[OPLINLIST] Feedback? What Feedback?

Thu May 1 10:42:35 EDT 2014

    Feedback is hard to come by

It’s easy to feel like the only programming feedback you get is the 
number of people who register. That one number. Were people interested 
in the event but couldn’t come, or was no one interested at all? Who knows?

It would be great to know more. Did people read the postcards you sent 
out? Did they click on the web banner or the link in your email? Did 
students use the link to LibGuides that you sent to their teachers? Did 
they type in the link you put on a flyer? Is all this work worth the 
effort? *You need more data.*

*An easy (and free) way to get some answers to these questions is to use 
a URL shortening service, like Bitly.com <http://www.bitly.com>*. When 
you paste a web link into Bitly, it condenses it to a shorter link that 
looks like this: http:// bit.ly/1qzK3gf <http://bit.ly/1qzK3gf>. Bitly 
then tracks all the times that people click on that link and shows you 
when they clicked it as well as the total number. Suddenly, you’re 
getting feedback!

A shortened link works fine when people can click it, but it’s less easy 
if people need to type in the URL, especially since shortened links are 
case-sensitive. *Bitly lets you customize the name of a link so that 
it’s easier to remember, like this one: http://bit.ly/data-driven-mtg.* 
(We use all lower-case letters in custom-named links. When we’ve 
included upper-case letters, people guess that capitalization doesn’t 
matter and the link they type in doesn’t work.) That’s certainly easier 
to make sense of than the calendar link: 
http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=1926&lib= 
<http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=1926&lib=>

If you use the same shortened link on a postcard and in a newsletter, 
you won’t know which source led people to your website. The easiest 
work-around is to create another short link from a different URL 
shortening service, like Tiny.cc <http://www.tiny.cc>. That way you can 
compare which link people clicked to get to a page.

You can spend a lot of effort and resources on promoting your library’s 
programs and services and really not know what is getting that 
audience’s attention. Collecting traffic data through link-tracking is 
an easy way to start getting answers.

    Learn other ways to get answers

However well we know some of our patrons and some of the ways they use 
library services, there’s always more we don’t know. And people’s needs 
change, as class assignments and library catalogs and patron interests 
change. Asking questions (and finding ways to answer them) helps us stay 
in step with their needs, which also builds stronger community 
relationships that support strong libraries.

*Learn more about answering those questions at SWON’s spring luncheon, 
“/Data Driven Innovation/.”* We’ll serve lunch at noon and the 
interactive innovation talk is from 12:45 to 3:15. Then stay for SWON’s 
brief Membership Meeting, where you’ll hear about SWON’s plans for the 
upcoming year. Register now: http://bit.ly/data-driven-mtg

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Connect to SWON online: Website <http://www.swonlibraries.org/> : 
Calendar <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/eventcalendar.aspx> : Facebook 
<https://www.facebook.com/SWONLibraries?sk=wall> : Twitter 
<http://twitter.com/swonlibraries>
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Calendar excerpts from the next two weeks. (Please register for online 
classes at least two days before they take place.)

  * *Improving Your Organizational Skills – Dealing with Your Desk,
    Calendar and Files
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=917>* -
    (5/1/2014) - Online
  * *Instruction Librarians (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=897>* -
    (5/5/2014) - Southern State Community College, Wilmington
  * *Collection Management Policies
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=919>* -
    (5/6/2014) - Online
  * *Your Organizational Skills Journey One Step at a Time
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=918>* -
    (5/8/2014) - Online
  * *ROYAL Book Review (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=732>* -
    (5/9/2014) - Kenton County PL, Covington Branch
  * *Young Children, New Media & Libraries, An ELF 2.0 Webinar
    <http://bit.ly/1gQYQwy>* - (5/8/2014) - Online
  * *Take Five! An Ohio Youth Services Dialogue
    <https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T5T3>* - (5/9/2014) - Akron-Summit
    County Public Library
  * *Getting Started with Reader’s Advisory
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=915>* -
    (5/13/2014) - Online
  * *Innovative & Engaging Teen Programming <http://bit.ly/1jMsO74>* -
    (5/13/2014) - Online
  * *ROYAL Book Review (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=713>* -
    (5/13/2014) - SWON Meeting Room
  * *ROYAL Book Review (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=732>* -
    (5/13/2014) - Kenton County PL, Covington Branch

SWON Libraries - http://www.swonlibraries.org<http://www.swonlibraries.org>
10250 Alliance Road, Suite 225
Blue Ash, OH 45242
phone (513) 751-4422 - fax (513) 751-0463
To subscribe or be removed from SWON's Events list, click 
here:http://lists.swonlibraries.org/mailman/listinfo/events
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