Massachusetts Public Library Trustees Handbook

An active publicity program is essential for the dissemination of needed services, the growth and even survival of public libraries. Time, effort and funding must be devoted to advertising library service. Publicity is the continuous process of informing the community and creating a positive public image for many constituencies. It may be difficult for librarians, trustees, Friends and library users to believe, but many people are unaware of the wide range of resources and services available at the public library. In today's media oriented society, libraries must market their services by creatively using all forms of publicity. As noted in various sections of this handbook, the library plan, budget, policies and activities provide ample opportunity to spread the word.

Consider using the following public relations tools:

Public relations is much more than the flash, pizzazz and hoopla often associated with PR. Publicity and advertising are not sufficient alone to cultivate good relations between the public and the library. Public relations is the person-to-person effort to put libraries into the lives of the people. Good service to the public is the foundation for good PR. It is everybody's job! The trustees, director, staff, even the buildings and resources affect the public image of the library.

Key Trustee Role in Public Relations

As ambassadors of goodwill, trustees play a crucial role in public relations. Their involvement helps to sustain the organization's credibility in the public eye. There is a natural role and a major responsibility for the library trustee in public relations. Trustees serve as the public's representative to provide library direction and guidance. The trustee needs to keep in close touch with the people, listening to their perceptions of the library, their still unmet information needs, and the role they want the library to fulfill. At the same time, the trustee needs to serve as a spokesperson for the library to help people understand its role and any problems in fulfilling that role, as well as how to use all the library services.

As community leaders and citizens working on the library board without pay in public service, trustees are in a unique and key position to carry out this two-way communication. By virtue of their unpaid public service role, trustees can speak out and respond to the public in ways that the library director and staff, as employees, cannot; or which if they did, might well be perceived differently by the public.

Some of the most effective public relations for the library is done by members of the library board who may not know that public relations is what they are doing when they talk to their friends about the library. Everything said about the library adds to the community awareness of an important service, and trustees need to take advantage of the many opportunities they have to boost the library.

Board Responsibilities

Individual Trustees