Creepy Marketing?

Anything Wright Farms is hip, modern, fresh and plastered with advertising, logos and slogans to help the public understand why they should even bother with the library (see yesterday’s post).  They are getting rave reviews from libraries across the country who are also desperate to hang onto their relevance with a new generation.  

Anythink has created a fun vibe that creates a positive emotional link with their patrons.  Their marketing campaign has successfully sold the idea of the library -  libraries everywhere are ready to jump on the bandwagon.

Which leads me to why I think the whole thing is just a little creepy.

• Anythink Wright Farms has no history and no connection to the past.  In fact ‘Wright Farms’ is actually a district that includes three subdivisions and operates the library, parks, sewers and landscaping within the city of Thornton.  What the library offers in amenities and positive feelings it lacks in authenticity.  

• I know the library is new and every building and town has to start somewhere, but because the library was created by a marketing firm it feels a bit contrived.  Most library histories include stories of people who gave their fortunes or their time or their efforts to create a gift for their community (even if it was to glorify their own name).  To me the creation of a library should be different than the building of a grocery store, a bank or even a school, its “brand” should be a representation of the people who built it and the people it serves.  The Anythink library doesn’t necessarily represent the people in the Wright Farms community, it could be ‘any’where in the country.  It’s lovely but generic (think Starbucks).

• The Anythink brand was developed to ‘give people a reason to embrace’ the library.  I know I don’t live in a metropolitan area, but in my small village people embrace the library because they value reading, they want to encourage their children to learn, they want to study, get out of the house, find a job, read a magazine or sit in an air conditioned building.  It makes me uneasy that our culture now has to launch a marketing campaign to explain why reading, gathering, learning or talking are good things.  But, on the other hand, we also have to explain why people should eat fruit and veggies so I guess, at least, we’re consistent.

Despite my misgivings, Anythink is making big waves in the library world and inspiring librarians to think about and present the library in a whole new way.  In May, Michelle Obama awarded Pam Sandlian Smith with the 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Services at the White House and last year she was awarded Librarian of the Year by the state of Colorado.  Both awards spread the Anythink good news like dandelion seeds across the lawn.  While a new approach offers hope for the future of the library, I hope we keep some of the old boring libraries around as well, even if I’m the only one in them.