Trendwatching.com should be must-scanning for someone in every library. It’s highlights of consumer trends and behaviour are fabulous – as are the updates on marketing and promotional campaigns. I know, I know – I keep harping about the importance of libraries looking at other types of organizations and companies; we need to learn from non-libraries — we need to stretch our “ah ha’s” into “gasps” — we need to ask “why not?”
Look, for instance, at BerkeloW Books, profiled by Trendwatching.com in its September Briefing. A 200 year old landmark in Australia, Berkelow has an easy to explore, inviting website (complete with a very visible phone icon with their 800 phone number, which, when you mouse-over says “speak to a staff” — why don’t we see this on more library sites? If you have this on your site, please tell me; I’m always looking for library websites that make it easy for people to get in touch with the library.) Their locations have a variety of programs, including story times, movie ticket giveaways (which then advertise the book from which the movie originates), and, ready for this? Wine. That’s right, wine. Because BerkeloW is known for its rare books, it’s now serving wine for those customers in its reading room. As Trendwatching.com says, the store has “embraced the experience of perusing a rustic, private library by offering a glass of wine to its customers, the same way they would at home.”
Hm…now, THERE’s a concept. Similar
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