the author has made all their articles available on Research Gate, point your user to that site and give them a potted explanation of open access, Lenus, social media and how things are changing. Push twitter and relevant hashtags in your library blog or current contents so that people are not so distrustful. Above all, make friends with your users: people talk!”
The Invisible Librarian 