'Discover Opportunities' Membership Campaign
Barrie Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
At the beginning of 2023, the Barrie Public Library had a fairly low membership rate compared to the population of Barrie. Out of 150,000 Barrie residents, only 22.7% were considered active cardholders (34,015). We launched an organization-wide membership campaign with the lofty goal of welcoming 10,000 new members by December 31. Through a series of tactics including targeted outreach at schools and organizations, marketing campaigns, and public service initiatives, we reached our goal in early October. By the end of the year, the library had nearly 12,500 new members, increasing our membership rate to 27.4% with 41,145 active cardholders. The campaign's success resulted in strategies and metrics for membership retention and growth continuing to be used in 2024.
Challenge/Opportunity
At the beginning of 2023, BPL faced a challenge with low membership rates, counting only 34,015 active cardholders out of a population of 150,000 residents. It's important to note that our systems do not track digital-only members; they only record those who borrowed physical items within two years. Consequently, only 22.4% of residents held an active library card by this definition.
Previous research indicated that this low membership was partly due to insufficient library locations. A 2018 Master Facilities Plan recommended six locations; currently, we operate only three, with the latest opening in August 2022. Given the timeline for future locations in several years, we needed innovative strategies to raise awareness in underserved areas of our city.
This situation gave us the opportunity to focus on city-wide recognition and the library's value, along with developing a long-term strategy to measure active membership and enhance library usage beyond 2023.
Key Elements of Innovation
The Membership Campaign began in Q2 of 2023 with a cross-functional team from all library departments. The main objective for 2023 was to increase new members by 10,000. This was achieved through several initiatives:
Targeted marketing campaigns: We launched 'Discover Opportunities' in the summer and 'Share the Library Love' in the fall. These campaigns included mailing flyers to areas with low membership, a referral contest for current members to friends and family, organic and paid social media, and more.
Community outreach: The IT team equipped each Public Service staff member with a smartphone and headset, enabling them to create library memberships on the spot, both in the library and the community. This typically generated 50-100 new members per outreach.
Expanding our offerings: The Collections team added nearly 20 new items to the 'Library of Things' collection in 2023. Promoting these new offerings helped attract individuals who might not be traditional library users.
Achieved Outcomes
In Q1 of 2023, we added about 3,000 new members. Our goal was to add 7,000 more by the end of the year. By October, we achieved 10,000 new members. Our staff then set a new goal of 13,000 members. Although we didn't reach this revised goal, we did add 12,473 new members by December 31, 2023, increasing our membership rate to 27.4% with 41,145 active cardholders.
In 2024, we are continuing to see success by engaging lapsed members:
- We streamlined the membership renewal process by allowing online and phone renewals, eliminating the need for patrons to visit the library.
- We contacted lapsed members before the annual purge of inactive members through email, encouraging them to explore library services again. As a result, 408 of the 3,891 recipients renewed their membership.
In Q1 and Q2 of 2024, we welcomed 6,549 new members, surpassing the same period in 2023 of 6,030 new members. Usage statistics for digital resources, program attendance, and computer usage continue to rise.
Additional Materials:
