[Publib] Re:Library newsletters; mailed or electronic

[Michelle Lauer - Bader]

I just wanted to report back about my posting, dated July 13th. My question was "whether any other public libraries are sending their newsletter electronically to their patrons (either emailing the document or notifying patrons that the latest issue is available online.) How did you market this? What has been your experience? Any other thoughts?" 

I only received 3 replies. Two PUBLIB subscribers said are using Bookletters which enables them to send out their newsletter by email each time it is published.  Patrons go to the Library website and can sign up to receive [it]. The other response said "We try to cover all of the bases with our newsletter.  We mail it out 6 times per year....  We also have the newsletter on our website and have an option on the front page of our website where individuals can subscribe to receive the newsletter via e-mail. Why do we do all three --- and spend some $25,000 per year to continue printing and mailing the newsletter to every household in Oak Lawn?  Our community is changing, but there still is a sizeable percentage of the population of our Village over age 55 (at least 34%) who are not generally inclined to put checking e-mail and surfing the web among their most frequent activities.  We do promote the electronic version of our newsletter through the newsletter itself, press releases, etc. and through word of mouth.  It is, of course, better to see the newsletter on line and get color pictures rather than the b&w in the print version.  Nevertheless, our seniors would probably complain loudly if we discontinued the print version.  ------  If our budget was cut, dropping the print version would save us a lot of money and we could direct the angry patrons to the budget cutters to levy their complaints. "  
So thank you. We will continue to print our newsletter and post it on our website but perhaps we can encourage more electronic use by having people sign up for a copy by email. This was a question from one of my library trustees and I believe the change from print to electronic will be an evolutionary change and agree that we must provide access in several ways for the forseeable future. 





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Michele (Shelley) Lauer-Bader, Library Director
Half Hollow Hills Community Library
55 Vanderbilt Parkway
Dix Hills, NY 11746-5817

631-421-5940 (voice)
631-423-8946 (fax)
mlauerba at suffolk.lib.ny.us 
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