Description:

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … library letter?! Reimagining Automated Library Communication

How many times have you received an email with a generic subject line that you’ve moved to your trash without opening? Admittedly, many of us are guilty of this.

Automatically generated emails can feel impersonal or even negative in connotation and may lack basic contact information or suggestions for self-service. If your library has received feedback indicating that patrons didn’t appreciate – or even understand – the content of your notices, it might be time to consider a project to revamp your automatically generated letters.

This presentation will introduce you to methods to organize and update your library notices to increase positive interactions with patrons, provide more relevant information, and promote events or services.

Objectives:

• Explore how to organize a project to update your letters
• Look at examples of specific letters
• Discuss how to use suggestive, non-threatening language
• Investigate assessment methods and potential challenges
• Think about additional opportunities for marketing and promotion

About the presenters:

Morgan Bond (morgan.bond@oswego.edu) is the Resource Sharing Librarian at SUNY Oswego where she coordinates lending and borrowing of library materials with other institutions and supervises a small team of full-time classified staff and student assistants. She also teaches library instruction and collaborates with other Penfield Librarians to maintain the numerous library systems. Morgan’s hobbies include gardening, painting, backpacking, and horseback riding.

Erin Kovalsky (erin.kovalsky@oswego.edu) is the Access Services Librarian at SUNY Oswego’s Penfield Library, where she leads the processes and operations of circulation, course reserves, and stacks management. Erin is responsible for supervising several full-time classified staff. She also serves as a liaison to the College for Liberal Arts & Sciences and leads the Library Sustainability Committee. In her spare time, Erin reads tarot cards, plays D&D, and scours the internet for unique pins (her latest obsessions are characters from The Labyrinth).

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