The Reading Warehouse

In recent years, levies, grants, and other traditional sources of library funding have stagnated or even been scaled back. But as they've already done in other areas, libraries can take an innovative, proactive approach to funding. Change creates opportunities, and the ability to see and exploit opportunities is what creates new revenue streams, which can help maintain and enhance library services. Offering step-by-step guidance, in this book Rossman shares more than 40 revenue-generating methods to bolster the library's bottom line. Through plentiful examples, interviews, and implementation exercises this book discusses the current context of funding for libraries and non-profits, using the history of Public Broadcasting as a positive role model for libraries; examines how general market features from the worlds of advertising and broadcasting, such as location, traffic, the right cluster of skills, and technology, apply to the library environment; demonstrates how to utilize these market features in the most professional and efficient manner to build new revenue streams; walks readers through numerous plans for raising revenue from memorial considerations, one-time events like art shows and athletic competitions, naming rights and sponsorships for permanent resources such as buildings and rooms, location specific promotions, online crowd-funding, establishing passport services, and many more; provides guidelines of how to establish value, craft board policies, and write comprehensive contracts using a toolkit approach that will make the sales process more efficient; and shows library boards and management how to address sensitive issues such as name changes, unforeseen bankruptcy or "disgraceful" situations with a sponsor, community concerns about "selling out," and the use of technology for appeals. Libraries can use this book's to-the-point guidance to quickly develop plans that support financial stability and better library service.