AACPL's AUN promotion & Nook contest– January 2012

Submitted by BettyM on 6 February 2012 - 3:08pm
in

Anne Arundel County Public Library launched an AskUsNow (AUN) promotion for 1 week in January.

Here’s how it worked

Circulation & info staff were asked to mention a Nook contest in which patrons try out AUN by asking a question or just mentioning the contest and saying the staff member’s name who told them about the contest. Both the patron and the staff member would be entered into a contest to win a Nook. Emphasis was on patron and staff interaction.

Project liaison read all the transcripts to see if the Nook was mentioned somewhere in the transcript. Transcripts were downloaded and saved to a file. Vital info for contest entered in spreadsheet.

Patron winner received the Nook from Public Relations Manager with a photo op at the branch the patron regularly uses. Staff winner received a phone call and an announcement on the staff Intranet.

Recognition to the staff included:

Intranet postings about the contest and how it was going. “Bravos” (special recognition form that enters a staff member into a quarterly contest for $ 10) to those whose name showed up more than 3 times. Comments to their supervisor also.

Prizes

1 Nook for patrons and 1 Nook for staff. (Nooks were 2 of 5 given to AACPL by a vendor as a purchase incentive.) Patrons and staff were excited about winning the Nook.

Promotion Assists

  • Postings describing and encouraging staff on staff intranet ahead of the project and during the project
  • Mention at AUN project liaison meeting
  • Bookmark sized flyer detailing how to get to AUN and a space for the staff member to write her/his name.
  • AUN bookmark – glossy ones printed when budgets were better

Awareness to providers

  • Alert about contest on AACPL’s policy page
  • Email to Julie Strange to be relayed to QP backup
  • Posting to AUN listserv

Results

  • 436 patrons’ names were entered in the contest in the week. There were others who came in anonymously and more that came in after the contest ended. This was a 632 % increase over a normal week of AUN at AACPL.
  • Circulation staff members were the ones who saw more patrons and promoted it the most by virtue of their work. Some were very eager promoters and their names appeared often.
  • Chat providers were eager responders & often added a nice “Good luck” to the end of the exchange.
  • (Real) questions got lost sometimes in the zeal to recognize this was a Nook question.
  • Patrons were quite excited about the service and many said they would use it again.
  • Some staff were concerned about giving their names, so they didn’t or they said ___(branch name) staff.
  • Other staff questioned why we were promoting this service. They’d heard about plans for a “digital promotion” but thought that it should be something like a database for example.

Lessons Learned

  • Reading 435+ transcripts was tedious and time intensive.
  • At first many of the initial questions said “I want to be entered in the Nook contest” but then a closer look at earlier questions that didn’t say that initially had the Nook contest buried deeper in the chat.
  • Important to read every transcript because a few providers didn’t see the email or announcement and said “there’s no contest mentioned on the website.”
  • Some providers said “you’ll be entered in the contest” even though the patron didn’t mention the contest. That was a (nice) surprise for the patron.
  • Librarians in Houston, NYC, Seattle as well as around Maryland clearly did know about the contest and answered any real questions people had in addition to saying they’d be entered in the contest.
  • Despite some staff negativity, overall, staff who participated were excited about the possibility of winning a Nook.
  • Staff can promote the contest and the trying out the service to patrons but don’t know if patrons actually follow through.
  • Great way to reinforce circulation staff as “library ambassadors.”
  • This was a success by any measure and patrons and staff loved the idea of winning a Nook. More importantly people tried the service who never would otherwise and they “got” what the service was all about.  See the Patron Comments below.

Patron Comments

  • This was a big help! Thank you.
  • I love the online 24/7 availability of the library service.  I use this service at least once every two weeks.  My library experiences have been very rewarding.  Thank you for a wonderful service to Maryland residents.
  • Online service is fine but please don't cut funding, hours, staff or print materials at Annapolis libraries, they are a precious resource.
  • I am glad my librarian brought this to my attention. I was unaware of this site and will most surely be back. I have a kindergartener with questions galore, and parenting challenges that I am always looking for information on. It was a big help. Thank you for creating askusnow!
  • this is a very useful tool because i have two children under that age 10 and have to time to read and have them. is there an app for this also
  • thanks for putting this link together it will help everyone who's looking for information and more important a reach out for those smaller towns
  • fantastic service, thanks
  • Didn't have a question.. just wanted to enter the contest for a Nook.  But I'm glad to know about this service and will try it out in the near future.
  • I love the 24/7 online library access and use it often. I am very happy with the assistance provided on the ask us now online chat.
  • As I shared, I have used askusnow in the past and it is a valuable tool! Keep us the great work!