Research on Effective Advocacy

Thursday January 29, 2009

[407] Research on Effective Advocacy
Ken Haycock (Director, San Jose School of Library and Information Studies) described advocacy techniques that have been proven to bring positive results i.e. more funds.

He drew substantially on the July 2008 OCLC report: From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America http://www.oclc.org/reports/funding/

• library use has nothing to do with support. Non-users are often bigger supporters
• believing that libraries transform lives is related to support
• perceptions of librarians are highly relevant to support
  - are they seen as experts, contributing to community, focused, flexible, friendly, fun?
• Advocacy messages that reposition the library are effective in gaining support.

Instead of… Source of information (library is one source in very crowded field of providers)

Reposition as… Agent of transformation – something that changes lives

Instead of… A valuable institution

Reposition as… A vital part of community infrastructure

Instead of… Nice to have
Reposition as… A necessity… for access to technology, to bridge the digital divide

Instead of… Important part of people’s past
Reposition as… Provides services & infrastructure for the future

Instead of… Altruism for others – good for other people in the community
Reposition as… WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? ROI: Return on Investment – for me

Successful advocacy work needs

• connectors (former CEOs, board members who built up relationships with decision makers) to open doors,
• mavens (e.g. current CEOs, staff) trusted experts,
• salespersons (not staff and not librarians: “recognize the curse of knowledge”) to deliver message

Ken and Wendy Newman are compiling this research into a book, to be published by Greenwood Press in 2009.

For RWL: invite Wendy Newman (or another advocacy expert) to give advocacy training to supervisors & managers, to help clarify expectations about community contact role