Toolkit: Your Library Love Story
What do you want to do?
Share the Library Love Story on your website, newsletter, or social media
Get graphics to use for digital and print
Ask your community partners to share their stories
Go to Library Legislative Day on Feb 11 (Registration closes Jan 10!)
Invite someone to attend Library Legislative Day
If you can’t enter the handwritten stories you collected, forward them to Reb by Feb 1 to enter.
We want to bring stories to Library Legislative Day, Tuesday Feb 11
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Ask you community partners to share a story
We love getting the sweet stories from our library users. Our legislators also need to hear from our community partners.
The best way to get those stories is to ask personally. Use the communication method you generally use for them and give them the form link.
Short and simple is best, with a heartfelt “thank you”.
Graphics
Click on the image to open in a new tab for download. On PC, right click and select download. On Mac, control-click to download.
Go to Library Legislative Day
Registration closes on Jan 10! Registration and other information is on the Library Legislative Day website. You don’t need to be a WLA member to register.
Please let us know you’re registered! The event organizers don’t tell us in advance who’s attending.
Invite someone to Library Legislative Day
Registration closes on Jan 10!
- IFLS is asking you to identify board members, community partners, or other community leaders to attend Library Legislative Day.
- A personal invitation works best–use whatever communication method you usually use for this person.
- Tell them why it’s so important that our elected officials hear from them. You can use this example from Barron County Board member Randy Cook. In support of reinstating library funding in the 2025 budget he said, “This is how democracy works.” He made his decision “based on the time and energy that people put into it, and spoke up for it.” Speaking up for libraries is critical!
- Assure them they won’t be asked to go every year! This is a funding year, and so it’s especially important to have a strong presence at this event.
- It’s a fun event. Also, the capitol building is very beautiful.
- You can use library funds or request funds from your Friends Group to attend. IFLS can’t provide financial support for attending this event.
Registration and other information is on the Library Legislative Day website. You don’t need to be a WLA member to register. Please ask them to email Reb at kilde@ifls.lib.wi.us if they’re attending so we can send them some information ahead of time. (Event organizers don’t share this information ahead of time.)
Don’t worry if they say they can’t attend in person! There are two other ways they can help:
- Consider making a short video with their phone that we can bring with us on the day of the event; or
- Submit a Library Love Story
Why Collect Stories?
IFLS staff and librarians will be handing our system’s stories to our state legislators on February 11 for Library Legislative Day. We did this last year, and it was memorable and impactful!
Why might you want to collect stories (sometimes called testimonials) for your library? In early 2020 Meredith Farkas wrote this in American Libraries:
“In an era of shrinking budgets, libraries must find ways to tell our stories, which often require us to go beyond simply reporting data. Not only have the ways that libraries serve their communities changed and expanded, but it’s become clear that the outputs we usually report are far less significant than the outcomes—the impact of our collections and services on our communities.”
Bring these stories to make you case for:
- Act 150 reauthorization
- Additional county funding
- Grants or major donor fundraising
- Annual report presentations and graphics
The results of the survey will be available to you all year!
Easy ways to use this campaign
Passive Program (the basics)
- Put these posters up in a spot that’s visible.
- Add a table stocked with paper valentine forms, My Library Love Story coloring pages, markers, crayons, pens.
- Add a box to collect the love stories.
- Ask Anne Hamland to add a button with a link to the form to your website. Are you a webmaster?
- By Feb 1, either send your handwritten stories to Reb at IFLS or have a staff person input them using the Library Love Story digital form.
Want to do more? Here are some add-ons.
- Encourage all of your staff to be ready to collect stories. Some ideas: after story time, at check-out, whenever someone tells a staff member about a their library story.
- Staff can enter the story directly into the digital form. Collect names when possible, always ask if they are comfortable sharing their name.
- Alternately, direct people to fill out their own paper form or coloring page, help them use public computers to fill out the digital form.
- Hang handwritten stories in a prominent location, with instructions about how to add a story. (For instance, “Find a table with supplies to create your Library Love Story inside by the children’s section.”)
- Share the form link and collected stories on social media.
- Publicize through your normal media channels, like a regular newspaper article or your library’s newsletter.
- Add a selfie frame to your passive program area. If you like this option, contact Reb for details.
- Ask your Friends group and trustees to actively promote the campaign.
How to collect stories
You hear people say good things about your library and staff all the time. The trick is to collect those stories so you can access them easily to use to communicate the great work your library does.
You can hand your storytellers a paper form or direct them to the digital form. You can also record the story yourself. Jot it down right away–I promise you won’t remember at the end of the day!
There are two simple tools to use.
- The Tell Your Library Love Story digital form can be used by the public and your staff. Can you bookmark it in a handy location? The results will be collected and available for you all year. Anne Hamland is putting Love Story buttons on websites. Would you like one? Submit a HelpDesk ticket.
- Don’t love digital? Use paper!
- Set out simple forms..
- Tuck a notebook at the circulation desk and let staff know they should jot down comments as they hear them (after asking permission, of course).
If you don’t have the time or staff capacity to enter handwritten stories into the digital form just send them by courier to Reb at IFLS by February 5.
Not finding what you need here? Try searching the IFLS article index.
Need help answering specific questions or finding additional resources?
Click on the green HelpDesk button and we’ll make sure the right IFLS staff gets that message right away. Can’t find the green button? Use this email: helpdesk@ifls.lib.wi.us.
There’s no wrong door! You can contact these IFLS staff for support on this topic:
Rebecca Kilde kilde@ifls.lib.wi.us or 715-839-5082 x127