ABSTRACT

There is renewed interest in building and sustaining support for public libraries in this country. This paper looks at the concepts of marketing and advocacy as integral components for building this sustain-ability and uses two related initiatives in the State of Kentucky to illustrate, in practice, how these concepts differ and how they need to work together for long term success. In short, “selling” libraries in itself won't get the job done; nor will just building a public advocacy infrastructure. Taken together, however, both can advance the case for libraries and build the support needed for sustainability.