Geek the Library in action

The story of Shelbyville-Shelby County Public Library

By Linn Haugestad Edvardsen

It’s not every day that you see a public library director at the local high school football game wearing a sandwich board inviting people to write what they are passionate about—what they “geek.” But if you ask residents of Shelbyville, Indiana, they would tell you this is nothing out of the ordinary.

The Shelbyville-Shelby County Public Library in Shelbyville, Indiana, was one of nearly 100 public libraries that piloted the Geek the Library community awareness campaign in 2009 and 2010, and Director Janet Wallace and her staff made campaign promotion a priority. Janet wore the “geek board” to many community events, including a homecoming parade—all in the name of educating her community about library funding and the important need for ongoing support. Her team’s efforts, and the campaign, were a hit. Geek the Library certainly increased awareness about the library and its funding, she says, but it also helped form deeper connections with the community.

“Geek the Library has been highly successful,” says Laura Guenin, Public Relations Manager at the library. “The campaign raised awareness of our financial needs and strengthened our partnerships within the community. More than anything, the quality of the promotional materials helped brand the library as progressive and active.”

Like many public libraries across the U.S., Shelbyville-Shelby County Public Library has faced substantial budget cuts in recent years. “Geek the Library provided a unique opportunity for the library to build awareness about its financial needs and to create exposure about library services. It enabled us to partner with different organizations, and strengthened our existing relationships with local officials and organizations,” Laura says.

The pilot campaign was designed using a multipronged approach, including newspaper and radio advertising and public relations, as well as participation in community events. The library took advantage of all campaign resources in promotional efforts, but also found innovative ways to use in-house graphic design capabilities and worked with a local printer to create additional material. At launch, the library team notified schools, local businesses and city officials, educated them on the campaign and asked for their support in promoting it. They also partnered with a wide array of community organizations, planned and participated in local events, and localized the campaign in many creative ways.

The campaign’s simple design made it flexible, Laura says. As a result, they were able to localize the campaign and cater promotional materials to fit individual activities and community events. “At the local farmer’s market, we passed out geek bags to the vendors, so they could hand them to shoppers. At a high school homecoming football game, we were able to dress the mascot in an ‘I geek the Golden Bears’ T-shirt and toss geek shirts to the crowd. For Halloween, we made a library display with a skeleton that held a sign that ‘geeked’ books, used a geek wall as a backdrop for photos of kids in costume at our festival, and handed geek bags to everyone who attended. For our annual Christmas Tea, we had ‘I geek holidays’ mugs to give to patrons. And, at a local trade fair, we handed out geeky glasses.”

According to Janet and Laura, getting creative was easy. “The promotional materials can be quickly personalized to engage people of all ages,” Laura says. “We looked forward to figuring out ways we could incorporate the campaign into local events. We also enjoyed all of the additional opportunities to meet and interact with people in the community.”

Although the library regularly participates in community events and Janet is known for stepping out from behind her desk, the campaign opened up many new opportunities. For the Shelbyville-Shelby County Library team, Geek the Library reinforced the importance of working outside of the library walls and with other organizations. For example, Janet and Laura agree that the library’s increased involvement with schools was an incredible benefit from running the campaign.

Teachers included elements of Geek the Library in lessons, and students created banners and posters, and helped spread the message to other members of the community, such as parents and local officials. The library also partnered with the local high school to create a promotional video. The video, which was completed by students and included local officials and business owners explaining what they geek, was broadcast at the school the week of launch.

Key objectives of Geek the Library include educating the community about the library and its funding, and encouraging support of the library’s vital role in the community—Shelbyville-Shelby County accomplished this. And in the process, library staff built critical connections with the public.

According to Laura, the promotional materials generated curiosity and opened conversation about the library, which allowed the team to communicate with the public on a personal level. “The more creative we got with the campaign,” she says, “the greater response we received.”

And there’s no question Laura, Janet and all of the staff at Shelbyville-Shelby County Public Library had fun. In fact, the library is still promoting the campaign. So, if you ever find yourself in Shelbyville, Indiana, look for the Geek the Library-inspired bookmobile, and be prepared to tell people what you “geek.”

For more information about the campaign, please visit get.geekthelibrary.org.

About Geek the Library

Geek the Library is a community awareness campaign designed to highlight the vital role of public libraries and educate the public about the critical funding issues libraries face. Geek the Library was developed based on the results of OCLC’s research published in From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in Americaand is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

OCLC piloted the campaign from June 2009 to April 2010 with nearly 100 public libraries in southern Georgia and central Iowa, as well as additional communities in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. These areas were selected based on several factors, including: strong library leadership, mix of urban and rural libraries, structure and level of local funding, and willingness to test new ideas. Like the Shelbyville-Shelby County Public Library success story, the pilot results are encouraging. Geek the Library was proven as an effective community awareness campaign that, when implemented by committed library and staff, has the potential to have a positive impact on U.S. public library funding.

Comprehensive consumer research conducted before and after the pilot campaign in southern Georgia and central Iowa found:

• Geek the Library gets people’s attention. In a five-month window, 64 percent of surveyed residents in central Iowa and 49 percent of surveyed residents in southern Georgia were familiar with the campaign.

• Geek the Library encourages action. Over two-thirds of surveyed residents in both southern Georgia and central Iowa had responded or intended to respond to the campaign in one or more ways, such as visiting geekthelibrary.org or telling a friend.

Geek the Library is now available for use by all U.S. public libraries. Find out more about implementing the campaign locally at get.geekthelibrary.org.

Updates | The global cooperative in the Asia Pacific region