Volume 21 Issue 4 Introduction (Library Marketing and Communications)

Oregon libraries provide an incredible array of resources and services, but sometimes we struggle to educate our users and each other about all that is available. Over the past several years, many libraries have become more intentional in our efforts to market and promote our offerings, through traditional PR and advertisements as well as newer approaches like social media. However, we may lack the formal training and expertise to do this well—marketing is not a class offered in all library school programs—and, even with appropriate training, we may lack the budget and staff to implement a large-scale marketing program. This issue of the OLA Quarterly focuses on library marketing and communications in Oregon libraries. As the Communications and Outreach Librarian at Portland State, I was curious to know how libraries in Oregon are tackling these issues. How are we learning new skills and approaches to communicating with stakeholders? What has worked, and what hasn’t? What’s changed over the past few decades? Who are our audiences and how do we best communicate with them? To begin to answer these questions, we have excellent contributions from writers at large and small public and academic libraries throughout Oregon, and beyond