The 2012 PLA Conference came and went last month. We were very pleased to reconnect with so many colleagues, clients and friends! Our preconference Digging Deep to Understand What Your Community Needs and Wants, we were told, was a great success. View our presentation slides.

Susan Brown, Marketing Director at the Lawrence Public Library (KS), wrote a post-conference reflection in her blog,* 658.8 – Practical Marketing (& More) for Libraries, that we think pretty much sums it up. Read Susan’s Top Five Take Aways from PLA article.

Here’s a snippet of take away #4:

Chasing trends is a tricky business, knowing trends is essential.

“Trying to align yourself with the newest trends of the moment can be fruitless, but understanding broad demographic trends can help you plan for the near future and beyond.  Some of the trends [The Ivy Group] talked about that will have the biggest impact on libraries and how they serve their customers are the rise of solo living across ages,  the concept of the "power patron," the diverse demography within the growing senior population, and of course, the broad Digital Shift that is taking place across our culture, with a special emphasis on e-content and mobile devices… Patron Profiles not only offers a qualitative look at trends in library usage and users, but it also offer actionable advice on how to respond to these trends on a local level.”

* 658.8 is the Dewey Decimal for marketing. How clever!