Library update January 29, 2014

January 29, 2014 | 2nd Edition

Help patrons find your digital collection with effective banner announcements.

Even though public libraries have been offering some digital formats for a couple of years, most patrons and prospective cardholders are not aware of the extensive digital collections currently available. The proper mix of promotional tools can vary depending on the library’s size, market, and budget, but in all scenarios, banner announcements are an essential element in building awareness of new offerings.

In the process of reviewing a variety of websites, we learned the most effective banner announcements shared these characteristics: Prominent Placement A banner positioned near the top of the page has obvious benefits. Not as obvious are those banners only seen if the visitor scrolls down the page. For content as new and as exciting as the delivery of digital media, placement on the upper third of the page can make a big difference in click-through rates.

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Columbus Metropolitan Library attracts the attention of patrons with: Large images of popular titles A clear benefit – “More” content A reason to come back – NBC Universal Movies Begin Arriving

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One Click Away

A Clear and Compelling Message

Website visitors expect to view and borrow titles with the greatest of ease. If patrons are required to search or click through several pages before they find the desired title, they are unlikely to return. The most effective sites we visited presented titles to patrons with one, sometimes two clicks from the home page.

Unfortunately, we found quite a few examples with the digital collections “hidden” within their sites.

Articulating one or two benefits in a concise, attention-grabbing fashion can be a challenge.

Simple typographic solutions, bold graphics, and straightforward composition were consistently employed in the most persuasive banner announcements.

We have the digital assets to help you create the banners that will inform patrons of this new and ever-expanding digital platform. The hoopla team can provide a banner ad sized to your website specifications or provide the digital files you need to create your own.

Wiggin Memorial Library (Stratham, NH) makes patrons aware of hoopla with this banner on its home page. A single click takes patrons right to the “sign-up” page for immediate access.

This banner is available for use by all libraries via this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/01gci11kynmqrdh/0m-SY7BbYg

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Libraries report savings with hoopla.

Several libraries offering hoopla have shared their stories of cost savings with the cost per circ model. The three most common examples are:

entire album on hoopla counts as a single borrow. This chart illustrates the typical savings with hoopla digital content.

Average Cost Per Circ.

$4.81

1. Meeting demand for popular titles without purchasing and retaining high inventories of physical goods. “Before, we might buy 100 or more copies and in a couple of months the demand would go down, but with hoopla we don’t have that content cluttering our physical shelves. We are paying for what our customers want when they want it,” is the way one technical services manager described her situation.

2. No financial risk to the library. Because hoopla does not require setup, configuration, or subscription fees, there are no costs to the library until a patron borrows a title. With subscription-based models, libraries pay the digital provider in advance of circulation and are often constrained by contractual obligation even if the platform doesn’t perform as expected.

3. Instant availability and more circs per dollar. Because hoopla serves more patrons simultaneously and the cost of a title is constant, the value realized by patrons is greater. This customer recently noted, “Building a music library the size of hoopla’s would cost a fortune if I had to do it and pay for it song by song,” when she learned an

$4.71 Better value and better user experience

$1.80

physical*

Competitors' e-content**

hoopla content***

* Based on an annual budget of $11.6B and annual circulations of 2.4B as determined by the Institute of Museum and Library Services Public Libraries Survey Fiscal Year 2009, published 2011. ** Based on library e-book and e-audiobook titles priced at $79.99 with max circ limits of 17x per year. Platform setup, configuration, and subscription fees not included. ***Based on average cost-per-circ across all formats - hoopla has no max circ limits and does not charge setup, configuration, or subscription fees.

If you have a story or an example how your library is saving money with hoopla, let us know and we’ll share it with your colleagues.

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