City of Johannesburg

1. City of Johannesburg COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Library and Information Services Surviving an economic downturn: a COJ LIS marketing strategy 1 July 2009

2. WHO ARE WE? • Community Development (10 Directorates) • COJ LIS spread over 7 Regions, 84 service points plus various satellites • Staff complement of 400+ • Diverse community of 10.5 Mil (21.5% of the entire population with 1.4% land area ) from the entire Gauteng • Profile of the city wide market • Townships, suburbs, newly developing areas- cosmo areas, informal settlements and foreigners in the inner city • Creches, primary & secondary learners, tertiary students, researchers, employed & unemployed individuals, old age homes, care centres, prisons etc • Community profile differs by region and within the regions • -Differences in Demographics : Race, gender, language, • -Differences in psychographics: life style analysis ( e.g.social group)

3. VISION, MISSION and OBJECTIVES Vision: “A network of vibrant African Libraries that are places of choice for knowledge, learning and leisure” Mission: The Library and Information Services exist – • to develop and promote reading and learning for all • through free and guided access to information • focusing on literacy, early childhood development (ECD), youth empowerment and educational support. Objectives: • Collect and maintain a collection of books and other materials; develop a database for the materials in order to locate information (bibliographic management); • Provide a free/safe reading and learning environment for all; • Provide free and guided access to relevant knowledge and information: • Provide reading material and assistance to citizens of all ages to support their need for information, education, lifelong learning, and recreation; • Develop, promote and maintain a reading culture: • Implement reading development programmes

4. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES • Guided by the COJ’s Growth & Development Strategy and Human Development Strategy • Key challenges facing the COJ: • Poverty/ hunger • Unemployment • Homelessness • Programmes/ projects to be directed towards the key priorities: • Poverty alleviation • Skills development • Job creation

5. APPROACHES TO MARKETING Marketing, advocacy, public relations, advertising, promotion – these terms will be used interchangeably in the context of this presentation Marketing is a process of tailoring products and services to meet the needs and wants of the customers/ clients (Kotler 2006) At COJ, marketing involves identifying the needs, prioritising needs, tailoring services and designing projects andprogrammes to cater for different communities

6. REINVENTING THE LIBRARY SERVICE • Focus on the users to find out what their changing needs are • Consider changes in the environment/ market- these lead to change in consumer /community needs. • recession leads to decrease in consumer spending • majority of our users are poor, cannot afford to pay for services • Hence COJ strategy = free membership and free fine week on a monthly basis. • Carefully relooked at the existing marketing strategy to determine whether it still addresses community needs in this time of economic downturn.

7. REINVENTING THE LIBRARY SERVICE • Reinforce our Brandvalue • Tell the community especially decision makers why we should be given funds • Invite politicians and public to participate in library events and functions • Host community events in libraries • - examples: Sandton Library, JPL, Jabavu

8. PROGRAMMES • Reading development programmes • Ready to Read -Early Childhood Development (ECD) • Youth development programmes (Battle of the Books, Story Skirmish, African Literary development programmes - JoLife) • Education Support programmes • Science awareness programmes (Psyched for Science, Scuffle, Model building) • Information literacy and homework support • Skills development programmes • Adult literacy and family literacy • Career development (assessment, guidance and exhibitions\0 • Business/entrepreneurship skills • Information literacy skills • Satellites services- Prisons and Old aged homes

9. Integrated Marketing Communication Tools • External Print media ( National and Local Newspapers, Magazines) • Broadcast Media(Radio and TV) • Electronic Media (Internet & Intranet) • Promotional material (Pamphlets and brochures) • Banners • Word of mouth • Community forums • Direct communication and visit to communities • Engage decision makers and community representatives Community based approach is the best when dealing with different communities

10. CHALLENGES • Keeping abreast with the ever changing environment and community needs. • Creating the balance between traditional library services and community outreach programmes • Lack of a coordinated marketing strategy • No proper market research has been conducted (scientific study) • Branding still needs a lot of attention • Delay in providing free Internet access to the community • Staff capacity to deal with new demands • Membership and Circulation statistics • Funding to keep up with the ever increasing community needs • Fund raising initiatives (time and skills) Funding! Funding! Funding!- need for more funds.

11. Successes or highlights • Increased information resources budget • Created awareness in communities hence increasing demands • Contribute to skills development • Dedicated marketing staff for the department and LIS • Pockets of excellence -some staff excel and now identifying best practice • We feel we add value to the communities- participation in our projects andprogrammes has increased and there is growing demand for more

12. Conclusion • Questions! ! !