Scholarly literature on outreach includes a preponderance of “how we did it” accounts of outreach programs and activities implemented by libraries. This review, however, concentrates on the lesser quantity of literature available on two critical aspects of the management and support of outreach: outreach committees and outreach positions. Only a small portion of the literature reviewed mentions budget and staff time devoted to outreach.

Regarding the use of committees, many libraries depend on either formal or ad-hoc committees, along with support from the entire library staff. At Southeastern Louisiana University's Sims Memorial Library, all library employees participate in outreach, but the library also has an outreach committee made up of faculty and staff, which organizes in-house events.⁴ Butler University Libraries employs a similar approach, using reference librarians to lead outreach efforts but involving all library employees in National Library Week, which helps foster “team spirit.”⁵ At Georgia State's Pullen Library, the Communication and Public Relations Committee consists of four library faculty and two staff members, all chosen on a yearly basis; three other staff members serve as permanent members of the committee. Despite the use of a committee, it appears that all library staff at Pullen Library assists in fulfilling the committee's mission.⁶ Maureen Brunsdale of Illinois State University's Milner Library argues in favor of this practice, noting that “promotional events should not be carried out by only a handful of people. The entire public services staff can be involved in any promotional campaign.”⁷

Although some libraries have created dedicated outreach positions, these assignments often involve working in collaboration with other library staff members who also do outreach. For example, at Mississippi State University Libraries, an Outreach Coordinating Committee (OCC) oversees outreach and a full-time Outreach Coordinator works to expand the “projects of faculty outreach teams.”⁸ Likewise, at LSU's Middleton Library, the outreach services librarian is “continually building an outreach team and/or committee that is truly committed to outreach.”⁹ While outreach librarians often work with other library staff, they may take on tasks and responsibilities that other library staff feel lie outside their expertise or job responsibilities. According to Erin Dorney, Outreach Librarian and Chair of the Library Identity and Outreach Committee at Millersville University: “Although I share duties with my peers, the majority of my job requirements are unique to this new position. I provide leadership in marketing and promotion of library initiatives, programs, activities, resources, and services.” The library's justification for Dorney's job described a full-time outreach librarian as “essential.”¹⁰

While the literature suggests that many libraries involve all staff in outreach activities—with or without the leadership of an outreach librarian—some libraries lack both an outreach librarian and collaboration among all staff. With only three full-time librarians, no one person or department carries the responsibility of outreach at Our Lady of the Lake College Library in Louisiana. The absence of a designated coordinator or a marketing plan has hindered the library's attempts at outreach. According to librarian Kevin Baggett: “Our outreach efforts, while seemingly successful in some ways, are sporadic and could have been better organized and effective if centralized into one person or group of people.” The library will soon create a marketing plan and assign outreach duties to one librarian or form an outreach committee.¹¹

Very little research exists as to whether academic libraries choose to fill outreach positions with librarians or other types of professionals. Boff, Singer, and Stearns examine job announcements for outreach positions in academic libraries posted in College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News) from 1970 through 2004. They identified 115 job announcements and grouped these under three categories: distance education outreach, multicultural outreach, and specialized outreach. Job titles in the specialized outreach category match most closely the type of outreach examined in this study, that is, marketing and public relations activities associated with promoting library services and resources. Boff, Singer, and Stearns found marketing and promotion often listed as duties for these specialized positions, with an MLS degree less likely to be a requirement than for positions in distance education and multicultural outreach. This suggests that librarians may not always be chosen to fill these positions, but how often this may occur is not clear. Boff, Singer, and Stearns cited only twenty jobs for specialized outreach, but noted an increase in all types of outreach jobs, especially within the most recent years of their study.¹²

Of the 139 survey responses, 43.9 percent (n = 61) libraries utilize an outreach position. In some cases, the survey's open-ended comments provide additional information about these positions. Two respondents described new positions, one of which appears to be a full-time assignment in outreach. Conversely, two respondents reported the loss and the possible loss of their respective outreach positions. However, the majority of comments indicate that, of the 61 libraries with an outreach position, many represent half-time appointments. For example, two libraries support an outreach position along with a development or external relations officer; in one of these cases, the person in the outreach position also retains traditional library duties, perhaps splitting his or her assignments. Three additional respondents also discussed the use of half-time positions, with two dividing time between outreach and library work.

A follow-up survey question addresses split appointments and time commitment. Of the 61 libraries with a dedicated outreach position, 37 provided information about the percentage of time these positions devote to outreach. Most employees in this study assigned to an outreach position spend 25–50 percent of their time on outreach (figure 1). This raises questions about the importance placed on outreach by library administrators. However, as the literature review suggests, actual staff time spent on outreach may be higher if one factors in other library staff members who are also involved with outreach. Whether or not enough work exists to justify a full-time outreach position is another question raised by the data, although one comment describes an individual who spends only 25 percent of his or her time on outreach as “swamped most of the time.”

Although knowledge of marketing and public relations techniques may be desirable for some outreach functions, 62.3 percent of the libraries with an outreach position chose to employ a professional librarian for this role. Several factors may account for this high percentage. Professional librarians may have developed marketing and public relations skills through on-the-job training; libraries may split the duties of outreach between a professional librarian, who oversees communications, events, and exhibits, and a separate public relations department responsible for more specialized marketing, such as branding and fundraising; or, librarians in outreach positions may have previous public relations and marketing experience.

Of the 139 libraries in this study, 19.4 percent (n = 27) make use of an outreach committee. The size of these committees ranges from 3 to 13 members, with an average size of approximately 6 members and a mode of 5. The time that committees spend on outreach per week averages 7 hours, although this may be skewed by 1 library that devotes 25 hours per week to outreach. Most fall within the 5 to 10 hour range. Libraries that reported having a dedicated outreach position were more likely to have an outreach committee than libraries without an outreach position. Of the 61 respondents who indicated that their library supports an outreach position, just under 25 percent (n = 15) reported that their respective libraries also utilize an outreach committee. Of the 78 participants without a dedicated outreach position, 15.4 percent (n = 12) reported using a committee for outreach.

The relatively small number of libraries with an outreach committee may be explained by the fact that, in many libraries, all library staff members are encouraged to participate in outreach, thus lessening the need for a committee. Comments provided by the respondents tend to support this view: “others help on ‘as needed’ basis”; the outreach librarian “collaborates with groups and departments as needed”; the librarian “coordinates library personnel, all are expected to do outreach”; “people help on various projects”; and “no formal committee but smaller committees that she is usually part of.” As noted earlier, the scholarly literature reports similar practices. The survey did not include a question about using general library staff for outreach; this would be a fruitful question for future research. That said, the question remains: Have libraries determined that general staff participation in outreach can accomplish the goals they have set for outreach? Do libraries actually embrace this approach or do they simply fall back on it in the face of lack of administrative support? It could be argued that the scarcity of library literature on specific aspects of outreach—budget, mission statements, and staff time devoted to this function—point to the latter scenario.

Finally, does the size of institution play a role in the use of positions and committees? According to this survey, institutions with larger FTEs prove more likely to maintain an outreach position. No clear trends emerge regarding committees. However, the figures parallel dedicated positions in that the number of committees increases with FTE, with the exception of the four reporting institutions with FTEs of 20,001 to 35,000 (figure 2).

While the content of mission statements may reveal more about how libraries define outreach than how they manage and support it, the absence of mission statements, or clearly defined goals and objectives, may also indicate a lack of support for outreach. Less than a quarter (21.6 percent; n = 30) of libraries in the survey indicated the use of a mission statement or a plan for outreach.

Despite this relatively small number, the survey's comments provide valuable insight into the outreach philosophy of these libraries. Nineteen survey participants shared their mission statements, which ranged from one sentence to several paragraphs in length. All the statements contained similar terminology. Most mentioned one of two major objectives for their outreach programs: (1) to promote library services, resources, collections, facilities, and initiatives, or (2) to raise or increase user awareness of the same. The mission statements often took the form of overarching philosophies for outreach. For example, one library aims to “provide an inclusive window on the changing human experience and sustain social memory through exhibits, art shows, and events.” The most commonly used phrases were, “to increase visibility” or “enhance the perception” of the library and its resources. The words “communication” and “cooperation,” as well as “campus/community,” appear in various statements. Only a few libraries mention specific activities in their statements. For example, two libraries mention “partnering” with the campus community. Two other respondents refer to campus events and exhibits in their mission statements. Finally, some respondents discuss their libraries’ overall outreach plans. Examples range from a three-page communications plan to a seventeen-page marketing plan.

A total of 23.2 percent (n = 33) respondents indicated that their libraries maintain a budget for outreach. Fourteen of these respondents provided actual figures, revealing budget amounts ranging from $700 to $30,000. While smaller schools tended to dedicate fewer funds to outreach, the assumption that large institutions maintain large budgets was not borne out by the survey data. In fact, a comparison of budgets with student FTE showed little correlation between enrollment figures and outreach budgets (figure 3). Regardless of enrollment, most budgets in this survey fell below $5,000. Similarly, when comparing budgets among types of institutions—private versus public—the survey results failed to confirm that larger, private institutions (presumably better endowed than many smaller, public institutions) devote more resources toward outreach (figure 4). Rather than permanent budgets, the respondents’ comments for this question revealed that funding for outreach may often be provided on a “case-by-case” basis. This model, if widespread, could explain the relatively small number of libraries in the survey that reported dedicated budgets for outreach (table 1).

To gather information about the communication venues and library-sponsored events and exhibits used by libraries, the survey asked respondents to select from a menu of outreach activities. Similar to the literature, staging special events proved more prevalent than outreach conducted via communication venues such as blogs, other Web 2.0 technologies, and print and online newsletters (figure 5). A comparison of outreach efforts by student FTE shows that special events, campus and in-house, also are used most often regardless of FTE (figure 6). An open-ended “other” category allowed respondents to list unique outreach activities at their institutions. Among the “other” activities reported, “exhibits” and “art shows/receptions” were mentioned most often. Several respondents’ libraries also communicate via campus newsletters, press releases, radio, and through other forms of marketing and public relations.

As competition from other information outlets increases, will libraries begin to channel more resources toward outreach? Comments from the 17 respondents whose libraries plan to restructure their outreach programs suggest that this is the case, with plans ranging from the creation of new positions and committees to redistributing the work among library staff (table 2).