Branding Your School Library

As we wrap up this unprecedented year, many of us are ready for some kind of change in our work lives – a reboot of some sort so we can start the new school year with a new outlook. An over-the-summer exercise in branding your school library program might be just the reboot you’re looking for.  
What is Branding? 
“Branding is relationship” (Sheninger and Rubin) – it’s a combination of the stories you tell and the connections you make daily – through marketing, graphic design, social media, and relationships with stakeholders. As a school librarian you are branding by default; you are branding yourself and your program with every interaction you have with your stakeholders. From book talks to book fairs to instructional services, you have so much to sell as part of your school’s library program. Why not make it intentional? 
Build your Brand 
Branding yourself and your school library program can be a big undertaking and it can be hard to know where to start. Maybe you’re ready to take a deep dive into rebranding your program from your own personal social media brand to a consistent visual identity for your library program through signage, website, and social media design. Or maybe you have just enough energy to do a visual identity re-branding. No matter the breadth of the reboot, follow these guidelines from The First Five Steps to Building a Library Brand, from The Librarian in the Middle, a school librarian who is passionate about branding: 

1. Align your goals – start with a vision and break your vision into goals. Consider starting with your school’s mission and vision and visual identity. 
   

1. Pick a name and logo – how do you want to refer online to your program? 
   

1. Identify audience and purpose – this will help you to match your content to your target audience. 
   

1. Engage your audience – what events, materials, or services do you want to promote? 
   

1. Build consistency – be reliable in promoting your events. Once you engage followers, don’t leave them hanging and waiting for more.  
   

My teaching partner and I have just started to skim the surface of branding our program by designing a simple yet intentional logo for our library program using the educator’s version of Canva. As part of the process, we did some work to align our vision and goals with our visual identity. It is our vision that our program provides a sense of place in the online world in addition to the real world space we provide to stakeholders, so we chose a location pin as part of our logo, which you can see above. And the heart represents the belief that the library is the heart of school, in addition to being a place of belonging. The simple design keeps us mindful of our purpose and our role in the school and keeps us moving forward toward reaching our collective vision.  
Want to learn more about branding? Here’s a list of resources that will help: 
Branding Your School Library (sign up at this posting for her 5-step guide) by the Librarian in the Middle. This school librarian is passionate about school library branding and advocacy. Don’t stop with this article, though. Look for others that she’s written about branding.  
BrandED: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning, a book by Eric Sheninger and Trish Rubin. Written for educational leaders of all ranks. 
Librarians: Build Your Brand by Gretchen Hazlin at BubbleUpClassroom.com pulls out some of the best ideas of the book above and gears them to school librarians specifically.  
What’s in a Brand? How to Define Your Visual Identity by Annie Crawford at Adobe might be helpful if your focus is on creating a new visual identity.  
ICYMI: Canva for Education is a must for all school librarians. Go here to sign up! 


by Beth Eilers, School Librarian, Omaha Central High School ​