Archived Information

Access for All: A New National Library for Tomorrow's Learners - February 1997

Awareness Recommendations

The Task Force defines awareness as informing current users of the resources available in and through the National Library of Education and cultivating new customers through an active program of marketing and outreach.

General Awareness

  1. The National Library of Education should establish an office to plan, coordinate, and implement its marketing and outreach activities and this function should be adequately supported in the Library's budget.

Marketing

  1. Identification of customers, customer needs, and improvement of services to customers should form the basis of all activities undertaken by the National Library of Education and its partners, and the methods and means to accomplish these basic marketing requirements should be begun immediately.

  2. The National Library of Education should formulate and implement a marketing plan designed to increase awareness of its services among all identified current and potential users, and this plan should take advantage of the multiplier effects possible through collaboration with partners and users.

  3. The results of the National Library of Education's market research and customer feedback activities should directly inform the planning and justification of new programs and activities and their budgets, and this process should consider whether programs and activities should be provided by the National Library of Education itself or collaboratively through the U.S. Education Information Network.

Outreach

  1. The outreach program of the National Library of Education should consist of field-based activities such as seminars that inform the public about developments in education and information services; exhibits and presentations at meetings and sites around the nation, and hands-on partnerships with regional, state, and local information providers, communities, school systems, and institutions. These activities should also involve partners in the U.S. Education Information Network.

  2. The National Library of Education's outreach program should involve users directly in developing and providing its programs, and they should become active collaborators with the partners of the U.S. Educational Information Network.

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