I listen to a lot of public radio on the weekends. This past weekend, I was listening to an episode of Hidden Brain on NPR, Relationships 2.0: The Price of Disconnection, and it got me thinking. Sociologist Allison Pugh was talking about something she calls connective labor, the emotional work we do to make others feel seen, heard, and valued. And as I listened, I found myself thinking not just about relationships, but about marketing—and my own life.
Growing up as the youngest in a big family of seven, I wasn’t the quietest one, but I was an observer. When you’re the littlest person in the room, you get used to trying to make sense of the world by paying attention. You learn to read expressions, track the mood in a room, listen for the things people aren’t saying. That skill—tuning in to people’s needs and emotions—stuck with me.
And the more I thought about Pugh’s idea of connective labor, the more I realized: this is what truly effective library marketing should be rooted in.
Pugh describes connective labor as the behind-the-scenes emotional effort it takes to foster belonging—things like empathy, active listening, and witnessing. It’s not flashy or transactional. It’s about seeing people for who they are and responding in a way that makes them feel recognized.
And isn’t that what we’re trying to do in libraries every day?
Too often, library marketing is focused inward: our services, our programs, our collections. But if we want our messaging to land—to really resonate—we need to flip the focus. Instead of saying, “Here’s what we offer,” we should be asking, “What do you need? What do you care about? How can we reflect you?”
Marketing through the lens of connective labor means:
- Shifting from promoting services to highlighting stories and experiences that reflect the lives of our community.
- Making sure our imagery isn’t just inclusive on paper, but recognizable to the people we serve.
- Using language that acknowledges people’s realities—their joys, challenges, and aspirations.
- Paying attention to who’s not responding and asking why.
Looking at data about our users can be a way of listening. . So can simply being present in our communities, not to push out messages, but to observe and connect. It’s the same skill I developed as a kid in a big, busy household—watching, interpreting, and trying to show up in ways that reflect what people are feeling.
When we do this, marketing becomes more than promotion. It becomes an act of relationship-building. And in a world where disconnection is on the rise, that’s not just a strategy—it’s a service.
Cordelia Anderson Consulting 