Become Helpful, Friendly, and Accessible!

Respond quickly to questions from the media. Have a designated spokesperson for your library and tell others to notify the spokesperson promptly if reporters call. Reporters are nearly always on deadline and need answers quickly.

Attend media briefings. In larger cities, professional associations and newswire services often host “get to know the media” events.  Get on the mailing lists and consider joining organizations such as Texas Public Relations Association www.tpra.org, Association for Women in Communications www.awic.org, or Public Relations Society of America www.prsa.org to get invited to their events.

Gain an understanding for the media you want to encourage to cover your library. Read the newspapers, watch the local television news programming, and listen to the radio stations to which you will be sending information.

From time to time, send an article, news tip, or book suggestion to a reporter that you think they’d be interested in based on their past stories but that doesn’t have anything to do with your library. They will come to view you—and your library—as a resource.

Take a reporter or editor to lunch. Don’t have a particular story in mind but bring background materials on your library and find out what types of stories they are interested in for future use.

Participate in media-sponsored events such as races, food drives, or other causes. If possible, partner with the newspaper to put on one of their events or provide library volunteers to help. It’s a good chance to get to meet the reporters, editors, and producers and to cultivate a relationship.

Always be honest with reporters. It is essential to your credibility.

What NOT to Do

• Don’t send a news release to a number of editors and reporters at the same publication. Often, if reporters don’t want to use the information, they’ll pass it on to others who might be interested.
• Don’t call reporters or editors to ask if they received the release. Most newsrooms get hundreds of releases each day, and they can get very cranky answering phone calls asking “did you get my news release?”
• Don’t bury the most important information in your release—always put it in the first paragraph. Make sure all of the necessary details are in the release.
• Don’t send reporters or editors information not in their purview. For example, don’t send the sports editor information about your children’s reading programs.

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