Thursday 17 November 2pm Rockdale Library

Attendees: Kelly Wilson – Sutherland kwilson@ssc.nsw.gov.au Tynelle Spinner – Sutherland tspinner@ssc.nsw.gov.au Louise Dolle – Cumberland Council lousie.dolle@cumberland.nsw.gov.au Selina Breckenridge – Inner West Council (Leichhardt) Selina.breckenridge@innerwest.nsw.gov.au Kathleen Allen – Ryde kallen@ryde.nsw.gov.au Helen Kassidis – Burwood Helen.kassidis@burwood.nsw.gov.au Marisa Bottaro - Georges River Julieri De Florio – Northern Beaches julieri.deflorio@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au Barbara Todes – Randwick Barbara.todes@randwick.nsw.gov.au Sandy Lange – Randwick sandy.lange@randwick.nsw.gov.au Eric Connington – Randwick eric.connington@randwick.nsw.gov.au Janelle Smith (Wollongong) jsmith@wollongong.nsw.gov.au Trish Whitton (Inner West – Marrickville) trish.whitton@innerwest.nsw.gov.au Clara Wiebers – Wollongong cwiebers@wollongong.nsw.gov.au Lydie Bacot – City of Sydney lbacot@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au Maddy Coulson – Mosman mcoulson@mosman.nsw.gov.au Paula Pfoeffer - Bayside Rockdale paula.pfoeffer@bayside.nsw.gov.au Natalie Funston – Bayside Rockdale natalie.funston@bayside.nsw.gov.au Adrienne Brown– Gordon Library abrown@kmc.nsw.gov.au

Apologies Kate Stewart – Stanton Library Laura Saunders – Hawkesbury Library Damien Bottle- Shoalhaven Robyn Sharpe- Shoalhaven Linda Heald (Eurobodalla) Simon Welsh - Waverley

Paula gave a tour of the new Rockdale Library

The facebook page is Public Libraries in NSW and has been going for most of 2016. Eric from Randwick gave an update on the page – it seems to be going quite well with a total reach of around 97,855. There have been 289 posts, with an average of around 1.65 a day. 727 likes and a 17% increase since May. Popular posts include: Library made of recycled books – reach 3,000 New Rockdale Library – 24 shares and reach 2,800 Light hearted post, videos and original items work well. Everyone was encouraged to put posts up on the Secret Society of Social Librarians so that they could be copied across to the Facebook page. Randwick asked for volunteers to take over the page. Kelly from Sutherland and Paula from Bayside offered to manage the page for the next little bit. All libraries were encouraged to send through 2 posts to be scheduled.

From Mylee Joseph: As the group members would be aware Ellen Forsyth and I sent around surveys to all working group executive / steering committee members and also to the wider PLN.We are currently analysing the survey results. The project plan for the review of working groups (as approved by the Strategic Network Committee - Zone Secretaries of the NSWPLA) is available on our website http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/public-library-services/advice-best-practice/strategic-network-committee

Also, if anyone isn't currently on the [marketing] email list they can subscribe by sending a blank email to marketing-subscribe [at] libraries.nsw.gov. au

A lot of amazing things happening in public libraries. Here is a summary of what people shared:

Ku-ring-gai

• LGNSW had organised for local council staff to attend a workshop titled “Critical marketing and media skills for events”. Most of the event was a presentation by Laticia Gibson, Managing Director of her own company called “Blue Clay Productions”. She is available for Council staff workshops in marketing and social media. There is a fee but worth it for Council and library staff.
• Author talks – Jim Coleman and Belinda Alexander went very well
• Craft and games very popular. Starting a majong club
• Sunday Book Club going well
• Library bus bringing in people who can’t get to the library is working well.

Mosman

• Canva is good for social media/inspiration quotes etc, posters and PowerPoint presentations. And its FREE!
• Not amalgamated yet so planning for 2017
• Held a Market for your Mind day for mental health month targeted at young people.
• NanNoRiMo writers month.
• SRC
• Holding a Library Convention next year (like Comic Con but for libraries!)

Sutherland

• NanNoRiMo Writer’s Month
• Trialling putting local authors together on a panel
• Wil Kostakis was very successful – invited talented and gifted students to the session which worked very well
• Fiona McIntosh – Chocolate tasting comin gup
• Online form for reading suggestions
• eNews – pushing out info via this format rather than paper

Cumberland Council – Auburn

• Cumberland Council now has 8 libraries (Auburn and Holroyd Library combined)
• Marketing material combined now into one promotional flyer
• Flashback Friday/Growback Thursday is one of the first joint activities the services are doing and that is going very well.

Northern Beaches

• Amalgamated council – Pittwater, Manly and Warringah
• Implementing a new marketing plan for the home library service
• Temporary brandings
• Noticing a decline in HLS customers across NSW

Randwick

• International Games Day – 16 events throughout the day
• Facebook advertising – reach of 4000 people. Using a target approach
• Lineol Bowen Youth Writers Award
• Working towards amalgamation with Waverley and Wollahra
• Bridge Club
• Storytime trail – in different areas along the coast

City of Sydney

• Late night Library very popular
• Speakers at Customs House Library
• New branding coming. Branches closing for a refurb and new technology
• Storytime is very popular, so people now have to book

State Library of NSW

• Transcrib-a-long 3 December. Joesph Banks Papers will be transcribed.
• The vision for the SLNSW is now available

Inner West - Leichhadrt

• Winding down for the rest of the year
• New branding for Inner West Council
• Author talks, particularly travel talks, going very well
• Comic Conversation went really well this year.
• One handed Cooks also very popular
• Scratch for Seniors
• Code Club – visited Yahoo 7 and had an awesome time!

Inner West – Marrickville

• A marketing work group has been set up to talk about branding.
• Opening the new branch at Dulwich Hill has shown that all signage has to be obvious
• Held events for the Sydney Fringe Festival
• Reading to dogs has been a great success
• Held a number of very successful author talks – Liane Moriaty, Chalotte Wood
• Summer Reading Club
• Still has a monthly What’s On

Georges River – Kogarah

• Amalgamations
• What’s on combining both Kogarah and Hurstville
• Interim branding
• Tech Savvy Seniors been very successful
• Stories Alive
• Comic Conversations
• Code Club (Scratch for beginniners) goes for whole term
• Creative Corner
• Good author talks as well

Ryde

• Working on a Marketing Plan
• School Holiday programs
• Going to do some holiday programs outside in the Top Ryde Shopping Centre
• Gladsville branch is being refurbished (joint use between Hunters Hill and Ryde Councils)
• Infocus Information Talks very successful – nutrition in particular
• Mathew Riely was very popular

Bayside

• Sept and Oct was Readers and Writers Month. Held a number of successful author talks and writing workshops
• Poetry Slam heat was great
• Rebranded social media sites and trying to use these a bit more.
• Movember campaign on social media
• Rebranded for the opening of the new library then had to rebrand again when we amalgamated

Burwood

• Waiting for proclamation
• Signage and flyers being rebranded
• Staff undergoing event management training at TAFE
• Summer Reading Club
• Pop Up Library at the Pool – special t-shirts
• Children’s and CALD events still attracting huge crowds
• Now charging for events – more people are turning up
• HSC lock in works, however the workshops don’t

Wollongong

• Just got an adult budget for programming
• Looking at partnerships
• Craft and creative programs aimed at family activities
• Partnership with Wollongong Youth Service has the Service doing programs with young people
• Comic Con is huge
• Paws & Tales – assistance dogs literacy program

NEXT MEETINGS March – Randwick Linoel Bowen Library Maroubra (date TBC) May, August, November Looking for libraries who can host in the other months. Please let Paula know paula.pfoeffer@bayside.nsw.gov.au