In my hours and hours as a devoted podcast listener, I’ve heard from doctors and lawyers, journalists and media experts, musicians and actors, authors and politicians, bloggers and tweeters. But not a single time, not once since I became a hardcore consumer of the podcast, have I heard a library professional comment on the key issues that we claim as integral to our profession and our future.

What would I say is the biggest trend in marketing these days? You might think I’d point to something like Twitter, mobile technologies, or the next big social media phenomenon that is on the verge of discovery as I’m writing these words. But when it comes right down to it, I’m putting my money on authenticity.

That’s right, being yourself, being authentic, is arguably more important these days than tweeting or hooting or pinging or ponging (I think I made a lot of those words up, so don’t leave me to Google any of them). Whether we attribute it to reality TV, blogging, YouTube, or Ellen, people enjoy engaging with reality, or at least with something that appears to be reality.

Imagine yourself sitting at the boardroom table at the annual international summit of marketing experts for Coca-Cola. What kinds of conversations do you think you’d hear around that table? “If people only knew how good Coke tasted,” sighs one. “Yeah, that’s it – people just don’t know how thirst-quenching Coke is,” pipes up another. “We just need to get the word out.” A third concludes confidently, “Perfect, let’s make a bookmark!”

Library boards in Canada have an interesting relationship with their municipal councils. Once a term, councils appoint trustees to provide “a comprehensive and effi cient public library service” for the community. While the boards have this significant responsibility, they do not have the right to directly levy a tax on behalf of the library. It must seek most of its funds from the municipal council.

When people think about marketing and advertising, they often associate these activities with an external focus. There’s messaging and audience to think about, and then there are fun promotional activities such as contests and events. Don’t get me wrong, these things are all important, and as a librarian who does this kind of work, they indeed occupy quite a bit of my time and energy. However, the external-facing stuff works much better if you have solid internal communications inside.

The next time you and your colleagues are brainstorming promotional ideas for a campaign, an upcoming event, or new service, consider just how interactive your ideas are. Do your strategies leave your users as passive recipients of the message? Or do they become co-creators of the message, actively involved in the operation and success of these activities?

Starbucks's operating manual, The Green Apron Book, encourages its staff to "provide an uplifting experience that enriches people's daily lives." That's a pretty lofty goal for a cup of coffee, but perhaps not a bad goal for librarians to claim as their own.

 The media generally still cast the librarian as the bunheaded spinster, sweater clipped over the shoulders and pince-nez perched at the end of her nose, shushing any who dare to break through her dusty, dimly lit cone of silence. AlessyaQ in the Super Conference blog elsewhere on this site argues that this is what she saw in speakers and audience alike at Super Conference last month. In one comment to her post, nsoini found the very opposite was true at her academic library sessions. Ken Haycock, who gave four sessions at this year's Super Conference, and co-writer Carla Garner describe the changing landscape and may surprise everyone with many of their observations.