Introduction

Before the advent of direct access to information for end-users, the library provided the only, or main, access to information resources in most organizations. Where staff had heavy research or information needs, it could be taken for granted that an information service was necessary. Today, libraries need to demonstrate the value they add above and beyond providing access to resources. The special skills that information professionals offer by connecting staff with the knowledge they need go far beyond managing a collection (although judicious acquisition and documentation is also essential). With good marketing, the library service will be heavily used and appreciated as an essential part of the organization's success. This chapter, by an experienced law librarian, gives a number of examples of how promotion in a range of contexts has helped to enhance her service's position within her firm, and be recognized as a source of revenue rather than as an overhead. There are more examples of promotional initiatives a library can embark on in Chapters 2, 7 and 10.

The corporate librarian as a trusted internal adviser

I am a legal information specialist. Having worked in law firm libraries for the last couple of decades I have observed some interesting trends in my work places that I believe apply to all types of private libraries. The most promising trend that I have observed is that when information professionals are able to market themselves as trusted advisers within the organization, the services, space, collections and people that make up the library are valued.

Internal and external marketing is a necessary part of a corporate information professional's work. It can be lived as a philosophy for service delivery. It is a group of strategies that can be embedded into daily processes. Marketing by information professionals is the key to building and growing a dynamic and sustainable library department within an organization.

The overarching philosophy that I adopted early in my career as an information professional had defined my approach to library marketing. When written as a statement it seems disingenuous: ‘An information specialist works every day to make herself completely dispensable to her organization.’

Adopting and practising this philosophy has been the touchstone of all my career choices and decisions and has led to opportunities for promotion, tripled the staff complement at my current organization's library, and created a law firm library that is seen as essential by its stakeholders.