MARKETING, COMMUNICATION AND FUNDRAISING

The year 2021 was dominated by digital transformation. Due to the coronavirus, we worked online much of the time and had online contact with our customers. We began a national initiative and together created a community platform, called Third Space. This was to protect online connections better in the future. The need to meet will continue to exist in hybrid form, sometimes in person and sometimes online. This has many advantages. It saves travel time; you can schedule your agenda better; and provides more people with the opportunity to partake in our library (activities). As a library, we are dependent on statistics (number of memberships, visitors, and participants in the activities). The statistics say very little about the actual impact we make. How have we changed the lives of people who have made use of our services? Consider the coffee table in the library and activities like language courses and reading moments. These activities equip people with skills and independence; they give people reading enjoyment and provide physical contact. All things that bring joy and help to reduce loneliness. In 2021 we began an internal trajectory to make this measurable so that as well as statistics, we can also work towards monitoring our effectiveness. This is also to obtain a clearer picture of how the library can make society a little more beautiful.

Education

All services and activities for the Education Program in 2021 have been documented in (paper) BiebWijzers for five different work groups: 0-6 years, 6-12 years, 12+, BSO and the Kennemerwaard College. Education staff leave the BiebWijzers at the locations after their discussions with partners in education. We began collecting additional information during the last few months in 2021 which will be added to the website. We expect to have the education selection online mid-March 2022. Education professionals will be able to find our services faster, read materials or ask any questions they may have.

Development and Fulfilment

The Marketing and Communication department works with BiebLokaal in the Development and Fulfilment Program. Many activities (often for free) were organized within this framework in Egmond and visitors would receive a mail later with the suggestion to try out more activities and to make use of the special free membership for people living in Egmond. Residents are given the opportunity to (re)discover the library with this membership. This information was also given to the parents of primary school students, via a mailing from the schools we work with. These results will be released in early 2022. It has given the Marketing and Communication department many new ideas for other mailing campaigns. To assist new customers, we have tracked and mapped out the route a customer takes or can make along all points of contact (for a particular service) in the library. Where needed, changes were made both online and offline.

Participation and Self-Dependence

We also provided support in the Participation and Self-Dependence Program in 2021. Participation and Self-Dependence played a major role in coronavirus related matters this year. There was much publicity which resulted in many visits and meetings in the branches. Talk about impact ... as a library we were able to help so many people and they in turn too were probably able to help people in their own area.

The Kennemerwaard Public Library was required to seek assistance from several funds, foundations, and companies for the innovative projects. This ensures that we can continue to undertake new and worthwhile projects. The Kennemerwaard Public Library has raised an amount of € 662,000 externally in 2021. That is € 60,000 more than last year!

The Kennemerwaard Public Library received financial support from 29 friends in 2021 who made it possible for different special and social projects to be carried out. With thanks to the friends of the Kennemerwaard Public Library the library can continue to be the obvious place for children to (learn to) read, and to finance important, educational, and social projects. Revanche is the project that was financed by the Friends in 2021. During this project that was developed by the Kennemerwaard Public Library and the Escaperoom Egmond, high school students read a book and then played an escape game based on that book. The book was then discussed together with the reading consultant based on the game. The younger generation tend to read less often and with less reading enjoyment. What seems to be missing here the most is the so-called in-depth reading or otherwise concentrated reading of longer texts or books. As a result, reading skills deteriorate and that has consequences for their performance at school and in the community. A project like Revanche! helps to develop greater pleasure in reading for the students.