Shades of Mediocrity

How not to market a library

From the "What on earth are they thinking?" files, it's the Minneapolis Public Library's new marketing campaign. Apparently, those of us lucky enough to live in the Twin Cities can expect to start seeing these ads sometime this month. Hmm. For some reason, Mao and J. Edgar Hoover aren't exactly the historical figures I'd want associated with my library. I have no problem with Batgirl, but seriously -- I like to think of libraries as bastions of free speech, open inquiry, and education for all. Not the values that usually spring readily to mind when I think of Mao or J. Edgar Hoover.

I'm very excited about MPL's new central library building, set to open next spring. But this campaign strikes me as a serious lapse in judgment. A spokesman for the Friends of the Library says, "We want to pique people's curiosity and get some buzz." I could be wrong -- I'm certainly no marketing expert -- but my guess is that people will either be confused or offended by this campaign. The choice seems even odder here in this super-liberal midwestern city, where I'm sure that many will make connections that anger rather than amuse. And I'm sure that's not the sort of "buzz" the library wants to generate.

Thanks to librarian.net for this bit of news from my own backyard...