Monday, August 1, 2011

Self-evident Consumer Warnings

As I removed the reflective sun shade from my car windshield this morning, I noticed the warning: 'Remove this sun shade before operating automobile'. Really? Now, I'm not the first person to notice that some consumer warnings are just stupid,  but, how, I ask myself, can this be related to library usage? How, in other words, can I use this observation to write a blog post that will sneak up on blog readers and make them Love Libraries and Love Reading and make them immediately drop everything and come to the library to check out dozens of books AND OTHER MATERIALS, as we like to say these days? In other words, how to use this as a hook to MARKET THE LIBRARY? What if we put warning labels on books: Caution, reading this book might make you smarter. How about a warning label on the front door of the library: Caution, enter at your own risk, library contains thousands of entertaining books, DVD's and audiobooks. A warning at the top of the sign-up sheets for computer classes: Be advised that taking computer classes may result in addiction to your computer. The sign over the Reference Desk currently says: "Questions? Ask Us" we could add, and Librarian May be Unable to Stop Recommending Books, Websites and other resources.
Related blog:
The "M" Word-Marketing Libraries

1 comment:

Ellen said...

It's like the reverse of the Pseudonymous Bosch books ("This Book Is Not Good For You" and "If You're Reading This It's Too Late")