[Michlib-l] MAP News YOU Can Use

[Jim Flury]

All,

I thought I'd share some happy MAP thoughts with you on this beautiful late summer Michigan Tuesday. Sonny would say the weather is brunny (breezy and sunny).

1. We are a bit more than three months into MAP Year 2. And we are close, very close, to having circulated 75% of the total number of MAP passes in these first three months of MAP Year 2, that we circulated in 12 months of MAP Year 1. And per Brigette's statistics, we've had MAP checkouts in counties this year, that did not see a checkout last year. Of course usage of the program has slowed somewhat with the start of school. But families are still looking for things to do on the weekends, and retirees are still looking for things to do during the week (and on the weekends). Being as that is the case, why not take the opportunity to continue to promote MAP? Crowds are down, but this just means more and better opportunities for patrons to take their time and really experience their favorite MAP attraction. Check out the newest photo on the MAP Facebook page, taken by our official MAP photographer (hint, it isn't me, as I would not be able to fold myself in half in order to fit in the cockpit) of one of the historic planes at the Yankee Air Museum, as proof of how up close and personal your MAP patrons can get with their favorite, less crowded, venue at this time of year.

2. A new library will be joining the MAP program on October 1. Harrison Township Public Library passed a millage in August, and among other things this means their patrons will be able to avail themselves of all the benefits the MAP program has to offer. Welcome HTPL!

3. Thanks to Brigette's social media skills the MAP Facebook page now has in excess of 200 "likes." Did you know that your MAP patrons can now "like" MAP from the MAP homepage? http://michiganactivitypass.info And we have nearly 60 Twitter followers, too. Again, see the MAP homepage.

4. TLN has received an invite to speak about MAP at the 2015 Michigan Museums Association conference in Ann Arbor. We look forward to sharing news about MAP with our museum partners. I asked the Executive Director of the Michigan Museums Association, with whom we have worked closely during MAP Year 2, if her members had any reaction to MAP. Here is what she had to say:

"I do know that the first time I put it (MAP) in the newsletter two of my board members told me they signed up.  Any time I mention it people are wildly enthusiastic."

Museums are wildly enthusiastic about MAP! This means libraries can be even more enthusiastic! Wildly enthusiastic is tough to beat, but I think you can do it. Come up with an adverb that beats wildly, and let's deploy that adverb when it comes to our enthusiasm level for MAP. It speaks very well on your behalf that our museum partners, which you will recall receive absolutely NO financial compensation to offset their losses at the gate as a result of their participation in MAP (many of the library museum pass programs in existence around the country DO compensate the museums, usually via the library friends groups, for their losses), are wildly enthusiastic. We can't offer financial compensation so we don't offer financial compensation, and yet we have 112 MAP partners this year (vs 62 last year). And at least some of our 112 MAP partners are "wildly enthusiastic." MAP has a total of 637 participating library buildings (soon to be 638 with the addition of Harrison Township Public Library), so simple mathematics dictates that libraries (and librarians) ought to be nearly six times as enthusiastic about MAP as our 112 museum partners are.

All kidding aside, you've done great work with MAP. Not long ago a librarian at the Bedford Branch Library, Monroe County Library System, sent me a photograph of a display they put together to promote MAP. It was fantastic. I even recognized one of the books that was included in the display case as a title that was written many years ago by a librarian who is still active in our area. I sent her the photograph of the display, and we both agreed that probably means we've been doing this for too long. Onward and upward.

Thank you for your support and promotion of the Michigan Activity Pass program.

Sincerely,

Jim Flury

Jim Flury
Technical Services Manager
The Library Network
41365 Vincenti Court 
Novi, MI 48375
248-536-3100 x133 
Fax 248-536-3098 
jflury at tln.lib.mi.us