If you build it, will they come? Promoting digital reference at UCLA

Citation

Mizrachi, D. (2003), "If you build it, will they come? Promoting digital reference at UCLA", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 20 No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2003.23920jaf.002

If you build it, will they come? Promoting digital reference at UCLA

Diane Mizrachi

Real-time digital reference was established at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) over two years ago and today 40 librarians from eight different campus units offer this service 46 hours a week. How does the library market digital reference to its large and diverse community? Promotional strategies used by UCLA have included placing an established icon and tagline as live links throughout the library's Web pages, promotional give-aways like pens and zipper pulls for backpacks, a survey and drawing with prizes, use of campus media, and librarians talking about digital reference in various forums and patron interactions. Some have been more successful than others, but all of them and their processes are described below.

Librarian and administration buy-in

Before reaching out to the community of potential users to advertise and promote the digital reference service, the project steering committee had to ensure in-house support among the librarians who would be expected to work the program. In any organization changes, whether procedural, managerial or technological, often take time to gain momentum and enthusiasm. Implementing digital reference demanded expanding the definition of reference service and a shift in philosophy about how to provide that service for many veteran librarians; this met with more than a little skepticism. Yet these were the very librarians on whom the success of the service depended. They were the ones who potentially would become the most valuable promoters of the service through their daily contact with library patrons, administrators, and in library instruction sessions. All the witty and glitzy promotion in the world would not ensure success of the project if patrons called in and experienced poor service and unenthusiastic librarians who did not believe in the effectiveness of what they were doing.

Participating librarians at UCLA were part of a beta-testing program established in an informal agreement with Metropolitan Cooperative Library System (MCLS), a consortium of libraries of the greater Los Angeles area. A core group of eight librarians from three units on campus began meeting weekly to discuss the planning and procedures of the service, develop a vision of their mission, share reference expertise, practice their skills using the software, and interface with the developers. As librarians felt more involved and comfortable using the service, they became more accepting and enthusiastic of it and its potential.

Today there are 40 librarians from eight units who have been trained and participate in digital reference at UCLA. Several methods have been employed over time to build and maintain a feeling of "team-spirit" and sense of purpose. Early on, a "digref" listserv was created to foster and enable communication among participants, and all digital reference librarians were given special "digref" T-shirts. To ease the learning of the service and help keep everyone updated on new developments an online resource page was developed, www.library.ucla.edu/digref which includes tips on both technical and practical aspects. A laminated, mouse pad sized summary of the most important points, called "Digref in a Nutshell," was created and distributed. Librarians kept these next to their computers for quick reference while on duty, and began to look forward to the special holiday editions. Weekly meetings gave way to monthly meetings, which were opened to any interested librarian. Refreshments became a vital part of these meetings – food always helps draw a crowd and keep a relaxed atmosphere. Interest in the practice session of the meetings started to wane as librarians felt there was nothing new to learn, so a of "Digref Derby" was introduced, with prizes awarded to winning teams. A special meeting was held to commemorate the two-year anniversary and "digref" mugs filled with chocolates were distributed to librarians and library administrators for internal publicity (see Plate 1).

Plate 1 UCLA librarians at a monthly practice session

Icon/tagline

Every business person knows the importance of a recognizable brand name and slogan to the promotion of their product or service. The first step in the promotion of digital reference at UCLA was the development of an icon and tagline.

The icon and tagline went through several versions before one was finally decided upon and endorsed by the librarians. It had to be easily recognizable by patrons and easily transferable to a wide variety of medium for promotional purposes. This new and improved version was developed by staff from the library's graphic arts department and eventually was placed prominently as a live link on as many library and course Web pages as possible. Requiring no budget, just imagination and cooperation, this was found to be the most effective means of promotion.

Visibility is the key to promotion and it took some time for this idea to be fully appreciated. During the first quarter of service a patron had to click through layers of Web pages in order to find the icon. Once it was placed more prominently on the library homepage, the number of calls rose over 200 percent; the next quarter saw a rise of over another 100 percent. Because patrons may only become aware of their need to chat with a librarian while in the midst of their search, it was decided to integrate the live-link icon and tagline into the library catalog pages, database search pages, policy and informational pages, and many independent unit library sites (see Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1 Digital reference icon and slogan placement on the library's homepage

Figure 2 Digital reference icon and slogan placement on a database search page

Promotional items

Over time, the icon and tagline have been transferred to numerous promotional items. Affordable items were identified from several marketing catalogs, and a sample of students were asked their opinions as to which held the most appeal. Eventually the library decided to invest in "digref" pens and zipper pulls for backpacks. Students seem to love these novel give-aways, which they may receive at library classes, student orientations, or at the reference desk. Bookmarkers with specific digital reference information were produced in-house. It was found difficult, however, to keep the information on these updated and relevant as circumstances, such as operational hours, changed. The library decided that promotional items which patrons may keep for further referral should contain only the most basic and consistent information, such as the icon, tagline and URL. Some items are more stationary and long term. These include signs and posters for the libraries and mouse pads placed at public workstations. The icon and tagline have also been added to several library help guides and handouts. Another promotional campaign consisted of table-tents; stand-up triangular ads that were placed on campus coffee shop tables towards the end of the quarter when research papers were coming due.

Brainstorming for various promotional item ideas has been a creative experience. Several food items were discussed – lollypops with the tagline and icon on the candy and stick, customized conversation hearts candies, cookies with the logo image, or fortune cookies with the logo and tagline inside. Though these items might be thought of as "cute", none were implemented as it was felt that give-away items should be something patrons would keep; not something they would consume. Many advertisers use coffee cup sleeves – the heavy paper slipped over hot drink cups. This was financially feasible, but the campus coffee shops would not agree to distribute them as they felt it would interfere with their own advertisements on the cups. Other ideas that have been discussed include customized balloons, tote bags, magnets, post-its, antenna balls, erasers, door knob tags, highlighters and squeeze balls (see Plate 2).

Plate 2 Digital reference table tent, zipper-pulls, pen and mug used as promotional items

Survey/prize drawing

A survey was created and distributed in another campaign to increase visibility, service awareness, and to reach out to potential digital reference patrons. It was conducted in Fall Quarter 2002, and a prize drawing component was incorporated to enhance participation. The survey included four questions, three of which were rhetorical such as "Do you know you can chat online with a UCLA librarian?" There were three answer choices: Yes, No, and Now I Do. The final drawing took place in the library building and was attended by many librarians and administrators. The seven winners claimed gift certificates to local stores and eateries, and were highlighted on the library Web page (see Plate 3).

Plate 3 Janice Koyama, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, draws the final contestant winners

The surveys were distributed over the first four weeks of the quarter using various methods. They were included in residence hall orientation packets, at undergraduate and graduate student orientations, at the annual Welcome Week Fair, in library sessions, and at the desks of several libraries. An ad and survey form was also placed in the student newspaper, but this was not found to be cost effective – the one day ad cost $500. The flip side of the survey was addressed to the undergraduate library so students could either return them through campus mail, or bring them to the appropriate boxes in the libraries. Approximately 8,000 surveys were distributed among a student population of 37,000. Seven hundred and 47 responses were received, a 9.3 percent rate of return.

The library also wanted to know whether the hours of operation were compatible with the students' needs and therefore asked them "When do you usually do research online?" A total of 60 percent of the respondents listed between 2-10 p.m. Hours of digital service had been 9-5 Mondays through Thursdays, and 9-2 on Fridays. As a result of this survey the hours were changed to 11-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11-5 p.m. on Fridays in an effort to reflect this phenomenon. Another drawing/survey is being planned for Fall Quarter 2003 and will again use both rhetorical questions to increase awareness, and informational questions for patron analysis.

Media use and other outreach

Some methods of promotion require more proactive involvement. Encouraging librarians to wear their "digref" t-shirts around campus, such as at the gym or to student activities; talking about the service while attending student orientations, graduate student receptions, at the reference desk or in library orientations and classes have all stirred interest and awareness of the digital reference service.

Although a small blurb about digital reference was published in the student newspaper when the service was first begun, it was found that trying to arouse campus media interest was not as successful as hoped. Advertising in the student paper proved to be prohibitively expensive. Representatives from the paper were invited to attend the final drawing of the survey/contest last fall, but they did not show up. There has been some coverage in the faculty newsletters, such as when the director of the digital reference program, Alice Kawakami, won the Librarian of the Year award, but there are many other news items with which to compete. Thinking up publicity stunts, like bungee jumping off the bell tower, has been fun, but eventually reality sets in. Perhaps the library should develop deeper personal connections with the various papers and newsletters to help ensure more publicity.

New media tactics being tried this academic year include putting a series of free advertisements on the electronic bulletin board of the residential halls' cable television station, and placing ads in the off-campus and married student housing newsletters.

Assessment

UCLA's digital reference software includes a user survey which appears at the conclusion of a digital reference transaction. Because of the beta-testing agreement, most of the questions refer to users' satisfaction with the technology and the service. Only in May of 2003 was the question "How did you find out about this service?" added to the survey. Of the 122 responses received so far to this question, the overwhelming majority answered from one of the library's web pages. The next largest response categories were library classes/orientations, referrals by librarian/staff, or from a friend. As for advertisements and promotional items, three patrons said they saw a sign in the library and only one user mentioned a specific item – a mouse pad at a user station. This has made the steering committee wonder whether all the promotional work and expense has been worth the effort (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 Patrons' responses to post-transaction user survey question from May-September 2003

There are a number of factors regarding this survey which must be considered. Not all digital reference patrons completed the survey; the number of responses reflects only 20 percent of the queries received in Spring and Summer. The time period covered by the survey question included only the table tent campaign, not the drawing, student orientations or other advertisement blitz. When the weekly call-in rate for Spring Quarter was checked, week seven, the week the table tents were placed in the campus coffee shops, showed a jump in the number of queries by nearly 50 percent over the quarter average. No patron in the user survey mentioned learning about this service from a table tent, but the statistics do point to a positive effect on user behavior (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 Weekly call-in statistics for Spring 2003. Table tent campaign occurred in week 7

Monitoring and assessing patrons' responses to this user survey question continue, but it is the library's opinion that promoting digital reference service through a variety of methods, and relying on brand-name recognition is worth the effort. Even if a patron does not indicate that he learned about the service from a specific item, it is possible that he saw the icon or tagline on a digref t-shirt, or was given a zipper pull, or saw the icon on a table tent in a coffee house and subconsciously retained that recognition. The patron may then have been drawn to the icon on a library Web page when he was researching and came to a point of need.

Conclusion

Marketing digital reference does demand some financial support from library administration, and in this day of budget crises that support can be difficult to obtain and keep. The UCLA Library budget for promotion of digital reference is approximately $1,000 annually, or the price of two one day ads in the student newspaper. Giving online prominence to the icon and tagline has proven statistically to be the most efficient promotional strategy. However, with creativity, connections, and cooperation from various departments and fellow librarians, the word about digital reference can be spread in many ways throughout the campus community.

Further Reading

Barber, P. and Wallace, L. (2002), "Ten tips for marketing virtual reference services (VRS)", Library Media & PR, available at: www.ssdesign.com/librarypr/Hoag, T.J. and Cichanowicz, E.M. (2001), "Going prime time with live chat reference", Computers in Libraries, Vol. 21 No. 8, pp. 40-4.Kawakami, A.K. (2000), "Testing the road to real-time digital reference: pilot projects at the University of California, Los Angeles," in Lankes, D.R., McClure, C.R., Gross, M. and Pomerantz, J. (Eds), Implementing Digital References Services: Setting Standards and Making it Real, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, NY, pp. 75-81.Kawakami, A.K. (2002), "Delivering digital reference", Library Journal Net Connect, pp. 28-9.Kawakami, A.K. and Swartz, P. (2003), "Digital reference: training and assessment for service improvement", Reference Services Review, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 227-36.Norman, O.G. (1995), "Marketing reference services", Reference Librarian, Vol. 49/50, pp. 45-60.Schaake, G. and Sathan, E. (2003), "We jumped on the live reference bandwagon and we love the ride!", Computers in Libraries, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 20-2, 24-5.Shamel, C.L. (2002), "Building a brand: got librarian?", Searcher, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 60-71.Stormont, S. (2001), "Going where the users are: live digital reference", Information Technology and Libraries, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 129-34.

Diane Mizrachi (mizrachi@library.ucla.edu) is the Information Literacy/Reference Librarian at the College Library of the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles California, USA.