DCA’s got a thing for libraries; we think they’re great and we want them to do well. But many people outside libraryland have little idea that libraries even exist, let alone the bounteous free space, content and resources they offer. It bothers us that libraries are so underappreciated and underused. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to find partners that have either great content that people want to look at or great services that support library marketing. Next week we’ll be at PLA talking with librarians about FT.com and Koios, because they do both things to help libraries do better. Please join us at booth #847.
PS This ad was created by our friend Doug Kessler, one of the world’s most magic marketers. Doug is also a staunch supporter of CLEAR, the charity that provides translation services to refugees. Please join us in supporting CLEAR in their vital work at a critical time.
We’re excited to announce our new partnership with Koios on US sales. DCA represents a number of publishers in international markets, including Koios, now we have the opportunity to work with Koios in North America alongside our other key client the Financial Times’ FT.com.
Whether it’s offering compelling digital content, sharing marketplace insights, or leveraging powerful marketing tools to make a library stand out, the Koios mission is aligned with our own: helping public libraries to thrive.
Koios allows libraries to reach new audiences – those searching the internet for information or resources, who don’t already know their library has what they need. Koios helps libraries apply for, win and manage a Google Ad Grant to promote their resources. This allows libraries to attract users from diverse demographics and varied backgrounds, enabling them to promote their resources and programming to underserved communities.
Libraries have a wealth of online resources but often struggle to make people aware of them. With Koios, you can bring new people directly to your best resources – and get more usage and a better return on investment on costly subscriptions.
We’ll be exhibiting at PLA in Portland later this month. We’re giving away free tea and a 60-day no-obligation Koios trial; we’ll set up and manage your Ad Grant for the trial period — and the Ad Grant is yours to keep should you decide to manage it on your own. If you already have a Google Ad Grant we’re offering a free review to improve performance.
DCA is delighted to be launching the Medici.tv service with The British Library. Starting in 2022, British Library cardholders will have unlimited access to over 3,500 musical works from the 1940s through to the present day, as well as over 150 live-streamed performances each year and 3,000 films including concerts, documentaries, opera, ballet and masterclasses – all in high definition.
‘The British Library joins Medici’s global subscriber base which includes prestigious public libraries such as Helsinki, City of London, Edinburgh City, Brighton, several Irish library authorities, and libraries throughout Cornwall and Lancashire. Medici have recently enhanced the lay-out and functionality of the site which offers a first-class experience for classical and jazz music lovers.’
Barney Allan, Founder, DCA London
Interest in online resources for leisure and relaxation has seen a huge increase over the past two years. As more people are affected by rising costs and financial insecurity, public libraries are becoming an essential source of entertainment and information.
Helsinki City’s Helmet Library system subscribed to Medici.tv in August and have seen strong usage of the service. Tuija Kalke, Information Specialist, Helsinki City Library said: ‘Medici is a superior music video streaming service, a treasure trove of classical music with an enticing interface and top quality sound, vision and content. It is beautiful.’
For more information on what Medici.TV offers for your library, see here.
The QNL reference team liked the wide range of tutorials available on the Niche site and the user-friendly tone and approachable style of all tutorials. Niche tutorials allow QNL librarians to work more efficiently, as users can get help at their point of need.
Niche Academy helps you create elegant online tutorial experiences, making things easier for both instructors and learners.
Engaging users and supporting children’s learning
Lancashire library needed to reach users during lockdowns; they created custom quizzes which were a huge hit with both children and adults, driving users to interact with the library’s other resources.
The library used Niche to create a suite of homeschooling resources, storytimes and support material for their digital inclusion project.
“Our public academy has been invaluable for our Library at Home service.”
Training staff and volunteers
Hertfordshire Libraries’ Community Services team were able to employ their Niche Academy to make training and information for volunteers returning to community libraries more accessible and streamlined, at a challenging time when staff couldn’t do face to face training.
“Niche saved the day and definitely helped to speed up the process of re-opening our volunteer libraries this year. I genuinely don’t know how we would have managed without it.”
Niche offers libraries multiple academies to serve different user groups, which both Lancashire and Hertfordshire took advantage of with academies for staff, public, students, volunteers, local authority teams and more.
Improving discovery and loans
Niche Academy provides several different ways of connecting library users to e-resources and their tutorials. Westminster opted for an eye-catching carousel on their homepage, showing users the wide range of e-resources and tutorials available to them.
We’re delighted to welcome Rock’s Backpages to DCA’s pantheon. Rock’s Backpages is the world’s largest database of music journalism online, featuring over 45,000 articles on thousands of artists from the Beatles to Taylor Swift.
“An essential acquisition for public libraries”. – Library Journal
The articles are full text, from primary sources and fully searchable by artist, date, genre, publication and key word. They are taken from the widest possible range of publications in the US and UK: from Creem and Rolling Stone to NME and MOJO.
Rock’s Backpages also features a library of over 750 audio interviews, including classic conversations with musical giants such as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Freddie Mercury, Patti Smith, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Marvin Gaye, Kurt Cobain, Fleetwood Mac and many more. Over 50 new text articles and one audio interview are added to the database every week. This service will appeal to old rockers and young guns alike.
FT.com is bringing the Financial Times to public libraries for the first time. Watch our short video guide below for an introduction to the FT’s premium content. Please get in touch for prices and trials.
London, UK – October 1, 2021 – As part of its global representation agreement with the Financial Times, UK public library vendor Digital Content Associates Ltd (DCA) announced today that it is offering ft.com subscriptions to US public libraries. The offer includes full standard access to ft.com, including dynamic updates and an archive of 1.4m articles. DCA currently serves public libraries in the UK and EMEA with digital content and services designed to engage users and improve performance.
Barney Allan, DCA’s founder, said: “We like to offer public libraries premium content and the Financial Times sets the standard for that. FT.com is a wonderful resource that offers much more than just a business newspaper, providing balanced news reporting and analysis and fabulous arts, lifestyle and culture content.”
DCA is working with New York-based search specialists Koios.co to identify potential clients for FT.com. Koios CEO Peter Velikonja said: “We’ve partnered with DCA in the UK and international markets for several years and our companies are aligned on both business mission and values. We share an interest in public libraries and want to see them do better in today’s noisy environment. This is an exciting project that we are delighted to be part of.”
Allan added “It’s great to see a top publisher like the Financial Times offering their super-premium content via the library channel. Since 1888 the FT has been the go-to news source for leaders and professionals, now it will be available to empower students, small business owners and general readers. It’s an exciting moment for both publishers and libraries and we hope that more content providers will follow the FT’s lead in exposing their premium content to this new audience.”
About DCA
DCA represents some leading library vendors in international markets, including Niche Academy, Infobase, and Medici.tv. DCA aims to help public libraries to become more successful by offering compelling content, effective online learning, and powerful marketing tools. DCA’s mission is to help libraries grow usage, attract new cardholders, and protect budgets and jobs.
About Koios
Koios promotes libraries by bringing search traffic to their websites and online resources. Using Google’s Ad Grants for Non-profits program, Koios helps libraries reach outside their existing patron base to bring in new people — people searching online with Google.
DCA is a London-based library supply agency providing public libraries with digital services and content. We’ve been working with libraries in various formats and sectors for many years.
Experience has shown that the use of public libraries’ online resources is typically very low. There are three main reasons for this:
Most people are unaware that these resources exist
UK library websites are generally poorly designed and hard to use
Much of the content in libraries is of mixed quality or on a restricted usage models
We like libraries and want them to do better online so we’ve made it our mission to provide solutions to the challenges that they face; we want to help them improve discoverability and usage and we aim to offer libraries the kind of premium content that people like to look at so they can improve discoverability and usage. That’s why we approached the FT in early 2019 to ask them to consider working with us to create an offer to public libraries.
Three years later, after some false starts, near misses, and the odd breakthrough, including a successful market research survey and focus group meetings, we signed an agreement to represent FT.com to public library systems worldwide. But why would a newsmedia heavyweight such as ft.com agree to work with such a small outfit as DCA? Because we asked, which was important, and they listened, which was even more so. Maybe because DCA has such a strong commitment to this Cinderella sector that we were able to persuade FT management that public libraries were worthy of the opportunity to subscribe. We also had the experience to help explore access and pricing models to get the right mix for all concerned.
Why is FT.com going to be in demand for public libraries? Because it offers so much authoritative, high quality content, from key financial data and business news to engaging comment and opinion. Offering access to FT.com’s huge trove of premium content in public libraries will support students, aid small businesses, and engage the general reader. After all, FT.com’s performance as a digital player to date has been somewhat heroic: since 2009 it has gone from zero to over one million digital subscribers. Today FT.com is one of the world’s most successful and respected online business publishers, serving around 27 million unique readers every month across consumer, institutional, and professional sectors. FT.com has also won a new audience of general readers who appreciate unbiased reporting, outstanding writing and premium lifestyle, arts and culture coverage.
The FT wants to broaden its audience by attracting readers from more diverse groups and empowering students, small business owners and entrepreneurs with trusted opinion and data. In particular, the FT is keen to enable and encourage young people to learn more about the key events and trends in business and finance that shape our world. Meanwhile, public libraries are looking for content that supports a diverse range of users, drives usage and attracts new cardholders.
Public libraries are worth supporting and the FT is a brilliant publisher. So public libraries and FT.com are a great fit. So it’s a no brainer for us to put the two together, and we’re proud to be the only organisation bridging this gap.
We hope that DCA’s partnership with FT.com serves as inspiration to other publishers looking to diversify and expand their audience and to ensure that everyone can have access to great content.
When the world’s leading tea training provider, UKTA, decided to launch online course options they approached DCA for recommendations and advice. The Academy now hosts 15 courses as well as regular events using both webinars and an LMS platform. DCA customised the platform for the academy, worked with them on a new design for their website and project-managed the development of courses for the new digital environment. Our work resulted in a new revenue stream for UKTA for 2020 and beyond, bringing them new students from across the world.
“DCA’s support on building and marketing our online course programme has been invaluable.”
