MarketingOutreach

Proposal to Library Administrators -relate it back to St. Thomas community changing socio-economic conditions.... health and economic factors -missing perspectives in the collection (but don't focus on this??) -importance of remaining current .. especially in this topic of health -preventative measures.. proactive approach--- will help community in general

-ensure the collection gets used so we are proposing the following marketing and outreach

__**Promotional materials and displays:**__

__**Community Partnerships:**__

ROUGH

Our outreach program involves a variety of organizations in our community. Elgin St. Thomas Public Health’s credibility and access to those with health concerns make them an excellent potential partner. As their support will be of great use to this initiative, we plan to inform public health staff about new health-related books in our collection, forward relevant news about events at the library, and provide them with copies of our flyers and brochures. We hope to do the same at St. Thomas’s Ontario Early Years Centre (7 Morrison Drive). We also plan to enlist the aid of the Family YMCA of St. Thomas-Elgin (20 High Street) in this campaign. We hope to interest them in a brochure swap by which we promote their services while they promote our new campaign. Moreover, since the YMCA of Western Ontario only offered a short series of events from June through September//,//// we hope to convince our local Family YMCA to partner with us on a series of health days. Finally, as the Dewey range in question also includes 613 “Personal health and safety,” we will also ask London’s Children’s Safety Village to display our brochures so that parents understand the resources the library has to offer. //

We also hope to develop closer relationships with St-Thomas-Elgin Ontario Works and the CAW’s Port Elgin branch. We believe that they will be more likely to send individuals to the library for reliable information if they are informed of the services we offer. Ontario Works in particular may have access to individuals who may not be reached by conventional outreach campaigns. Closer relationships with these organizations may also mean that we at the library will become better informed about St. Thomas’s economic position and the needs of its citizens, and thus better able to help our users cope with employment-related stresses in healthy ways. Moreover, the CAW’s influence over its members is such that its support may do much to encourage St. Thomas residents to take advantage of library services.

// We may also engage in a series of one-way partnerships with commercial enterprises such as the St. Thomas Health Club, the Bodyparts Gym and St. Thomas Strength Athletics. As we are wary of promoting their services, we hope that they will simply agree to display our brochures //

We also plan to approach some of St. Thomas's many clubs. The sports clubs in particular may be interested in the information available at the library. We hope to arrange a series of evening and weekend events to promote the health advantages offered by regular group exercise; representatives from St. Thomas’s many clubs would be invited to attend. Some of these clubs include the St. Thomas Disk Sports Club, the St. Thomas Skating Club, and the St. Thomas Soccer Club. We also plan to inform organizations which are not fitness-related but nonetheless might be interested in health promotion about the library’s new program. We could, for example, make a series of short presentations to organizations such as the Lions Club of St. Thomas and the Rotary Club of St. Thomas. Many older people are involved in these groups and wish to remain active; they are thus likely to be interested in the titles available at the library.

St. Thomas Disk Sports Club [] St. Thomas Field Naturalist Club Inc. [] (blog) St. Thomas Legion Track & Field Club [] (youth?) St. Thomas Skating Club [] St. Thomas Soccer Club []

Other organizations, such as the

Lions Club of St. Thomas [] Rotary Club of St. Thomas [] may be willing to promote our services to their members.

__**Library Programming:**__

__** Fitness classes offered in Library **__
 * -Partner with St. Thomas YMCA who offer fitness classes – an instructor from the YMCA can come into the library to offer a Tai Chi class. Tai Chi is a slow movement exercise so it won’t be dangerous or have loud booming music in the library that might distract other patrons. After the class, have displays of Tai Chi books and other fitness books that might inspire participants to check-out. **

__** Guest Speaker **__
 * -Have a representative from the St. Thomas Health Unit (nurse, dietician…) come into the library to give a talk on healthy living and safety. Ideally the library would like this to be a seasonal program, with talks geared toward seasonal activities and foods that would help patrons stay active and healthy year-round. A display of some of the library’s collection can be featured at each event for patrons to check-out. **

__** Book Club/Discussion group on healthy living and fitness books **__
 * -Have a themed book club around the idea of healthy living and fitness books. Have a list of some suggested titles to provide guidance, but leave it open to their selection. Meet and discuss opinions about the different books. Patrons can then get reviews about the library’s collection, and hopefully will swop books. Overall, this will generate discussion about the collection while promoting healthy living in the community. **

__** Monthly healthy potluck and recipe exchange **__
 * -Invite patrons to bring in their favourite healthy dishes, accompanied by recipe cards for exchange. These events would encourage patrons to borrow healthy cookbooks from the collection, while also providing an excellent opportunity for socialization and recipe sharing. At the end of the year, the library could publish a compilation of its patrons' healthy recipes for inclusion in the collection. **

** We can mention or create health/fitness/nutrition tie-ins with these pre-existing programs and initiatives: ** -"Free pedometer walking kit" program - [] -St. Thomas Green Initiatives - [] -Job Searching support - []. -Monthly book club - [] (fiction titles selected; extra copies purchased by library – could be adapted to include accessible non-fiction titles from 610s)

**General note about meeting room facilities at St. Thomas:** St. Thomas has two meeting rooms - "The Carnegie Room can accommodate up to 100 people, with an adjoining kitchen available. The Carnegie Room is located on the lower level of the library. The Meeting Room, a smaller meeting room also found on the lower level of the Library, seats up to 12 people around a boardroom table. The Meeting Room has recently been painted to give it a bright, work-efficient environment. Both rooms have the option of booking the kitchen, audio/visual equipment including a digital projector(additional fee), a podium, whiteboard and flipchart." ([])

__Miscellaneous:__