Government Librarians Get Savvy:
A Roundtable

By Cassandra Harper, ASRC Management Services at the Office of Water Resource Center

Government Information Division presented Government Librarians Get Savvy, an interactive session moderated Donna Scheeder, Director of the Law Library of Congress, about marketing librarianship and obtaining new skills co-sponsored by BNA and Elsevier/Scopus.  This session included presentations from two government librarians: Hildy Dworkin of the New York City Human Resources Administration McMillan Library and Roberta I. Shaffer, the Executive Director of FLICC and FEDLINK.  Dworkin and Shaffer provided strategies and practical examples that librarians can apply in their organizations.

Dworkin, who is a solo librarian, discussed how she markets librarianship and information services at the McMillan Library.  She feels that marketing is a core skill for librarians and it must be done routinely.  She stated that librarians are in a unique profession in that there is a constant need to market our services.  For instance, an attorney may need to market their individual skills and abilities to represent a client, but usually do not need to market the value or necessity of legal counsel or the legal profession.  Librarians constantly need to innovatively look at various marketing strategies to promote the profession and services.  Dworkin's examples included: creating library branding, networking, taking on new projects, and emphasizing services to users.