MY LINK Campaign

From Michele Gorman, 6:30PM:

Hi everyone.  You’ve heard the talk, and now it’s almost time for action!

The “MY Link” library card campaign launches next Wednesday, September 10^th, with a press conference at City Hall. This event will serve as the official kick-off for this year-long initiative to get a new “My Link” HPL library card in the hands of every community member in Houston and the surrounding areas. Once the Mayor makes the official announcement we go live with a new card and the 2-week amnesty program!

As I promised during the road show, there will be plenty of opportunities for frontline staff to get involved with this campaign throughout the year, and today I am emailing you about two of those opportunities:

1.)    On Saturday, September 13th, we will celebrate the new library card in style at every one of our locations as well as at the H-E-B Montrose store with cookies, balloons, opportunities for our customers to win an iPad mini and more.  In case you missed the details the first go round, you can find more info in the attached email from Dr. Lawson.  As a reminder: Dr. L. has designated the week of Wednesday, September 10th through Wednesday, September 17th, as an “HPL Red Shirt Week” to help kick off the campaign. What does this mean? All staff in their red HPL shirts (or a white shirt) along with their MY LINK Library Card Campaign button. And when she said all staff – she means everyone! In fact, I went out and bought a few new red pieces of clothing to debut that week!

To help celebrate and spread the word, promotional material for the campaign will begin arriving at your locations next week.  You should see the following:

•    Bookmarks

•    “Benefits of MY Link” panel card/flyer

•    Campaign Poster

•    “All About Your Library Card” FAQ – updated version

•    New Library Card Brochure

•    H-E-B/HPL bags – plastic reusable bags to be given to customers at checkout

•    Amnesty Program panel card/flyer

•    Campaign buttons (for staff members to wear) 

Please make these materials available to customers beginning on Wednesday, September 10^th, with the following guidelines:

•    Only place 50 - 100 of each printed item on the floor at one time (the goal is to keep clutter to a minimum)

•    Place materials near check out locations or in high traffic locations

•    Give out a bookmark during each checkout transaction

•    Amnesty Program panel card/flyer – please have these available until Saturday, September 27th.  The amnesty period ends Friday, September 26th.  You can access FAQ’s about the amnesty here:  https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/mylink.html

•    Posters

• Locations without marketing/poster frames will receive a mounted poster.  Place mounted poster on your easel near the entrance of your location. Please remove and store any existing posters (such as the “Don’t Text and Drive poster) so that card campaign poster is prominent.
• Locations with marketing/poster frames are asked to place the card campaign poster in the frame that is in the highest traffic area.   Several locations have had marketing/poster frames installed over the past few weeks for this purpose.
• A video tutorial on how to install a poster in the marketing frame is available at https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/mylink.html. Please contact Stephen Chamberlain at 3-1325 if you have questions about this process.

If you need additional card campaign materials, please email: hplprintgraphics@houstontx.gov.  Spanish materials are under development and will be available after September 13th. Please email hplprintgraphics@houstontx.gov if your location needs Spanish materials.

Please note that several locations will soon be fitted for exterior marketing/advertising banners.  Staff from the Planning and Facilities Division are managing this process, which includes the installation of frames on the building.  H-E-B is providing the first banners, related to the card campaign, which will be installed by representatives from Planning and Facilities in the next few weeks. 

2.)    Throughout the year, we will be creating original PSAs to help promote the program, and we’re looking for charismatic staff members who are excited to be on camera to help promote the new campaign.  We’re shooting the first PSA on September 9^th, and we’re looking for 2-3 staff members to join the fun. If you’re interested please email me ASAP for details (and yes, there is a script). If you want to do it but can’t make September 9^th, email me and let me know you’re interested in being in a future PSA!

I saw firsthand during the road show how much you guys enjoy working with the public, and how much it means to you to be able to serve our community every day. This card campaign is an excellent opportunity to get out there and shine a spotlight on everything we have to offer, and the 2-week amnesty period is an excellent opportunity to help our customers clear any past fines that may be keeping them from fully utilizing our services. 

Thank you, and as always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Greg Simpson, John Middleton or me.