Growing a successful garden takes hard work and planning. Your resources can help your patrons be successful. You can increase awareness of your offerings by using the tools in your ILS.
Your Online Catalog
Inspire users to visit your library or explore your online resources by featuring them in your online catalog. For example, in Surpass Cloud you can create Explore buttons to search the catalog by subject or retrieve a curated list of items. A themed page of Explore buttons could be used to help patrons find resources for vegetable gardening, growing flowers, and other subjects.
Creating a virtual display on your front page will highlight selected items or new additions to your collection. Pair this with a change of your OPAC’s color theme, and you will create an attractive and inspiring catalog where users can find helpful resources.
Publicizing events such as workshops and garden club meetings can be done by using your OPAC. If you have a seed library, where people can donate or exchange seeds with other growers, put an announcement on your OPAC’s front page using a tool like Surpass Cloud’s Message or Bulletin widgets. Use your OPAC to spread the word!
Reports
Use the reporting features in your ILS to measure the impact of the library’s services on the community. How many resources were checked out or counted for in-library use? Did the number of patrons increase? What resources were used, and by who? It should be easy to find the information you need in your ILS. Sometimes a standard report might not have information that you would like to include. That’s where the flexibility of custom reporting comes in. Surpass Cloud’s Custom Patron and Custom Resource reports allow you to add fields and conditions to get needed information.
Conclusion
No matter the season, your patrons may have a need for gardening information. Your ILS should help you both fulfill those needs and feature the resources that your patrons can use.
About Surpass
Surpass Cloud is the easy-to-use, cloud-based library management system for libraries of all types and sizes. Whether you’re a school, church, museum, business, or any other organization with resources to lend, Surpass is likely a good fit for you. We pride ourselves on being affordable and flexible, with an expert support team ready to help you at a moment’s notice.
