This research is examining the work of brand strategists or designers, as well as librarians, technical personnel, and senior library management, at three public libraries, using the case study method to explore library advocacy in the specific context of brand-building. This study is also examining the role of tacit and explicit knowledge in brand-building and, in part, how innovation in the form of Intellectual Property and other forms of knowledge are produced. In this research, Intellectual Property is considered to be a type of innovation. Interviews are being conducted with library management, branding professionals, librarians, and other individuals who are involved in library advocacy. Observations are also being made at each library, and documents pertinent to the branding process are being analyzed. Initial findings of the interviews include that brand-building is associated with significant tacit, as well as explicit, knowledge and innovation. For brand designers, some of whom are graphic artists, tacit or “unspoken knowledge” appears to play an important role in helping them solve the problem of how to communicate the meaning and value of the public library to stakeholders.
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