Dear Cammie
Camarillo Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
Dear Cammie is a series of social media clips that educate workers about workplace culture and etiquette. Cammie, a Workplace Advice Specialist, delivers valuable insights through edutainment skits. Cammie answers workers’ questions and addresses timely workplace culture topics to empower individuals to navigate the complexities of professional interactions.
Dear Cammie is a program sponsored by the Russell Fischer Business Collection in the Camarillo Public Library. It is a special collection centered on career help, entrepreneurship, small business, and personal finance.
Challenge/Opportunity
- Dear Cammie addresses the issue of confusion, anxiety, and missteps in workplace culture
- Professional workplace culture is ever-changing this confuses what is acceptable or the "rules"
- Workplace norms are not explicitly taught in formal educational institutions, and there is a gap in knowledge
- The workplace can be intimidating and it can feel uncomfortable to ask questions about soft skill issues
Key Elements of Innovation
The goal of Dear Cammie is to educate workers and engage patrons for the Russell Fischer Business Collection (RFBC).
The key elements of innovation include the format, tone, and content of Dear Cammie.
The format of Dear Cammie is an edutainment skit on social media. It is unique for a library to give thoughtful workplace advice through short videos on social media.
The tone of Dear Cammie is meant to be humorous to create accessibility to the nervous or confused worker. Cammie is a little sassy (workers can relate) and the situations can be silly. But Cammie takes her job of advice-giving very seriously and the advice she gives is thoughtful. That creates trust with the viewer.
Dear Cammie is written and facilitated by the RFBC Business Services Coordinator and library staff.
Achieved Outcomes
Dear Cammie has changed the reach and impact of the Russell Fischer Business Collection (RFBC).
In previous years, RFBC would total its annual patron engagement in the low hundreds. Dear Cammie changed RFBC's patron engagement total in 2023 to over 10,600 and so far in 2024 to over 6,900.
Given that the majority of viewers of the library's social media accounts are adults, we can reasonably infer that Dear Cammie's workplace advice is reaching a substantial number of working adults.
Feedback from patrons has been positive, and they've even written to our social media account to get their workplace culture questions answered by Dear Cammie.
Staff also have positive feedback and are incorporated into Dear Cammie as much as they're willing.
Dear Cammie continues to evolve to meet the latest topics of workplace culture and etiquette.
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