Stamped out - Death of our libraries

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin......

I was really sad to see an article in yesterday's Observer by Rachel Cook entitled 'The Death of the Library' that highlights the fact that libraries, like churches and our high streets, were the centre of our community and now they are on the slippery slope to being closed down or turned into a drop in centre or worse, a Wetherspoons (other wallet friendly drinking emporiums are available).

I started thinking about this issue over a year ago as my Mother worked in the local Library for twentysomething years and was one of those pillars of society who could not walk 10 yards without saying 'Hello Mr. Jones, how is Betty doing?' which is beyond any customer service that we see today. However it seems that the Library could be the last place we do see this level of community as our real communities are eroding while we are all too busy creating new virtual ones.

My Mum said that it was sad to see the staff being less busy, less books being 'taken out' and less kids coming in to take advantage of the events and services offered by the Library. It seems her retirement could not have came at a better time.

There are many culprits we could look to all the way from Amazon and Tesco for their cheap prices and easy access to books, or Local Councils for not moving with the times, the reduction in great books being commissioned as a 'celeb' autobiographies will sell more units (much like the record industry, hence the charts being full of bile) or we can also blame ourselves i.e. own 'lazy-itis' for just wanting to switch off after work so we can watch 'Come dine with me', happy that the kids are busy playing Playstation or simply the fact that we are all still working long after the Library has closed.

Now, this issue gets me emotional and excited as personal feelings aside, I see this as a brand and marketing issue that can be solved and something I would personally love to take on as a challenge. The question or business problem is no different that many other brands face, "How can we (Brand X) be relevant on today's society?".

All that has happened is that the Library, like many other brands, have simply forgotten why they exist, what is their reason for being and how can they stick to that through everything they do whilst fending off competitors and evolving their marketing strategies that still stay true to their consistent brand promise.

This is what I have been spending most of my time in the last two years working on, what is your brand promise and how can you deliver on that promise every single day in everything you do? Not easy and there are actually very few companies that you could name that absolutely 'keep' their brand promise every time. Apple, Google and Disney being the kings.

So, looking at the Library, the original brand promise may have been 'to give everyone free access to books'. They can still have this as the core but they need to make that promise relevant for today's customer. Let's look at the changes ....

As time has passed two things have happened:

1) Libraries have added on services to keep people coming through the doors

- Kids clubs

- Free access to PCs

- Photocopying

- Hiring Albums, CDs and DVD

and now some are even offering

- Coffee shops

- Soft Play

- Creches

- Yoga??

2) External factors

- Supermarkets selling books at low prices

- Changes in reading habits and what we read

- More instant society

- Online sites selling books at discount prices direct to your door

- Audio books on iTunes, click and 'read'

- People having less time through work and social activities

- New inventions suck as Kindle and Sony Reader

- CDs, Downloads and PCs are accessible to most

- Charity shops benefiting from up to date titles as books become more disposable  

How do you handle this if you are the Library - there are alot of factors and largely their industry and customer has changed. 

The real question is - do we want to save them or not? If so, how can we help?

What could be the solution, what would you do? Is turning them into coffee bars/come Internet cafes, move them all nearer the big retail parks (take the mountain to Mohammed), set up express concessions inside key stores or in train stations, go online a la Lovefilm or is it something different? My bet is a bit of all of this and more and creating a community all over again is key to this working and I think there is still alot of goodwill in the bank for all of us that put effort into worthy causes and could afford some time to help on this.

A good starting point would be that the Leaders of the Local Councils help Libraries take the bull by the horns by appointing a brand agency that would be able to help them solve this before it's too late. Through some re-alignment of the business and how they are positioned, smart PR and delivery of a revised brand promise, Libraries could still be delighting readers from 2 to 102 for many years to come.

The End? Hopefully not.