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Animating the collection

Your library collection is a powerful advertisement for your whole service. This course will help you ensure that it sends a dynamic and attractive message. You can try out practical ways and new routines to improve the performance of your collection and keep your library always appearing as a tempting destination for your reading community.

The course is packed with ideas to connect books and ebooks to readers – both those who want them and those who might not know they exist. You will understand the importance of a dynamic approach and how to keep books moving to improve issue rates. Your role as curator is essential in ensuring the library has a range of books for a range of reading audiences so you will choose an area of your collection to check range in different ways.

In planning a strategy for the next 6 or 12 months, you will consider possible target readers, stock areas and promotional techniques and then look at creative ways to connect these together. You will look at what’s in the calendar already and explore creative ideas to stretch your promotional approach beyond what is usually done. You will build in evaluation and staff training before getting down to the practicalities and creating your own timetable. Send your plan to your mentor and you will receive useful feedback to help turn it into reality. Your mentor will help you adapt the course content to your own workplace and shape your coursework so it is relevant to your own professional situation.

On our courses for Library Managers, you will develop a personal relationship with your mentor who will support and stretch your learning every step of the way. Your mentor will help you adapt the course content to your own workplace and shape your coursework so it is relevant to your individual professional situation.

Was £220.00

£200.00 per place

Pay by invoice or by Paypal, credit or debit card.

For managers

Time:

6 hours online plus 3 practical projects which apply your learning in the library.  Most learners take 6-8 weeks to complete, when fitted in with the demands of a library job, but you can choose a faster or slower pace to suit your circumstances.

Assessment:

Every learner has a personal mentor from Opening the Book. Your mentor responds to your work and will support you to get the best out of the course.

Course contents

How the course works

How the course works

Unit One: Keeping books moving

Unit One: Keeping books moving
A new opportunity
What readers want from a library
A dynamic collection
The core offer
Product knowledge
Using on-shelf merchandising
A few books make a big difference
Creating a feeling of change in the physical library
Creating a feeling of change online
Managing choices
Helping online browsers
Tempting the curious
Books can work harder
Revive staff interest in books and reading
A new way to keep stock up to date
Selecting books for Trending
Task One: Using the Trending concept to keep books moving

Unit Two: Connecting books and people

Unit Two: Connecting books and people
Involving readers
Display as a conversation
Meeting different reader needs
Recognising reading prejudices
Understanding physical factors
Understanding psychological motivations
Your role as curator
Book marketing and libraries
Book cover fashions
Linking old into new
The importance of range
Task Two: Choosing the area you will check
Task Two: Checking range by representation
Task Two: Checking the balance for beginners and experts
Task Two: Checking range by reading appeal
Task Two: Report on different ways to test range in one collection area

Unit Three: Bringing books alive

Unit Three:  Bringing books alive
Unit Three: Bringing books alive
Bringing ideas together
Creating a strategy
Starting points
Making connections
Different types of promotion
Thinking deeper
Reaching beyond the traditional
Reaching beyond the expected
Reaching beyond the booklist
Reaching beyond a topic
Reaching beyond difficulty
Measures of success
Building stock knowledge with staff
Motivating staff to maintain promotions
People-watching
Create your timetable
Task Three: Design a six-month or one-year promotional strategy
Thank you

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