“But How Will We Know If It’s Working?”: Measuring Effectiveness of Virtual Library Communications in Response to COVID-19

Abstract

This practical research outlines a response to the obstacles presented by COVID-19 for marketing, outreach, and communications activities by a multi-site hospital library system serving a healthcare network during a global pandemic. Using the electronic distribution of its newsletter as a case study, this study evaluates the effectiveness of available virtual communications and distribution channels. The objectives of the study efforts were to evaluate and understand which marketing and communications distribution channels were effective for reaching end-users, measure uptake of the library newsletter within each distribution channel to assess the capacity and set expectation levels of each method, and to reflect on library staff time and energy applied to each marketing channel effort to gauge effort over return. The study shares approaches, tools and considerations for this evaluation practice while contributing to the literature in an overlooked and under-published area of discussion.

Keywords

• evaluation
• assessment
• library communications
• web-based communication
• evidence-based practice