End of week testimonial
On Wednesday I delivered the findings of a substantial piece of audience consultation on behalf of the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library in Norwich. The project team and trustees were so receptive to the findings - they listened, they got it, they’re excited about the possibilities and ready for the challenge.
It was so encouraging to see, as audience development and consultation is new to the organisation. It was a meaningful project and one I feel privileged to have contributed to. I was delighted to receive this note from the client today:
“Congratulations and a huge thank you from of all of the Governors and staff for a very thorough, well planned and executed piece of work. It will not only inform and underpin the immediate project but, most importantly, the development of the offer as the Library moves forward. [...] Thank you once again for all of your work and skill in bringing together such a helpful piece of work."
Richard Hill, project manager, The 2nd Air Division Memorial Library
About the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library
The Memorial Library is a really special and unique place. It was set up to honour the nearly 7,000 Americans in the Second Air Division who lost their lives during the Second World War in bombing campaigns against Nazi Germany from their Norfolk and Suffolk bases.
It is intended to be a living memorial, to not only be a tribute to those Americans who were killed, but also to act as an educational and friendship bridge between the UK and USA.
Audience consultation project for the Memorial Library
However the organisation recognised the need to increase and broaden its visitor base. I was commissioned to undertake a programme of front-end user, non-user and stakeholder consultation to help the Trust to understand:
the Library’s current user profile
barriers to engagement from non-users
what both sets of audiences would like to see from a redeveloped Memorial Library.
The work involved a feedback station in the Library, a series of focus groups, telephone interviews with stakeholders, an online survey, face-to-face interviews with users of the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library (the Memorial Library is housed within it) and two public consultation events.