Survey Results Overview l l l 17

Survey Results

Overview l l l 17 libraries responded to the survey Some libraries organised reading events & activities, others focussed on book displays Where events were held, these were highly popular- most were at or near capacity A number of libraries successfully ran joint promotions with local newspapers Indulge in Reading competition in Leader Newspapers attracted hundreds of entries for book & chocolate hamper prizes Many Champions were impressed with the Read @ your library posters and bookmarks, and plan to reuse them in future

Event highlights Stand-out programs included : l Arnold Zable on his Carlton-based novel Scraps of Heaven, at Yarra-Melbourne l Jill Koolmees on My Desert Kingdom, also at Yarra-Melbourne l Read with Greed progressive dinners at Yarra Plenty l Grandparents storytimes at Wellington for Seniors Week l A greatly overbooked Greek Poetry and Song event at Whitehorse Manningham l Book voucher competition at Hume which attracted 3000+ entries l Celebrity Readers in the Reading Chair at Casey-Cardinia l Bilingual storytimes at Brimbank, Yarra Plenty & Boroondara l and a number of ‘Favourite Book’ promotions with local newspapers

What worked? l l l Very flexible theme, suited to many existing and new activities Themed displays generated extra loans in featured collections Almost all events were highly popular Good support from local media with joint competitions, like Indulge in Reading “The cup of tea afterwards, the involvement of family members. It was fun. ”

What Didn’t Work? l l One Champion found it was hard to evaluate this campaign’s success “Getting people to vote for one book” One author “looked like he’d rather be somewhere else” Material was delivered late and libraries had trouble using it to promote activities

Inquiries l l l Champions were asked to rate how the number of inquiries during the Holiday Fun @ your library program met their expectations 5 libraries reported 531 inquiries 3 libraries had above-expected inquiries, 11 matched expectations, and none reported a below-expected response

Attendance l l l Champions were asked to rate how the number of attendees during the Holiday Fun @ your library program met their expectations 3 libraries reported above-expected attendance at events, 11 matched them, and 2 did not meet expectations 3563 people attended Read events at 11 library services Attendance was around 83% of estimated capacity 9 libraries matched their expected loans from collections, and 3 did not meet expectations Lower loans were attributed to the Easter holidays falling during the campaign month

Media Coverage l l l Newspaper coverage: Herald Sun What’s On (26/2), Saturday Age Review section (Arnold Zable talk), The Express (17/3), Wimmera Mail Standard, Gippsland Times, Yarram Standard, Yarra Leader, Riverine Herald, other local coverage Listings: Melbourne Weekly, Melbourne’s Child, Leader newspapers, That's Melbourne (web), citysearch (web), ABC online (web) JMM Communications reported that the generic nature of campaign was not attractive to big media, and felt a flagship event would win greater attention

How many Champions used… l l l Campaign overview – 10 Ideas – 8 Materials – 16 Logo – 13 Media release template – 6 (17 responses)

Campaign material use

Campaign material rating Very effective Effective Ineffective Very Unable to ineffective comment Posters/ bookmarks 35% 53% - - 12% Print ads 6% 18% - 59% Editorial 6% 18% 12% - 65% Most respondents did not answer on the print ads (including the Indulge in Reading competition), or editorial coverage

Comments About theme and media: l Overall I am pleased with the results as my main aim is to get the library out there and into people’s minds, that we do exist and house more than just resources l The READ campaign was probably our most successful @yourlibrary program to date. It was very timely for us with our new strategic focus on Reading Services. A lot of local media interest was generated around this campaign l The idea of a theme, like Read @ your library, helps coordinate and bring together the event. It gives your promotions meaning. They are not just a cluster of events, but all combined work towards a common goal with an aim and objective l I feel we were unable to give this campaign the effort it deserved due to unforseen factors. I understand it will be run again and we will definitely be giving it more hype (staff numbers permitting)

Comments About theme and media: l “Good campaign “ l This program was about building bridges with other areas in Council, eg Culture & Leisure dept, East Timor project officer served coffee in the library l Because we are not near any of the metropolitan papers we only get the publicity that we can get from out local paper. In this case we had both a picture and small explanation in both local papers l Most success for us came from promotion at a very local level

Comments About the material and support: l Excellent poster and bookmarks- can reuse again later l Have laminated posters for future use l The generic nature of the posters has been enthusiastically received by staff, and we are able to continually reuse to suit many programs l The overall ideas, posters, bookmarks, media releases etc all help with the effectiveness of the Read @ your library campaign. The State Wide Marketing committee has improved with the tools that they are now providing to all libraries. Help is out there, meetings help with ideas and networking, and getting a positive response that marketing is a worthwhile exercise l LOTE bookmarks were taken quickly l Disappointingly, the promotional materials came too late. We decided to save them and use them next year instead. l We used the images on our website from the start of March

Recommendations l l Plan joint competitions or flagship events to attract local media High profile authors generate media coverage & good attendance, especially if local Target events at specific segments of the local population ‘Favourite book’ promotions and displays are simple but highly effective