The Library Branding Cycle

The 3 Things You Absolutely Must Know About, Before Branding Your School Library

There are LOTS of things to know about branding.  In fact, just thinking about the process can be quite overwhelming.  However, when it comes to branding your school library, there are three things that are super important to know about before you begin the process.  

See, the reality is that school library branding is actually more of a cycle and less of a starting and ending point.  Like in the business world, a brand morphs and shifts based on the needs and desires of its customers.  The library is not much different.  

About a year ago, I developed a process that I call the Library Branding Cycle.  This cycle is the foundation to being able to understand and implement a school library brand.  In fact, if you take the time to apply this cycle in all the things you do in your library, you will have a much easier time getting a library brand off the ground. And, more of a possibility of making it resonate with your patrons. Additionally, all three of these elements are closely related and overlap in their goals and purpose.

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So here are the steps: Culture, Visibility, and Advocacy

Culture
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The culture of your library is the feeling people get when they encounter anything connected to the library program.  What is the feeling people get when they walk into your space? Is it welcoming? Are students engaged?  Do patrons visit independent of their class requirements?  Does the collection represent a wide range of cultures and perspectives? 

These are all questions you want to ask yourself about your program and space.  It can be challenging to be a new librarian or in a new school where there may be a pre-established culture, especially if you want to change it. The first step would be to actually identify what the culture of your space is and then what you want to keep and what you would want to change.  By establishing clear goals for the library’s culture, you will have direction and some actionable things you can do to get started.

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Visibility
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If you take pictures of a library program, but don’t share the pictures, did it even happen?  Okay, well your participants know it did, but does anyone else?  See part of being visible means taking the time to share what you are doing in your space. This can go a long way in educating people about what the library actually does.

Think of it this way. You could advertise for an event in the library and share all about it with posters, social media posts, emails, calls home, etc.  But, if you only get a handful of kids or parents to attend, and then you don’t show the awesomeness that was your event to those who didn’t go...what is the motivation for them to want to catch the next great thing you organize?  Now, that may not work for everyone, but it shows the impact of what you are doing and build a following among your patrons.

People need to see what you are doing in the library.  They are not going to seek out what you do, on their own.  You have to tactfully place it in front of them, so when people mention the library, a specific image comes to mind, or an event or experience (this is where culture comes into play).  That is also what a consistent brand presence can do as well.

Advocacy
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Part of building your brand includes thinking about advocacy.  Now I am talking about small-scale, in-house advocacy.  I go into more detail about it in this blog post here.  But basically, when you are branding your space you are looking at the existing stereotypes about libraries that students and teachers bring with them to your school and then work to revise their understanding about the role of the library and the services it provides, which ties advocacy back to culture and visibility.  You need a strong culture and a visible presence to aid in the advocacy process.

Having a strong understanding of how culture, visibility, and advocacy work together is the first step in understanding the value of branding your library.

If you want to know more about the library branding cycle and the way that it supports creating a library brand, join the waitlist for my Branding Bootcamp Course for school librarians. 

​This is a program specifically designed with librarians in mind.  To help you use business and marketing strategies in your library and get the visibility you deserve.