In terms of developing or choosing what products to provide, clearly this is for the most
part a formal process. Both inter-branch and community level services are only provided
after much discussion and planning and are selected for their ability to fill teens’
perceived needs. There is an organic element to them in that sometimes after being
introduced the services grow (“[my manager] was talking about the teen book club at
[library], where she used to work, and she sort of suggested that I start one. . . . And it’s
turned out to be a much bigger part of what I do than I had anticipated.”) or develop into
something else. The computer facilities provided at the libraries are a particularly
interesting example. Although these facilities were introduced in a structured strategic
manner, they saw a much larger uptake by teens than expected and as a result the
branch libraries adapted their own rules for use – a more organic process.
Both libraries have a strong understanding of the concept of promotion;
significantly, almost all staff felt that word-of-mouth promotion was most
important. This suggests that library staff have strong relationships with teen
patrons and value those relationships, but also that formal channels of promotion are
considered less important. It is worth noting that when interviewees talked about
parents enquiring into teen-specific services and activities, they often mentioned that it
was parents who had seen library displays. This may suggest that although aimed at
teens the displays are missing their intended target – although by attracting parents,
they clearly are not without merit.
One major flaw in the promotional tools used by both Libraries is that almost all of
them require teens to “opt-in”. This is most obvious with Library A’s teen
e-newsletters; patrons have to register for them. A lot of promotional materials are
displayed inside the library but not necessarily elsewhere, and in order to view the
products being promoted on the web site teens have first to visit it; this means that
services are seldom promoted to non-users. Book trailers and YouTube videos might
be great posts on a library’s teen Facebook page but they are pointless posts on a web
site if the intended audience does not look there (Horn, 2011, p. 25). The most common
exception to this internal focus on promotion is library staff who go into high schools
to promote library services.
Both libraries understand that the costs involved in using teen library services may
not just be financial, and Library B staff believe that even minimal financial costs can
be a burden for some. The opportunity costs identified showed that staff had a limited
idea of what teens enjoyed outside of the library – social time and study time were
most often mentioned, but what these social activities might be were not specified
beyond “hanging out with friends”. Both libraries, however, are trying to minimise
both financial and opportunity costs; for example, by working with teens to find times
and dates for events that suit them. Reducing patrons’ financial costs (e.g. paying for
lost books) is more difficult, as it often means the libraries have to absorb those costs
themselves.
At some branch libraries, staff felt that there were few costs for teens using the
library; these tended to be in lower socio-economic communities, where there were few
other cheap activities available for teens. In contrast, one interviewee from a library
that was situated in close proximity to a mall felt that the library had to compete with
the mall to attract teens’ attention; the fact that library services cost a lot less than a
trip to the cinema did not necessarily sway teens’ preferences. This emphasises that
price alone cannot be considered when marketing to teens.