Persuasive Advocacy

Librarians need to consider a new approach in order to build more effective advocacy efforts. Building upon the principles developed by Robert Cialdini, a noted social psychologist, the authors suggest that there are six tendencies of human behavior that will positively impact compliance with a request: liking, reciprocity, social proof, authority, consistency and scarcity. In the end, relationships that are built over time are what matter as far as funding decision makers are concerned.