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Create a Message to Win Support

Creating your message

  • Decide what is the most important thing you want people to know.
  • Make it easy to say and remember.
  • Say it, then write it.
  • Test it on other people.
  • Use the active voice for more power.
  • Personalize. Use “We” or “You” whenever possible.
  • Limit yourself to three supporting points.
  • Use statistics to support key points, e.g.,
    "More children participate in our summer reading program than play Little League baseball.”
  • Use stories to illustrate key points. People love and remember stories.

10 reasons to support libraries

Libraries. . .

  1. Serve everyone.
  2. Are places of opportunity.
  3. Are great places for kids.
  4. Bring you the world.
  5. Help us lead better lives.
  6. Build better communities.
  7. Promote literacy.
  8. Are essential to education.
  9. Attract businesses.
  10. Are a great value.

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Looking for ways to deliver your message? Deliver it Everywhere!

Consider these delivery strategies:

• Website • Post office • Bank • Grocery • Co-op • Store windows • Street banners • Displays in and outside the library • Door to door canvassing • Electronic marquees

• Utility bills • Employee bulletins/paychecks • Direct mail • Church bulletins • Theater programs • “Backpack express” (via school distribution to kids) • Yard signs • Placemats • Bumper stickers • Sandwich boards • Counter signs • Postcards • Email lists • Email signature

• In-home gatherings • Meetings of community groups • School & neighborhood meetings • Petitions • Rallies • Community meeting

• Food pantries/Meals on wheels • Day care centers/preschools • Social service agencies • Unemployment/other government offices • Realtors • Town/community meetings • Spiritual gatherings

• Football/other sports programs • Movie theaters • Ice cream socials • Parades/county fairs/tribal celebrations • Other libraries • Student center • Cafeterias • Student housing • Faculty/Teacher lounges • Campus/community bulletin boards • Parks/recreation centers

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Turn up the power with word of mouth

Word of mouth travels fast in a small community. It is also the cheapest and most powerful form of advocacy. For it to work, you need a message that is simple, memorable and consistent. All your supporters must be on the same page. It can be as simple as “Our town deserves a great library. Please tell your friends to support the library’s proposal for a new building.”

  • Look for opportunities to deliver the message in- and outside the library—with friends and neighbors, in the grocery store line, in church and at community meetings.
  • Encourage your board, staff, Friends, users to spread the word to at least five people every day.
  • Provide a message sheet, fact sheet and other materials to support your supporters in spreading the word.
  • Add the message in a signature line to your e-mail correspondence.
  • Ask satisfied library users to share their stories in letters to the editor and in testimony to funding bodies.
  • Ask realtors, newspaper columnists, business leaders and other stakeholders to help deliver your message.
  • Wear the message on t-shirts, buttons and/or stickers.
  • Send an email to your friends and encourage them to spread the word.
  • Be enthusiastic! It’s contagious.

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The Small is Powerful Survey

Please take a minute to tell us what you think. Your feedback on the usefulness of these materials will help us deliver even better resources in the future.
This site is brought to you through a partnership of the
ALA Committee on Rural, Native and Tribal Libraries of All Kinds
 ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services
 		Campaign for America's Libraries