Libraries
Lexington Public Library
A community-wide language resource that needed no shelf space and no maintenance.
A mission statement, measured in usage
The mission of the Lexington Public Library is to connect people, inspire ideas, and transform lives. For Bobby Webb, who oversees digital resources for Fayette County and the greater Central Kentucky area, that mission is carried out by choosing high-quality, high-usage digital resources, and then checking which ones people actually use.
The challenge
Shelf-life, and a population of 300,000
Serving demand from a population of over 300,000 is neither easy nor cost-effective when language resources lack shelf-life and multi-user access.
Webb needed something low-maintenance and genuinely engaging, with a diverse, accessible and consistently updated selection of languages. Learning another language can be intimidating, and a resource that loses people in week two is not a resource.
What they did
The boxes it had to check
Other language software vendors have approached Webb and his team. Mango's cloud-based accessibility, relevant content and promotional materials are what let the library succeed in offering a language resource the community actually wanted.
Mango's focus on foundational skills is what Webb found kept patrons interested and motivated past the first few sessions.
In their words
What they told us
“Mango checks all of the boxes by offering a wide variety of language options (including courses for ESL learners), actively updating the content, and making it available to the entire community at the time and point of need.”
“It is vital for a public library to have a robust online presence, especially in a digitally-literate community like Lexington. Digital resources empower our customers to utilize the Library at a time and place that best meets their needs.”
“Mango was one of the first vendors to offer a robust mobile app that mirrored the user experience of the desktop product. Mobile accounts for over half of our Mango usage each month — that is exactly what I mean when I talk about meeting our customers on their terms.”
What changed
Half of it happened on a phone
Spanish and French were the clear front-runners, but German, Japanese, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Russian, Hindi and Portuguese courses all saw significant use by cardholders.
The outcome Webb points to is not a number. “My favorite scenario is when someone becomes a new library cardholder specifically because they want to use Mango.”
By the numbers
Mango sessions
- 9,110
November 2019 – October 2020
of sessions on mobile
- 49%
over the same twelve months
What followed
Webb's advice to other libraries
Asked what he would tell peers weighing their options: get hands-on experience with every service under consideration, and pick the product you believe your customers will actually use.
“We have never regretted our choice as a Mango subscriber.”
About Lexington Public Library
Lexington Public Library serves a community of more than 300,000 residents. Bobby Webb, its Virtual Branch Manager, oversees digital resources for Fayette County and the greater Central Kentucky area. The library's previous language resources lacked durability and could not support multiple simultaneous users, so Webb went looking for something low-maintenance, continuously updated, and available to every cardholder at once.
More stories
Other library stories
Pikes Peak Library District
Colorado
Fifteen branches, one language resource, and a year of steady growth in patron use.
East Baton Rouge Parish Library
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Budget cuts moved the library off Mango. Patrons moved it back.
Could this work for you?
Tell us about your organization and we'll walk you through what a rollout actually involves.