Though I've found plenty of photos and videos representing academic library outreach efforts, I very much want to find some academic charts or graphs illustrating how those efforts resulted in patron growth. It would be nice to see correlation between, say, "library participation in freshman orientations led to higher grades and increased retention of first and second year students"-but alas, I found no image to support my query.
After hours of searching through different engines with various combinations of keywords, I finally found an scholarly illustration addressing marketing academic libraries. I found a flow chart following the planning process of a marketing campaign. The chart is included in a conference paper Marketing Academic Libraries in USA: Challenges and Opportunities by Jian Wang and Helen H. Spalding; originally presented at the 2006 Shanghai International Library Forum (SILF).
In summary they argue that academic libraries who actively market themselves can more effectively achieve important organizational goals. Researching their audience (their market) allows libraries to better understand the perspectives of their student and faculty users, campus administrators and the broader college community. With this knowledge libraries can determine what information and services would be most useful and how to deliver them most effectively. As a result, the library is more visible and sustains increased support for its efforts.
Spalding , Helen H., & Wang, Jian. (2006). "Marketing Academic Libraries in USA: Challenges and Opportunities." Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal, no.22 (December 1, 2006). URL: http://www.iclc.us/cliej/cl22SpaldingWang.htm
Association of College and Research Libraries, 3M Library Systems, and A.B. Reynolds. (2003). Strategic Marketing for Academic and Research Libraries Facilitation Slides for the Train-the-Trainer Workshop. URL: http://white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl22SpaldingWang.htm. Viewed 30 March 2009
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