a virtual open house that showcases library resources
Public libraries from the City of Sydney to the Gold Coast have long relied on in-person open days to welcome curious locals through their doors. The shift to online engagement has expanded that welcome mat considerably, letting a single librarian greet a parent in Penrith and a student in Perth in the same afternoon. A thoughtfully designed virtual open house can introduce your collections, digital tools, and community programs to people who would otherwise never cross your threshold. It also doubles as a versatile marketing asset, with recordings that continue to attract new patrons long after the live event finishes.
A virtual open house is more than a single webinar or a static webpage. It is an immersive experience combining live tours, on-demand videos, interactive booths, and real-time Q&A sessions that mirror the feeling of wandering through your physical spaces. For teams spread across states and time zones from Hobart to Darwin, it offers a rare chance to align messaging and celebrate the quirks of each branch. The following sections walk through practical steps to plan, deliver, and learn from such an event.
Setting clear goals and knowing your audience
Before booking a platform or designing a landing page, write down what success looks like. Are you aiming to raise awareness of a new e-resource collection, drive new memberships, or position the library as a digital skills hub for your community? Concrete goals make every later decision easier, from the platform you pick to the metrics you track.
Spend time mapping your audience. Australian public libraries serve a remarkable mix of users: retirees in Bendigo exploring family history, TAFE students in Tweed Heads looking for exam prep, parents chasing school holiday activities, and small business owners in Fremantle wanting market research. A virtual open house works best when its content speaks directly to two or three of these segments rather than trying to cover everyone. Run a short survey through your email list or a quick poll on socials a few weeks out, asking what people would love to see.
Build the agenda around the responses. If database tutorials keep coming up, dedicate a live demo to that. If craft sessions and book clubs dominate feedback, give them pride of place in your programming block. The library will feel relevant, and the marketing will speak to real needs rather than assumed ones.
Picking a platform that suits your patrons
The platform choice can make or break the experience. For most Australian public libraries, the answer comes down to two things: what your audience already uses, and what your IT team can manage without a fortnight of troubleshooting. Zoom remains the workhorse for live sessions thanks to its breakout room functionality, which is ideal for running multiple concurrent tours of different collections. Microsoft Teams is a strong alternative if your council already pays for it, especially when collaborating with a state library or school network.
YouTube Live or Facebook Live work beautifully for broader reach, particularly with older demographics who enjoy scrolling Facebook in their arvo. Instagram Live is a clever option for student outreach, with collaborative broadcasting that lets you hand the mic to a young adult ambassador. For the main hub itself, many libraries now use a microsite builder like WordPress or an event platform such as Hopin or Airmeet to host the lobby, schedule, and on-demand recordings in one place.
Whichever combination you choose, test it thoroughly with colleagues across multiple devices and connection speeds. Australians on the NBN in regional Western Australia or outback South Australia do not always enjoy the same bandwidth as their city cousins, so build in low-tech alternatives like dial-in numbers and downloadable PDFs.
Designing the visitor journey
A great virtual open house feels more like a warm country fair than a corporate webinar. Start with a welcoming lobby where visitors can register, browse the schedule, and pick up a digital showbag containing resource lists, reading recommendations, and program flyers. Embedding short welcome videos from the library manager or a long-time volunteer gives the space a human face before formal programming begins.
Within the lobby, organise content into themed rooms. One room might showcase digital collections, with live demos of e-books, audiobooks, and online databases. Another could highlight community programs, featuring guest appearances from a local author at Brisbane Square Library or a children's storyteller from a regional branch. Reserve a third room for the Ask a Librarian booth, staffed throughout the event by reference staff who field questions in real time. This is also the perfect place to honour First Nations knowledge, with sessions on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research resources and respectful engagement protocols.
Make the journey interactive rather than passive. Live polls during database demos keep energy levels up, while scavenger hunts using QR codes encourage visitors to explore different rooms for the chance to win a stack of new releases. Record everything, but also make recordings easily accessible afterwards with captions and chapter markers, so busy parents and shift workers can dip in whenever suits them.
Promoting your event without burning out
Promotion works best when it feels like a celebration rather than a chore. Start a soft campaign six weeks out using the channels your audience already trusts. A friendly email to your existing database, partnered posts with local councils, and cross-promotion through ALIA or LIANZA networks can extend reach without paid spend. Tag local media outlets in your press releases; community newspapers in places like the Latrobe Valley or the Illawarra are often keen to profile library innovation.
Social media content should feel distinctly Australian. Short reels showing staff setting up the event, captions that say fair dinkum rather than overly polished corporate speak, and behind-the-scenes photos of the team testing microphones all build anticipation. Encourage staff and regular patrons to share their own why I love the library stories in the lead-up, then reshare generously with credit.
Do not overlook the physical branches. Window posters, bookmarks handed out at the issue desk, and a prominent link on the home page of your catalogue all keep the event visible to walk-in visitors. Partnering with local schools, TAFEs, and community centres to co-promote can multiply the impact without doubling the workload.
Measuring what mattered and learning for next time
Data turns a one-off event into a repeatable strategy. Track registration numbers, attendance rates, average watch time, chat activity, and post-event resource downloads. Most platforms offer built-in analytics, but a simple Google Form sent to attendees two days later captures the qualitative story: what surprised them, what they wish had been longer, and which sessions they would attend again.
Compare your numbers against the goals you set at the beginning. If raising awareness of e-resources was the priority, look at new database sign-ups and resource page visits in the following month. If community connection was the goal, count new social followers, program enrolments, and feedback that mentions feeling more welcomed. Share a short impact report with council, sponsors, and your own team, because celebrating small wins keeps morale high heading into the next project.
| Platform | Best for | Key strength | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom | Live tours and breakout sessions | Familiar to most users, easy to record | Time limits on free plans, licensing costs for larger audiences |
| Microsoft Teams | Council or school partnerships | Integrated with existing government tools | Steeper learning curve for older patrons |
| YouTube Live | Broad community reach | Free, searchable, great for evergreen content | Less interactive, harder to moderate chat |
| Facebook Live | Older Australian audiences | High engagement in regional areas | Algorithm limits replay visibility |
| Instagram Live | Young adult outreach | Casual tone, easy to share reels | Limited discovery for non-followers |
| Event platforms (Hopin, Airmeet) | Full hub experience | Combines lobby, sessions, and networking | Higher cost, more setup time |
Ready to start planning your own virtual open house? Pick one goal, choose one platform, and book a date in the next quarter. Then visit the Library Marketing Toolkit for downloadable checklists, sample run sheets, and promotion templates that will save your team hours of work. Your community is waiting to walk through your doors, even if those doors happen to be digital ones.