National Library Week Tip #5

Do you connect the information in your digital library to events that are occurring now?

By connecting the your digital library to current events, your show your users how your collection is relevant to what's happening today. And your provide something that will keep them coming back.

How do you do this? You could:

• "Pull out" or highlight items in your collections that relate to current events.
• Create trivia questions that will connect your collection to recent happenings.
• Create searches that your users could run to see what materials in the digital library relate to the present.
• Write short article that talk about how materials in your digital library relate to current events. You could place these articles in their own spot or in the "What's New" section on the web site.

Do you need to do this for all current events? No. Be selective, but -- if you do it -- do it frequently. Your goal is to use this as a marketing tool that will bring users back again and again to your digital library.

The best way of doing this is to have someone in charge of the task. However, you might have your entire staff help by brainstorming ideas and stories that can be told. Likely you will surprise yourselves on the connections that can be made between your digital library and current events.

Think of this as a gift for your users -- a gift that will keep them coming back for more.