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Membership : Advocacy

Advocacy: From Awareness to Funding, the next chapter

Community-based public awareness campaign targets increased support for libraries

Funded by a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OCLC has developed a community-based public awareness campaign designed to highlight the vital role of public libraries in today's challenging environment and to increase local library support. The awareness campaign strategy is based on findings from the 2008 OCLC report, From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America. It utilizes a broad range of marketing, advertising and advocacy techniques to reach the audience identified in the report as "probable" library supporters—a group of regular voters who are likely to support library funding initiatives, but who are not fully committed.

The study indicates that by raising awareness of the breadth of library services, reconnecting probable supporters to the library's unique value and educating them about the need for support, residents will take action when the time comes to support local library initiatives. The research also showed that people who perceive the library as a transformational force in their lives, as opposed to simply an informational resource, are more committed to library support. The community awareness campaign aims to shift probable supporters' perception of the library toward being personally relevant and uniquely vital to the local community. Working in collaboration with state and local library leaders, OCLC is piloting the awareness campaign in parts of Georgia and Iowa.

OCLC recently accepted Interest Forms from individual libraries and library systems in other parts of the U.S. interested in participating in the public awareness campaign, and is currently evaluating entries. Selected libraries will receive: access to campaign materials and tools; a modest amount of financial assistance from OCLC; and support from an OCLC field marketing manager.

From Awareness to Funding Report

Key findings

  • Most people will claim to support the library, but fewer people are truly committed to it.
  • There is a lot people don’t know about their public library.
  • The library's most committed funding supporters are not the heaviest library users.
  • Perceptions of the librarian are an important predictor of library funding support.
  • Most voters see the public library as a provider of information.
  • Belief that the library is a transformational force is directly related to funding support.
  • Increasing support may not necessarily mean a trade-off of financial support for other public services.
  • Elected officials are supportive of the library—but not fully committed to increasing funding.