When the Doors Close: Promoting Academic Library Services in a Remote Environment through Strategic Storytelling

Authors

  • Anna Moorhouse University of British Columbia Library

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jloe.v2i1.924

Keywords:

storytelling, marketing, academic libraries

Abstract

During times of upheaval, storytelling can become a bridge to establish organizational trust and convey essential service information. When the doors to the University of British Columbia Library’s physical branches closed in March 2020, the work performed by librarians and library staff across campus didn’t stop—instead, it pivoted, shifted and expanded. UBC Library's Communications & Marketing team created a three-part story series to strategically draw the focus of the wider campus community to promote these new and adapted services and reinforce the library’s essential role in research, teaching and learning. Using this series as a case study, this article explores how to craft and pitch a compelling academic library services story.

Author Biography

  • Anna Moorhouse, University of British Columbia Library

    Anna Moorhouse is the Communications and Marketing Manager at the University of British Columbia Library in Vancouver, Canada. As a marketing professional, she brings more than 10 years of experience from roles in financial services, the technology sector and higher education. Relationship building has always been essential to her work. She completed her undergraduate studies at Simon Fraser University with a BSc in Biology, followed by a MA in English Literature at Queen’s University.

References

Blackwell, Michelle. 2020. “How UBC Library Is Supporting the UBC Community during the Current COVID-19 Outbreak.” About UBC Library. May 8, 2020. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2020/05/08/how-ubc-library-is-supporting-the-ubc-community-during-the-current-covid-19-outbreak/.

Campbell, Joseph. 1949. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Novato, CA: New World Library.

Dahlstrom, Michael F. 2014. “Using Narratives and Storytelling to Communicate Science with Nonexpert Audiences.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (supplement 4): 13614–20. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320645111.

Mazurkewich, Karen. 2018. “Technical Experts Need to Get Better at Telling Stories.” Harvard Business Review, April 13. https://hbr.org/2018/04/technical-experts-need-to-get-better-at-telling-stories.

McCabe, Gavin, and Tobias Thejll-Madsen. 2018. “The CARL Framework of Reflection.” The University of Edinburgh. November 9. https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/carl.

Moorhouse, Anna. 2021a. “How UBC Library Has Delivered Access to Physical Materials and Virtual Help - About UBC Library.” March 26. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2021/05/26/how-ubc-library-has-delivered-access-to-physical-materials-and-virtual-help/.

Moorhouse, Anna 2021b. “How UBC Library Has Provided Safe Study Spaces on Campus.” About UBC Library. April 21. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2021/04/21/how-ubc-library-has-provided-safe-study-spaces-on-campus/.

Moorhouse, Anna. 2021c. “Supporting the UBC Community during COVID-19.” About UBC Library. https://about.library.ubc.ca/tag/supporting-the-ubc-community-during-covid-19/.

Moorhouse, Anna. 2021d. “UBC Researchers Can Now Access BC Assessment Data through UBC Library.” About UBC Library. July 13. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2021/07/13/ubc-researchers-can-now-access-bc-assessment-data-through-ubc-library/.

Downloads

Published

2022-07-12

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2022): Journal of Library Outreach and Engagement

Section

Feature Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Anna Moorhouse

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.