Andrea puts together some thoughts about libraries and success. It seems that public institutions sometimes have a difficult time promoting services without going all in for the "your library is a business. the customer is always right." idea. I like my outreach job because I can do a lot of marketing and at the end of the day, not take peoples' money, just offer good service and a good [and improving] product. Do you think your patrons recommend your library?

Somewhat off-topic, I picked up a hitchhiker on Friday (I work near a ski area with very little public transportation, this is a fairly normal thing to do) and met a 20-something guy from the town I work in who worked at a local restaurant. I asked him if he'd been to the library lately and he confessed that he didn't have a card. I told him all about the library's fairly large DVD collection ("I just saw Bourne Supremacy last week...") and the usefulness of the internet access during power failures, and I'd be suprised if he didn't drop by and get a card if for no other reason than he can save money by doing what he normally does @ the library instead of @ Blockbuster. It doesn't take a french fry stand to make a library a success, you just need to figure out how to make the library worthwhile for people in the lives they are already living.