Librarian’s Guide to SCL Biz – A Library Blog

1. Librarian’s Guide to SCL Biz – A Library Blog

2. What is SCL Biz? • SCL Biz is a blog — an electronic way to connect to the Sonoma County business community and offer patrons seeking library materials an easier way to find them. • The blog will include News items about new library materials, business events, great web sites, and anything else I can find to add to it. • The blog also has Guides on various topics and each Guide includes some of our newest titles, recommended websites, and links to suggested subject searches in our catalog. • In addition to looking at the News and the Guides on our website, users may subscribe to get new items as they appear, from an RSS feed or by email.

3. The ‘News’ on SCL Biz • For those of you unfamiliar with blogs, the main component of any blog is the ‘post’. Most blogs are opinion vehicles and the blogger writes posts about whatever is on his/her mind. Some blogs have daily posts – some have posts irregularly. Anyone interested in what the blogger has to say can subscribe, via an RSS feed, to read any new post. • SCL Biz is an informational blog and our posts are News. Biz News items will be about new materials in the library, local business-related events, great business websites, almost any kind of information that will be of interest/value to Sonoma County business people. • The emphasis for us, of course, is to publicize library resources (books, BOCDs, databases, etc.), but we want to make this very attractive to all business people and hope that the addition of non-Library, but valuable business information, will draw subscribers, who will also hear all about how much the Library has to offer them. News items will often refer a reader to a Guide. • The next few slides are examples of what our News items will look like and show you some of the variety they will have.

4. News Items on the Blog A News item may be about a new book in the library, usually with some info from a review or annotation. The item title is a link that connects the user directly to the catalog entry to check availability or request the item. The link in “For More on Women in Business” takes the user to a Guide with more titles, websites, and suggested subject headings. More about the Guides coming up.

5. A News item may be a reference book Note the link to a Guide with lots of business reference books, all linked directly to the catalog.

6. A News item may be a business resource Note the link to a Guide of good Internet Resources; this will replace our current list of business websites.

7. A News item may be a business event In Sonoma County or the Bay Area News about business events will include workshops, trade shows, Chamber After-Hours, lectures, but not a ½ off sale at Longs. Local presenters will be encouraged to submit events to SCL Biz.

8. A News item may be a support organization News about support organizations will list government agencies, professional associations, and non-profit organizations with significant local availability.

9. Subscribing to SCL Biz News items • Anyone can view the News items and the Guides on the website • To be kept up to date on the News you can subscribe through an RSS feed using Bloglines or Google or any RSS reader • Or subscribe via email • The subscribe buttons are on every page • When you subscribe, you will get an RSS feed or an email every day that new News is posted

10. The Guides • The Guides are individual pages on various topics. • The Guides on Starting, Growing, and Managing a Business, and Women in Business include some of our newest titles, with review information and a link to the catalog. They also have recommended websites and links to suggested catalog subject listings.These Guides will be updated frequently with new titles added and older titles deleted from the guide. • The Guides for Business References and Newspapers & Periodicals are lists of reference books or serials, each title linked to the catalog to check availability. • The Online Databases Guide describes the periodical and business databases. • The Internet Resources Guide will also be frequently updated with new sites as I discover them, or you tell me about great sites! These links to the Guides are on every page of the blog.

11. How the SCL Biz Blog Can Help You • SCL Biz is designed to help both librarians and business people keep up-to-date on the latest in library resources for business, especially if you subscribe to get automatic updates via email or RSS feed. News items will be frequently posted about great new books, websites, events, programs – everything business in Sonoma County. • I hope that the Guides will help you to help patrons easily find business materials in our catalog. If someone is looking for help, for example,: • To advertise their business, show them the Guide to Growing A Business, and they’ll find some of our newest materials (linked to our catalog) and suggested subject headings (linked to our catalog). • On the best hiring and (legal) firing procedures, show them the Managing a Business Guide for newest materials and appropriate subject headings. • The Guides will be continually updated with new titles added and older titles removed from the guide – they are intended as samples of our newest and best – not comprehensive lists. The subject headings will direct patrons to catalog subject headings to discover all of our holdings. The Guides also include recommended websites.

12. How You Can Help SCL Biz • Help keep SCL Biz fresh – please let me know about anything business-related: • Not all materials of interest to business people are in the 650s – if you order any new book, BOCD, DVD, please let me know for inclusion in a Guide and as a possible News post. • If you come across a great website that would be of interest, please let me know so I can add it to the Internet Resources Guide and as a possible News item. • Any business-related event in your community? Trade show? Chamber of Commerce After Hours? Business group meeting? Let me know as soon as possible, so I can put it in a News post. • MOST IMPORTANT! Please tell people about SCL Biz – mention it to any patron asking any business question, mention it to friends who own businesses, mention it at any meeting you attend. We will be doing extensive PR (details on next slide), but you are the best way to spread the word! I would not ask anyone to do anything they weren’t comfortable with, but some of you may mention it at your next quilting club meeting or bingo or to your tennis partner – most people in Sonoma County have some connection to business and we would like to try and bring them to SCL Biz so they will think of the Library as their information partner.

13. PR For SCL Biz • One of the most important goals of this project is to connect to the entire business community and show them how much the Library has to offer anyone who is thinking of starting a business, teaching others about business, or owns or manages a business, so we will be doing a real PR blitz. • BOOKMARKS! Yes, lots and lots of them will be sent to the branches (with a form # so you may request more) and please be profligate with them – hand one to anyone who has any business interest. Take them to meetings and hand them out; the brave might even carry some with them when shopping and offer one to store owners or managers. Drop some off at City Hall, or a business like a hardware store or office supply, or any appropriate place where a business person may see and pick one up, if they will distribute them for us. • Press releases or flyers, with a supply of bookmarks, will go out to every newspaper, radio & TV station, Chamber of Commerce, Trade Association and business organization (e.g., Rotary, Soroptimists, etc.) in the county that I can find an address for. (con’t next slide)

14. PR For SCL Biz PR For SCL Biz • Flyers, with bookmarks, will go to the business departments of SRJC, SSU, Empire, New College, and any high schools I can locate that have business programs, and to organizations like SCORE and RESMDC that support the business community. • ‘Welcome to the Sonoma County business community’ letters, with SCL Biz info, will go to new businesses on a continuing basis. • If you have ideas for more contact points, please let me know if you would like me to call, write, email, send bookmarks. All ideas most welcome.

15. What SCL Biz Means to the Library • SCL Biz is a pilot program to see if we can find a new way to connect the Library and its massive resources to our community – in this instance to showcase our resources to a large, but specific group – the business community. • The blog is powered by Wordpress, software that Genny Engel installed and spent a lot of time tweaking and improving until it did what we wanted – she made it look great, work great, and be very easy to use. • The content for SCL Biz was added by Dana Evans. The success of a blog in attracting and keeping subscribers is to constantly have new posts and information – and she hopes she will have your help in always finding and adding new and interesting items to SCL Biz. • So, when will all of this happen?

16. When Will SCL Biz Go Live? • As with any project, pilot or otherwise, lots of things have to come together – for SCL Biz, we want to have the publicity ready to send out and the bookmarks sent to you to hand out all in good time around the opening of the blog. I hope all of you will subscribe to the blog and I’m trying hard to get the word out to the business community in a timely manner so they will feel they are in on the ground floor. • You can see SCL Biz and get familiar with the Guides, but you won’t see anything yet in the News items, except a ‘Welcome to SCL’ item. You can even subscribe now, but again, until opening day you won’t get any feeds or email. • Right now, we’re looking at starting to post News around April 2. While you can tell patrons about it before then, it might be better to wait until we have bookmarks, and the News items start going up. • To visit the blog: www.sonomalibrary.org/biz • Questions, suggestions, comments? Please call or email Dana, Cent, x517.