Creating Excitement for Reading

For the first time in Cleveland Public Library’s 144-year history, the Library undertook a comprehensive marketing campaign designed to bring people through its doors. The “MyPlace MyCard” campaign, launched in April, is a multimedia, grass roots effort aimed at increasing awareness of all of the Library’s services, and increasing library card sign-up. The campaign included ads on buses and billboards around the city, print and online ads, as well as colorful banners outside of Main Library.

The reading component of the campaign—known as the “I’m Ready to Read” initiative—is directed at children five and under. Research shows that a person’s love for reading typically begins at an early age. With that in mind, the Library adopted the “I’m Ready to Read” campaign to encourage young children to sign up for a library card. This past fall more than 2,300 library cards were mailed to kindergarteners throughout the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Promotion for the program was geared toward parents, with a message to give their children the gift of reading by signing them up for their own library card.

Celebratory kits, including bells, noisemakers and various giveaways, were delivered to all of the branches to help “celebrate” the beginning of a lifetime of reading each time a child came to the Library to activate his or her card. As a direct result of the program, the Library documented a major spike in sign-ups by five-year-olds within 30 days of the mailing.